The Zulu ‘king’ is crowned at EFC 43
In one of two fights at EFC 43 that went the distance on the night, Boksburg’s Pierre Botha overcame Nelson Feiteira via a split decision in an absorbing battle.
Botha fought in front of a partisan crowd that packed out the Durban ICC Arena on Thursday, August 27.
The flyweight championship fight between Nkazimulo ”Zulu Boy” Zulu and Craig ”Nemo” Ninow headlined the event.
Backed by a boisterous crowd chanting his name, Nemo entered the Hexagon looking to make good on his destiny.
It was not to be, though, as history repeated itself in a rematch between the two. Zulu put on a clinical performance with a well thought out strategy.
He took Ninow down early, which made the local fighters wary of further takedowns, so he kept his distance.
This led to Ninow’s eventual downfall, as he was caught with a devastating uppercut.
As soon as Ninow dropped, Zulu pounced on his opponent, landing vicious ground and pound shots that forced the referee to award the victory via TKO.
For the first time in EFC history, the women’s division was represented on the main card.
Featuring South Africa’s Amanda ”Mad Dog” Lino and France’s Isabelle ”Mademoiselle” Pare, the women showed no hesitation and engaged from the first bell.
Pare took advantage of Lino’s wild swings by showing her boxing pedigree and flooring the South African.
Once stunned, Pare proceeded to display her ground skills and sink in a rear-naked choke to win on her EFC debut, in round one.
In a bout to decide the EFC middleweight number one contender, Poland’s Rafal ”The Polish Tank” Haratyk faced formidable submission expert Warren Allison.
What started off as a slow encounter, with neither man wanting to make a mistake, Haratyk was the first to find his distance and land a powerful overhand right, to stun the South African.
Allison showed grit and fought back, but it was not enough, as he was caught in a vicious standing guillotine choke.
Haratyk will now face the newly crowned champion, Liam Cleland, at date to be decided.
