Featherweight Francois to fight
Francois 'Franaconda' Groenewald (28) will be participating in a featherweight fight at Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) Africa 21, on July 25 at Carnival City's Big Top arena.
He will be one of the main card fights of the night that will be broadcast live on Supersport, channel 200 and Supersport HD on channel 206.
Francois will be fighting against Gareth Buirski who he has never fought against.
“I have seen many of Gareth’s fights, he is a strong, physical fighter, with explosive power”, says Francois.
Francois is a more of a technical fighter going into this bout.
However, this is his first fight since November after recovering from a knee injury.
“I’m confident going into this fight, the injury gave me time to work on my fighting skills and technique, I feel fitter than ever”, says Francois.
He feels that he can beat Gareth regardless of their very different fighting styles.
This is due to Francois training with fellow EFC fighter Jean Pierre Kruger.
“My game plan against Gareth will be trying to keep the fight on the ground, trying to get him into a submission move or execute some ground and pound punches against him, I’ve been working a lot on my Mauy Thai fighting techniques and will be looking for a knock out on fight night”, says Francois.
MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) training takes a toll on any fighter’s physical and mental fitness, usually fighters train for six weeks or longer before entering the cage for a fight.
For Francois, he finds the first 15 minutes before the fight to be the most nerve wrecking for him, but “once I step into the cage, that all fades away, to a sort of tunnel vision, in any fight I’ve trained myself to only listen to my corner man during the fight.”
Even though Gareth has a big MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) following, this does not deter Francois in seeking victory on the night.
“Keep calm, filter out the negative thoughts and trust in myself because regardless of how many times you can rehearse out a fight in your mind, on the day of the fight you might have to constantly change your fighting style to overcome your opponent.”
This statement from him comes with experience as he admits, “all the fights in which I’ve ever had pre-planned fight moves I had planned before had never really worked out, adapting your fighting style in the cage in essential to beat your opponent.”
During an EFC or MMA fight, nothing is planned, each fight consists of three rounds that are five minutes long.
Fighters can use various fighting techniques from boxing, wrestling, judo, jujitsu and other martial arts to gain victory over their opponent.
This sport does come with its injuries and risks, Francois remembers in one of his four professional fights that he had his opponent in a submission, but he refused to tap out for a win, Francois left him with a broken arm after the fight.
When asked what makes him different to other fighters, “my diversity in fighting techniques and my grappling abilities, I also experiment a lot during training and during a fight.”
This has proved to benefit him in previous fights, one of Francois most memorable fights was against a Russian fighter, “with only two weeks notice to the fight, I fought against a Russian boxer and managed to overpower him with a submission in the first round.
Francois hoping to wear out Gareth’s aggressive fighting style, “he’s a hard hitter, I expect him to try overwhelm and overpower me.”
This comes to no surprise for Francois as Gareth won ‘knock of the year’ for EFC last year.
‘Franaconda’ seeks constrict Gareth’s punches and suffocate another win for him and Rio Grappling Club.
This fight will determine future bouts for Francois and potential championship title fights for him.
Follow Francois on twitter for a build up to his fight and his experience on the day, @franamma.
