Colchester fighter James Webb said he's come full circle after becoming just the sixth man to win world titles in two different weight divisions at Cage Warriors 180.
The Essex grappler, 34, stopped champion Andy Clamp with ground and pound in the third round of their thrilling title clash at the O2 Arena on Friday night.
With the victory, Webb added the light heavyweight strap to the middleweight gold he wore back in 2019, joining an elite group of fighters who have won Cage Warriors world titles in different divisions.
Webb now stands alongside MMA legends Conor McGregor and Dan Hardy in that group, as well as Paul McVeigh, Soren Bak and Mason Jones.
Speaking afterwards, an emotional Webb - who owns and runs the Combat Institute Gym in Colchester - said: “It’s come full circle. It’s been many years of hard work.
“I feel like I’ve been very under the radar, I think I’ve done a lot of good work in my time and had some tough things that have hit me.
“It’s come circle for me and my team. That win wasn’t for myself – the last win was for me – but this one was for everyone, this one was for everyone who’s been there and helped me.
“It’s come full circle and I’m very, very happy.”
Of the fight, Webb (now 11-5-1) added: “Andy was a lot tougher than I anticipated.
“I knew he was a good guy and a champion, so you’re know you’re in a tough fight and in for a rough night potentially and I’m just very grateful that I kept my head, kept listening to my team – the advice was superb, it was solid – and that was enabling me to push and give a bit more, I could hear them.
“And yeah, we got there.”
HISTORY HAS BEEN MADE!⁰⁰🏆🏆 James Webb is now a two-division champion #AndNew Cage Warriors Light-Heavyweight Champion.
— Cage Warriors (@CageWarriors) November 15, 2024
After a gruelling back and forth war with his opponent, he turned the tide in the third round to get the TKO finish 👏#CW180 pic.twitter.com/wWg9vyyp8T
Webb has had to battle through serious injury problems to get back to the summit, having suffered a bad neck injury against Nathias Frederick in his first middleweight title defence back in June 2019.
He's also added training trips to the camp of UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall to his regimen in recent months, where he's trained alongside some of the best big men in the sport, including Aspinall himself and fellow UFC star Modestas Bukauskas.
“I needed to prove something to myself," Webb said, when asked about pursuing a title fight in his new weight division.
"A lot of things have happened in the last few years, a lot of ups and downs – the last few years have been ups, but before that there was a lot of downs.
“I had to change some stuff. My team’s the same team, but with circumstances I had to find suitable guys (to train with) and I’m very blessed that I’ve got Modestas to keep me going and got me an invite up to Tom’s place. I got to train with the bigger guys and it made sense to push for this.
"I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved for my team, history made.”
As for what's next, Webb said: “I have some things I need to look at. I just had a daughter and I haven’t really seen her, so I need to put my father hat back on and be a man actually, be a man and look after my family for a little bit and see what happens.”
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