The fight has hardly begun when Springs’ Francois “Franaconda” Groenewald beat Leo Gloss, by technical knock-out (TKO) at EFC29 last Thursday. After waiting three years for this grudge match, Franaconda was able to beat Gloss 3 minutes 32 seconds into the first round with a submission leading to the referee calling the match due to a TKO.
Proclaimed a gateway fight when Gloss could not make the 61kg limit for a bantamweight fight, the men agreed to a 64kg weight and the lighter fighter, Franaconda, set to work taking down his opponent.
He explains that Gloss is a seasoned veteran of the EFC circuit with a good boxing track record which forced Francois to work on his stand up strategy, as well as his wrestling, in preparation for this fight.
“Going into the fight I was cautious of Gloss’ hands but I felt confident with my stand up since I have been training a lot for this fight and my wrestling so I got the take down quite easily.
“We started off trading a bit and then I went in with heavy kicks and a spinning back elbow,” he explains.
Francois then landed a single leg take down and, taking Gloss’ back, attempted a choke which Gloss defended well, not allowing Francois to succeed with this move.
He explains he was then able to “take mount and unload some big elbows, ground and pound. After about 20 unanswered strikes, the ref called the fight.”
Francois says the ref would normally call a fight after four to six unanswered blows.
The fight can, however, continue for longer if “a fighter is answering intelligently and trying to get out of the position”.
“Leo was trying to punch his way out which may have worked with an opponent who had not concentrated on their wrestling, but it was useless against me and the ref eventually called the fight when he could not get out of the position.”
This is Francois’ fourth straight win and, hopefully, will put him in line for a title fight as soon as early July.
“This win was a great feeling, especially since I was able to finish him – sometimes you beat your opponent but don’t manage to finish him.
“I am ready to go for the gold belt now.”
