Marcin Zembala vs Leon Hill set for Cage Warriors Dublin

Image credit: Dolly Clew / Cage Warriors

A lightweight fight between Team Torres’ Marcin Zembala (7-6) and Team KF’s Leon Hill (4-1) is set take place at Cage Warriors 153 on Saturday 29th April in Dublin’s 3Arena. Multiple sources confirmed the matchup to SevereMMA.com.

It marks the second all-Irish showdown on the card, with Team Ryano’s Dean Barry and Team KF’s Adam Shelley already marked to square off in front of the Dublin crowd.

2022 was a year of resurgence for both Zembala and Hill.

Polish-born and Newry-raised Zembala went 4-1 in the space of 6 months. He kicked off his campaign by pulling victory from the jaws of defeat with a comeback submission over Alexander Yankov at Iúr FC 4 in June. Following a loss the next month, Zembala scored a beautiful highlight-reel KO to rebound back into the win column in a bout he contested up at middleweight over in Serbia in August. The Team Torres charge followed up with back-to-back decisions wins, most recently defeating Rogger Lopez at Iúr FC 5 to ride a three-fight win streak into this next fight vs Hill.

As mentioned, 2022 was a banner year for Team KF’s Leon Hill also. The Drogheda fighter made his professional debut on just days notice at Cage Warriors 116 in September 2020, but it would be almost 2 years before he competed again. Hill returned in ferocious fashion at Cage Conflict 7 in July, stopping Bilal Benrais via 1st-round TKO. Hill built on that momentum with a trio of consecutive first-round stoppages over Simeon Otley, Dillan Douglas, and Connor Dearn to cap off a perfect 4-0 run in a 5-month stretch, and bring his overall pro scorecard to 4-1 entering 2023. Hill looked streaks ahead of his competition throughout the year, and the evidence was overwhelming that an increase in opponent skill level was needed. It seems Cage Warriors agreed, offering “The Professional” a multi-fight contract at the end of 2022.

For both Hill and Zembala, they will each face sterner competition when they step into the cage across from one another come Saturday April 29th. The pair join a growing number of Irish bouts announced for Cage Warriors’ return to 3Arena. Full card to date below:

Main event: Welterweight Title Unification: Rhys McKee vs Jimmy Wallhead
Welterweight bout: James Sheehan vs Oban Elliott
Featherweight bout: Ryan Shelley vs Tobias Harila
Lightweight bout: Dean Barry vs Adam Shelley
Welterweight bout: Adam Darby vs Jack Turner
Middleweight bout: Paddy McCorry vs Angus Hewett
Middleweight bout: Kyle McClurkin vs Owain Williams
Featherweight bout: Solomon Simon vs Dorian Cliucinicov
Lightweight bout: Marcin Zembala vs Leon Hill

Tickets for Cage Warriors 153 can be purchased on Ticketmaster.