Igeu ‘Smiley’ Kabesa becomes dual-division champion
Kabesa dominated his EFC match against Congolese fighter Kaleka Kabanda in a sensational first-round victory.
The EFC Performance Institute witnessed an evening of high drama where the interim middleweight champion, JP Kruger, turned the tide in an incredible display of courage to take the unified belt from Luke Michael.
After a first-round beating during which Michael employed his stifling wrestling to set up a hellacious beating upon his opponent which opened up a variety of cuts across Kruger’s battle-weary face.
Michael found himself unable to escape a mounted-guillotine choke in the second round and had no choice but to submit and hand the unified belt to Kruger and send the crowd into delirium.
Read more: EFC goes live on SABC
In the co-main event, the reigning featherweight champion, Igeu ‘Smiley’ Kabesa cemented his status as one of the greatest of all time by being the latest EFC legend to become a dual-division champion, dominating and subsequently submitting fellow Congolese fighter Kaleka Kabanda by taking a sensational first-round victory.
In a massive upset, Cameroonian debutante Isaac Muluh knocked out the favourite, Shadrack Nsua, in a huge catchweight clash.
At the beginning of the bout, Nsua felt the tide of the battle going his way, and as he hunted his opponent down, Muluh uncorked a massive left hook which floored the favourite forcing the referee’s stoppage.
Read more: EFC fighters show their mettle
The highly-anticipated featherweight Grand Prix kicked off as both Simbarashe Hokonya and Ayanda Zwane won their respective bouts, setting up a mutual showdown at a later date to decide who deserves the dubious right to face the rampaging Igeu Kabesa in the endeavour to contest his 145lb waist wear.
As indicative of a truly thrilling seven-fight undercard, three performance bonuses were handed out for a series of electrifying performances that set the stage for that momentous main card, sending a raucous crowd pouring into the Johannesburg autumn evening, having just witnessed one of greatest nights in the history of Africa’s premier sports promotion.
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