Graham Boylan details flyweight title fallout, says Cage Warriors is done with Nathan Greyson

Just two days away from what was scheduled to be his first flyweight title defense, Nathan Greyson has been stripped of the Cage Warriors title and according to president Graham Boylan, “Dread” will never fight for the promotion again.

Boylan announced Thursday that the flyweight title had been vacated after Greyson revealed that he would not be able to make championship weight for the main event of Cage Warriors 99 on Saturday in Colchester, England. On the same day, Boylan revealed that challenger Blaine O’Driscoll would receive his full purse for the event, despite him being left with no opponent.

The Cage Warriors president spoke exclusively to MMA Fighting, giving his timeline of events which led to the vacated flyweight title and axed main event.

“Monday, we got a message from [Nathan Greyson’s] team saying he’s not going to make weight,” Boylan told MMA Fighting.

“I was kind of saying, ‘There’s nothing to discuss on this until weigh-in day on Friday,’ because he was looking to make some kind of deal where he didn’t have to fight at flyweight. We said, ‘You’re the 125-pound champion, you have to defend your belt. We’re not going to let you fight at a catchweight and still keep your belt—that’s not going to happen.’

“His team said, ‘Leave it with us’, and then on Tuesday they said they didn’t think they were going to make the weight again. On Wednesday, they pulled it.”

He hoped that he could still give O’Driscoll an opportunity to make championship weight, but claimed Greyson was not interested in that scenario playing out.

Boylan recalled: “I gave them the option on Wednesday, I said, ‘If you’re pulling the fight then at least give me the opportunity to speak to Blaine and ask Blaine what he wants to do’. If Nathan still wanted to fight, it was Blaine’s decision because Blaine could still fight for the belt and Nathan couldn’t. [Nathan] didn’t give me the opportunity to speak to Blaine. They said, ‘We’re not going to make weight, we’re out.’ That was that.”

According to Boylan, he decided that vacating the title was the correct course of action after he and his team got to the bottom of everything that happened.

“The title was vacated once we got to bottom of everything. As far as we were concerned on Monday and Tuesday, Nathan was still stepping on the scales and he was still going to register a weight. Yes, we knew that the chances were that he wasn’t going to make weight, but we were under the impression that he would still step on the scales and something could be brokered from there.

“There was more contact on Wednesday asking for the catchweight fight and I said, ‘Are you f*cking joking? You’re the champion, you cannot fight at a catchweight. The only things that can happen now are you not fighting; you pull out or you have some respect and you give Blaine the opportunity to fight for the belt that you cannot defend’.

“Nathan wanted to have his pie and eat it, basically. He wanted to fight at 135 against Blaine but he wanted to keep his 125 belt.”

The Irish promoter also insisted that Cage Warriors is no longer interested in promoting Greyson following the flyweight title fallout.

“100 percent,” he replied when asked if Cage Warriors were no longer interested in promoting Greyson. “He will never step foot in Cage Warriors again.”

Boylan believes that former title contender Sam Creasey versus Blaine O’Driscoll is the fight to make for the newly vacated title. He also doubled downed on his commitment to get O’Driscoll a fight at the marquee event, Cage Warriors 100, but conceded that it is unlikely that a flyweight title fight could be booked within such a short window.

“This is where the flyweight division is: Nathan Greyson, Sam Creasey and Blaine O’Driscoll are the three top guys that would be in the mix for that belt. Those guys are the people that are on the level to have a world title fight. Everyone else in the flyweight division is up and coming, so they aren’t even in the bracket, they’re only a few fights into their careers. The obvious fight there would be Creasey and Blaine,” he explained.

“I think [Cage Warriors 100] would be a bit too early for Creasey. He’s a big cutter too and I don’t think that gives him enough time to get ready for a five rounder and to make weight.

“What we can do is try to get Blaine a fight on Cage Warriors 100. I’ll do everything I can to help him because I feel very sorry for him. I’m genuinely gutted for the kid. After all the work he’s put in, for Nathan to just drop him in the sh*t is disgusting.”