Milestones galore at EFC Africa 29
An unforgettable, double milestone was set at Carnival City on Thursday, May 1, when Nigeria’s Henry "Herculeez" Fadipe, fighting out of Ireland, won their first ever EFC Africa championship belt for both countries.
Fadipe took the title from Dino “The Lion” Bagattin, in a thrilling one-round contest.
The bout had seen a huge amount of hype in the lead up.
General sentiment focused on the superior speed and conditioning of Bagattin, versus the raw, knock-out power of Fadipe.
Proceedings went as predicted when Bagattin came out firing and tagged Fadipe with both leg kicks and punches, weaving out of range, before finally engaging too eagerly and dropping to a straight right delivered by “Herculeez”.
Fadipe’s win continues the mythical “curse” of the welterweight belt, under which the title has never been successfully defended.
“My advice to any welterweight with a dream is to change divisions,” said Fadipe afterwards, clearly intending to break the curse.
A shot at the vacant featherweight title was on the line when Brendon Katz and Barend Nienaber met.
Katz was confident before, inviting Nienaber to “choose the way you lose this fight” in a promotional video.
It was not to be.
Nienaber had identified Katz’s strength as a striker, and nullified it with a consummate ground game.
He fought clinically for three rounds, and took the victory with ease.
Afterwards, number one contender Boyd Allen entered the hexagon and issued a warning to Nienaber.
“If he thinks he’s going to fight me like that and keep me down for five rounds, he’s got another thing coming,” he said.
Nienaber will face Allen for the title at EFC Africa 31, on July 3.
Jeremy Smith and Michiel Opperman are both former champions, and fought like it.
Opperman surprised everyone with a dominant performance in the first round, besting Smith in the clinch and cutting him with an elbow.
The second saw Smith finding his brutal boxing groove by scoring big body shots.
The third round had each with all to play for, and it seemed that Smith was edging the points with superior boxing, until Opperman knocked him down with a massive knee to the head.
Opperman took the fight by a split decision, with the knee knock down no doubt making the difference.
This bout was later named Fight of the Night.
Alex Cheboub versus Wade Groth was expected to be a showstopper.
Cheboub immediately launched his well-known unorthodox attacking style, which Groth weathered and replied to with pinpoint strikes.
The crowd were on their feet when Cheboub landed a stunning spinning back kick.
They stayed there as Groth responded with a monster overhand right that dropped Cheboub.
Many disagreed with the decision, Cheboub protesting that he was able to fight on, but the TKO had already been called.
In the preliminary bouts, the Brakpan-based Xtreme Kickboxing Technologies (XKT) Pro League fighter Francois “Franaconda” Groenewald defeated rival Leo Gloss via a technical knock-out (TKO), three minutes and 32 seconds into the first round.
Full results from EFC Africa 29 are:
- Tyson Chelin defeated Mbulelo Swekile via unanimous decision.
- Saxon Delafield defeated Pietie Coxen via submission (armbar) 0:31 into round one.
- Gordon Roodman defeated Pupanga Tresor via submission (armbar) 2:29 into round two.
- Ricky Misholas defeated Dewald Botes via TKO 4:28 into round two.
- Morne Prinsloo defeated Mark Hulme via DQ (illegal strikes) 1:49 into round one.
- Francois Groenewald defeated Leo Gloss via TKO 3:32 into round one.
- Gareth Buirski defeated Peter Nyide via TKO 4:36 into round one.
- Wade Groth defeated Alexander Cheboub via TKO 4:06 into round two.
- Michiel Opperman defeated Jeremy Smith via split decision.
- Barend Nienaber defeated Brendon Katz via unanimous decision.
- Henry Fadipe defeated Dino Bagattin via KO 3:09 into round one.
