Joe Giannetti steps up to face Paddy Pimblett at Cage Warriors 111 in London

Former UFC and “The Ultimate Fighter 27” athlete Joe Giannetti is all set to step up and face one of Cage Warriors’ biggest stars on just 10 days’ notice at Cage Warriors 111.

Giannetti (8-2-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC), who has competed three times already for the Boston-based Cage Titans promotion in 2019, has signed to face former Cage Warriors featherweight champion Paddy Pimblett in a lightweight bout at the Indigo at The O2 on Friday, Nov. 22.

The fight will represent Giannetti’s third bout in five months as he looks to follow up on his first-round TKO finish of Keenan Raymond at Cage Titans 45 in August.

The 24-year-old impressed with his submission skills during the 27th season of “TUF,” as he claimed back-to-back first-round finishes of John Gunther and Allan Zuniga to earn a spot in the final, but he was defeated for the UFC contract by Mike Trizano. Now the Massachusetts native said he sees his upcoming fight with Pimblett as a potential springboard back into the UFC and a second chance in the octagon.

“This is a fight that international fight fans have wanted for a while,” Giannetti (8-2-1) said. “I’ve got a goal to get back into the UFC, Paddy’s got a goal to get to the UFC, so we’re going to find out who’s the other’s stepping stone.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Pimblett (14-3) said he was grateful to Giannetti for agreeing to step up on short notice, but said that doing so was a bad career move for the American.

“Stepping in on 10 days’ notice, most people wouldn’t do it,” Pimblett admitted. “Considering everyone says they want to fight me, when the opportunity came up, they all went missing.

“I’m grateful to Joe for stepping up, but it’s a bad decision for him. I don’t think he’s been finished before, so this will be the first time he’s been finished in his career.”

Pimblett is looking to bounce back following his unanimous decision loss to Soren Bak at Cage Warriors 96 in September 2018, but his originally-scheduled opponent, Belgium’s Donovan Desmae, was forced off the upcoming card through injury.

It left the door open for Giannetti, who is heading to London looking to claim a big-name British scalp. And he had a word of warning for “The Baddy” ahead of their matchup next weekend.

“I hope he’s not expecting an easy night because I got the call last minute,” he said. “We bring a different type of energy in Boston.”

The event will be headlined by a trio of title fights, with James Webb, Mads Burnell and Modestas Bukauskas putting their middleweight, featherweight and light heavyweight titles on the line respectively.

Confirmed fights for Cage Warriors 111 include:

MAIN CARD

• Champ James Webb vs. Nathias Frederick – for middleweight title
• Champ Mads Burnell vs. Steve Aimable – for featherweight title
• Champ Modestas Bukauskas vs. Riccardo Nosiglia – for light heavyweight title)
• Joe Giannetti vs. Paddy Pimblett
• Alex Lohore vs. Joilton Santos

PRELIMINARY CARD

• Ayton de Paepe vs. Cory Tait
• Mike Ekundayo vs. Luca Iovine
• Harry Davies vs. Josh Onwordi
• Adam Amarasinghe vs. Johan Segas
• Matthew Bonner vs. Warren Kee
• Jordan Barton vs. James Hendin
• Scott Butters vs. Kingsley Crawford
• Daryl Golding vs. Emrah Sonmez