Cage Warriors Fighting Championship (CWFC) will visit the Helix in Dublin, Ireland, on Tuesday, December 31st, for their Cage Warriors 63 event. The headline bout will see current CWFC lightweight champion Stevie Ray defend the title against a dangerous Ivan Buchinger. This will be Ray’s inaugural defense of the belt, and he will no doubt want to prove to that he’s here to stay as champ.

Elsewhere on the card, former UFC fighter John Maguire is set to make his Cage Warriors debut against Philip Mulpeter in a catch weight showdown. Jim Alers will put the featherweight strap on the line against Graham Turner, and Irish native Aisling Daly will face Karla Benitez in a women’s MMA bout.

Let’s take a look at three reasons why you need to watch Cage Warriors 63:

Stevie Ray is making his first title defence

Stevie Ray is one of Scotland’s top MMA prospects, he brings a well rounded skill set to the cage and definitely has a bright future ahead of him. I was in attendance at Cage Warriors 60 and had the pleasure of witnessing this young man battle his way through the lightweight tournament to become champion. First he secured a unanimous decision victory over Jason Ball, then in the final he scored a first round submission win over a talented and durable Sean Carter. Buchinger was originally supposed to face Ray in the final, but he suffered an injury and was forced to withdraw, which meant Carter had to step in as a replacement. Now the two men who were originally set to square off will do battle and I cannot wait to see what happens. Buchinger hasn’t lost since December 2012, where he suffered a first round knockout against Conor McGregor. Since then he has built up a three fight winning streak and is widely regarded as one of the top lightweight fighters on the European circuit. With a win over Ivan, Ray will prove that he is a deserving champion who is destined for big things.

It’s John Maguire’s first fight since being released by the UFC

I can imagine that getting dropped by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is not an easy thing to deal with, and it’s something John Maguire has recently had to face. You can either get back on the horse and work your way back in, or dwell on the fact that you’ve been dropped and forget that your focus should be on becoming a better fighter. On Tuesday night we will have the chance to see how hungry John Maguire is and find out if his departure from the UFC has had any effect on him at all. Prior to his loss against John Hathaway at UFC on FUEL TV 5 in September 2012, Maguire had been on a seven fight winning streak, defeating notable fighters such as DaMarques Johnson, Justin Edwards and Peter Irving. “The One” will no doubt look for a return to that form on New Years Eve with a good performance against up and coming Irishman Philip Mulpeter.

To see if Graham Turner can take the featherweight strap from Jim Alers

Graham Turner is a well rounded fighter who brings a lot of experience to the cage. This 26-year-old carries a professional MMA record of 23-7, he’s no stranger to competition and enters this bout riding a five fight winning streak. I expect the Scotsman to be full of confidence in the Helix on Tuesday night, where he’ll battle to capture the CWFC featherweight title. However, he’ll face a man who only has one loss on his professional MMA record and is currently riding a seven fight winning streak. The man I refer to is Jim Alers, an American fighter who is very dangerous on the ground and undefeated in the Cage Warriors promotion. Eight of his eleven career victories have come via submission, so Turner will have to to remain sharp and make sure that he doesn’t give Jim any openings. I can’t wait to see this one, it should be a fun fight.

Here is some information on how you can watch CWFC 63:

LIVE STREAMING

MMAjunkie.com | USA and Canada only
JOE.ie | Ireland only
Sportube.tv | Italy only
CageWarriors.tv | Rest of the world (excluding the UK)

LIVE TV

Premier Sports | United Kingdom
Setanta Sports 1 | Ireland
Fight Now TV | USA
The Fight Network | Canada, Portugal, Turkey, Angola
Fight Klub | Poland
Setanta Action | Africa
ESPN International | Brazil, Latin America, Pacific Rim

The Cage Warriors 63 fight card is below:

MAIN CARD | 9pm GMT (4pm ET/1pm PT)

Stevie Ray (c) vs. Ivan Buchinger - CWFC lightweight title bout
John Maguire vs. Philip Mulpeter
Jim Alers (c) vs. Graham Turner - CWFC featherweight title bout
Paul Redmond vs. Mateusz Teodorczuk
Karla Benitez vs. Aisling Daly

FACEBOOK PRELIMS | 7.30pm GMT (2.30pm ET/11.30am PT)

Sean Carter vs. Myles Price
Catherine Costigan vs. Morgane Delagnau
Kieran Davern vs. John Redmond
Amanda English vs. Slavka Vitaly

UNSTREAMED PRELIMS | 6.15pm local time (GMT)

Chris Boujard vs. Peter Queally
Gavin Kelly vs. Dylan Sheehan
Mick Brennan vs. Kieran O’Brien

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