Fast and Furious in the cage

The eighth Fight Night was held in the old Meltz building at The Grove and the cage added to the tension. With more than 20 bouts the action was fast and furious.

Local fighters probably had their most successful event yet securing several wins over tough opposition from Gauteng. The night kicked off with two junior fights. Llewellyn Pretorius of XKT Middelburg and Tristan Schoeman of Rio Grappling Club Lowveld (RGCL) won with impressive technical displays.

Tommy Eckley of Barberton Extreme MMA lost a tough battle and Anthony Tope of RGCL lost in a determined ground attack.

The encounter between Devan Viljoen of XKT Middelburg and Dungeon MMA’s JP le Roux was the runner-up fight of the night. Devan lost to JP but has a great future.

Nico Joubert of Barberton Extreme MMA showed his talent by easily dispatching of Ryan Miles of Gauteng. Cuan Maizey of RGCL won his fight against Jurie van der Linde through a rear naked choke, however, Marcus Olivier of Barberton could not get the better of Jacques Prinsloo of River Square MMA in Gauteng.

In a local derby, Eric van Rooyen managed to beat Chris Steenekamp of Barberton Extreme MMA through a technical knockout (TKO). The main card was introduced when a massive battle ensued and eventually became the Fight of the Night between Jedri Koekemoer of RGCL and Cole Henning of Fighting Fit.

It was great as both guys showed heart.

Henning could not take the punishment and lost to Koekemoer in the second round. Crowd favourite, Quentin Graaff of RGCL, followed this with another thrilling fight against Johan Erasmus of Fighting Fit. This was tough -blows and kicks were exchanged and the ground fighting was nail-biting.

The judges decided after three rounds that Erasmus had done enough to take the win, however, it was a very close call. The penultimate bout was that of Pieter de Klerk, an unbeaten fighter of XKT Middelburg. He took on a very skilled fighter of World of Warriors, Jasen van der Merwe.

Van der Merwe was just too good and finished the fight with an armbar, earning himself Submission of
the Night.

In the final fight of the evening, Joggie Venter of Barberton Extreme MMA was not able to match Ugi Radloscevic’s intensity an ferocious power, also losing by a TKO.

“This NFN main card produced some of our most exciting fights to date. We continuously try to bring Nelspruit well-matched exciting fights and are grateful that we are in a position to give combat athletes a stage to show their skills and develop as fighters by competing against top opposition.

“Thanks to the fans for their support, without them this would not be possible,” said Craig McFadyen, event organiser.

Keep an eye out on their Facebook page, Nelspruit Fight Night for information on the next event. Enquiries: Craig on 082-459-5898.