The brain child of Irish sports promoter John Ferguson, Cage Contender was established with a 6 man knockout tournament at Contender I on 24th August 2009. From these humble beginning's Cage Contender has rapidly became Irelands number one domestic Mixed Martial Arts promotion. Within only 8 months Cage Contender had agreed terms with TV stations including Setanta Sports with Cage Contender IV going to air on 8th May 2010.

In June 2010 Ferguson announced that in a tie up with leading Irish bookmaker chain Boyle Sports Cage Contender would become the first European MMA promotion to offer odds and betting on it's events. Cage Contender showcases the finest home grown Irish MMA talent and a mixture of top European and International competitors, Cage Contender provides Irelands most entertaining MMA viewing platform for you to enjoy.

Cage Contender rolled into Dublin's National Arena on July 24th, Cage Contender V was televised in 64 countries world wide and it seen over 3000 spectators in the arena. CC5 featured the biggest bantamweight fight in European MMA history when European number 1 Paul "Metabolic" McVeigh over came European number 2 Artemij Sitenkov to become Cage Contender Bantamweight Champion.

Shortly after the success of CC5 Ferguson brought Cage Contender to the mainland UK with a bill that featured some of the best known fighters in European MMA, including the international phenomenon Gunnar Nelson

The Cage Contender growth story is still continuing, the brand is now broadcast in 72 countries to millions of homes around the globe

Cage Contender Shows are a mixture of Professional and Semi-Professional contests fought by competitors Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and various countries in Europe . Cage Contender is the only fully independent MMA promotion in Ireland.