“Herculeez” versus “The Lion” at EFC 29
Dino “The Lion” Bagattin returns to Carnival City to defend his welterweight title for the first time against Henry “Herculeez” Fadipe, at EFC Africa 29.
Bagattin won the title after sensationally winning it from Michiel Opperman at EFC 23 last September, in a bout that was later named fight of the year.
Bagattin (11-3), a veteran of EFC who’s been with the organisation since EFC 1, will be looking to complete his first successful title defense in Fadipe’s expense, and put an end to a rivalry stirred by a Twitter feud, which started in early February amid the initial announcement of the May 1 fight.
Nigerian-born Irishman Fadipe (7-6-1), entered the EFC hexagon exactly a year ago, and immediately impressed by battling Tumelo Maphutha to a split decision draw, this coming behind historical wins against Martin van Staden and former champion, Opperman.
Herculeez will be looking to give the ultimate impression with a win over the champion.
With the Twitter feud having gained momentum in the last couple of weeks, the meeting between the two quickly turned personal and MMA fans are in for yet another classic welterweight title showdown.
Elsewhere, former middleweight champion, Jeremy “Pitbull” Smith, will battle it out with Opperman in another highly-anticipated clash.
Smith is intent on earning another shot at champion Garreth “Soldierboy” McLellan while Opperman, will be happy to make the weight-rise and test his mettle in the middleweight division.
In the night’s supporting main event, Brendon Katz will challenge Boksburg’s Barend “BB Gun” Nienaber in their featherweight number one contender bout.
“I’ll be aggressive, I’ll be taking it to the cage and I’m going to bring him down,” crowed Nienaber in a TV interview.
“I’m going to be aggressive and he (Katz) is going to get a beating. He can take it (the fight) to the ground or take it standing, he can choose where he wants to lose,” concluded the undefeated (2-0) Nienaber.
Katz (6-2), a well-known EFC figure, made his return to EFC last September having left African shores to fight internationally. He faced and defeated Gareth Buirski to secure his number one contender spot.
