Local MMA fighter robbed of victory at Carnival City
"It is a privilege to win the fight of the night, which means that Oumpie and I did our bit to impress the crowd and judges. This helps to enhance our popularity too."
Local MMA fighter, Lourens Botes,
got hard done by at the recent EFC Africa 34 national event when he lost a close battle to Oumpie Sebeko via split decision at Carnival City in Johannesburg.
The two competitors won the accolade for fight of the night, chosen from the 12 fights that were on the events card. What makes this achievement even more outstanding is that these two men weren’t even part of the main card bouts which has more prestige and popularity.
“It is a privilege to win the fight of the night, which means that Oumpie and I did our bit to impress the crowd and judges. This helps to enhance our popularity too.”
It was a bittersweet night for Botes who believed that he was robbed of a victory as he thought that he had done well enough to have the judges score the fight in his favour.
“I knew that the match was going to be tough as he has a strong boxing and kick-boxing background. The game plan was to keep him on the ground, so that he could not use his powerful strikes.”
“I had him on the ground for about 80 per cent of the match and controlled the fight. Normally you would get more points for keeping your opponent on the ground. This time the ball did not roll into my court.
“I will take this loss on the chin and keep training hard and enjoying what I’m doing. A victory wil come my way again,” he said confidently.
Botes still has three contracted EFC fights left and will be looking to make sure that he adds to his winning column in the future.
