At Cage Warriors 56 last month SBG’s Philip Mulpeter put the entire lightweight division on notice with a devastating TKO of wily veteran Warren Kee. He tells Tom Rooney how a training excursion to Iceland earlier in the year irrevocably sharpened his focus and that his eyes are now firmly fixed on bringing the belt vacated by Conor McGregor back to where it last resided.

Prior to Cage Warriors 56 in London, Philip Mulpeter (6-3 MMA, 1-1 CW) may have been a largely unknown quantity to fight fans outside of Ireland, but after his utter domination of Warren Kee in their catchweight bout at 160lbs, he announced himself on the European stage as serious threat to anyone in his new home at 155lbs.

The 24-year-old Laois native gave a near-flawless display; taking down Kee at will, and showcasing a dynamic, slick ground game which ultimately led to referee Neil Hall stopping the fight at 3:24 of the second round due to TKO via elbows. While Mulpeter didn’t overly prepare for Kee’s game specifically, he had intended to go to the mat early.

“I knew Warren was a wild striker and I planned going in there that I wasn’t going to get suckered into a big sloppy barn brawl straight away in round one. So, I said I’d take him down and wear him out a bit, and then work my stand up in the second. But when I took him down I felt I could control him easy on the ground, so I was going to keep going that way.”

Perhaps best known as primarily a striker to that point, he says it was a trip to Gunnar Nelson’s Mjolnir training facility that not only compelled him to appreciate the intricacies of grappling more, but made him cognisant of what he hopes to achieve in his MMA career.

“My Jiu Jitsu and my wrestling really went up a step up when I went to Iceland early on in the year for two weeks and was living with John (Kavanagh) and Cathal (Pendred). When I came home I really had a new attitude to Jiu Jitsu, I thought about it different.

“My outlook to training and fighting was different, when we were living to together all we did was eat, sleep, train and talk about MMA and it kind of stepped me up bit. It made me think more about it, and my attitude is different now. I really think I’m going to make it now; I’m dedicated to it and just think it’s going to happen soon.”

First and foremost, by making it, he means having the currently vacant Cage Warriors lightweight belt wrapped around his waist, a desire he was in no way ambiguous about during his post-fight interview in the Forum.

“The Cage Warriors lightweight belt is all that’s on my mind. I feel like that’s your ticket to the next stage, wherever it may be. That’s why I want to get the word out. I feel my next fight should be against one of the top lightweights that Cage Warriors have. I really feel that once they give me a top guy, that I’m going to showcase my skills and I’ll go through them.

“I believe that on the roster there are not many guys that can beat me and I’m going to win that lightweight belt. I want to fight on the next show, hopefully they’ll give me a decent lightweight and I’ll put him away and get a title shot,” he said.

Mulpeter has three fights left on his current Cage Warriors contract and, ideally, he would like to fulfil that quota by year’s end to well and truly get the word out. “I have told Cage Warriors that I’m ready to go and hopefully I can get on very soon; September or maybe earlier. I’d love to get three more fights by the end of the year. I’m going to be a menace in that lightweight division.”

By Tom Rooney – @oldmanrooney