Stevie Ray (Photo: Dolly Clew | Cage Warriors)

A new bout has been added to the Cage Warriors 63 New Year’s Eve card as current light weight champion Stevie Ray (14-4) defends the title against Slovakian native Ivan Buchinger (24-4). The event is set to take place at the Helix in Dublin, Ireland, on December 31st.

Cage Warriors officials recently confirmed the new bout via press release.

Cage Warriors 63 will also feature a featherweight championship bout between current champ Jim Alers and title challenger Graham Turner. The main card is expected to air live on Premier Sports here in the U.K. with the prelims likely to air on Facebook.

Newly crowned lightweight champion Stevie Ray won the title at Cage Warriors 60 on October 5th, defeating Sean Carter via first round submission in the finals of the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship four-man lightweight tournament. He made it to the final by defeating Jason Ball via unanimous decision earlier that same night in the semi-finals. Ray will no doubt look to extend his winning streak to three and make his first successful title defense with a good performance against Buchinger on New Year’s Eve.

“I wanted Buchinger next as he should have been in the tournament final, so I want to show everybody that the result would have been the same anyway. I respect him but the belt will be coming back to Scotland with me.” – Stevie Ray.

Ivan Buchinger is currently riding a three fight winning streak, most recently defeating Mick Sinclair via second round submission at Cage Warriors 60 earlier this month. Prior to that he scored a first round submission victory over Jamal Magomedov at Cage Warriors 58 in August, and picked a unanimous decision win over Jason Ball at Cage Warriors 54 in May. Buchinger now has the change to take home the title with a big win over Ray.

“Steven Ray is a deserving champion but I am determined to take that belt from him on New Year’s Eve. I’m very excited about the opportunity.” – Ivan Buchinger.

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