Dino ‘The Lion’ Bagattin was crowned the new welterweight champion on Thursday, September 12 at EFC 23.
He beat Michiel Opperman for the welterweight title in the first of two main event bouts at Carnival City.
‘The Lion’, as he is affectionately known by his fans, fed off from the big support from the crowd and assumed ascendency early on in the five-round match with jabs, uppercuts and kicks seeing the champ retreat in the early stages.
With momentum, Opperman, the defending champion spent more time on the floor than upright with ‘The Lion’ all over him towards the end of round two.
Opperman finally got out of his shell in round three and came out of his corner firing away with rights-and-lefts at Bagattin’s head to put the challenger from Linden, on the floor as the momentum swung in the bout.
It was a brief momentum-swing though as the match gradually turned into a one-sided contest with the challenger landing damaging shots to the head of the tiring champion in round four.
With Opperman refusing to back down, ‘The Lion’ was made to fight for his victory.
EFC Africa heavyweight champion Andrew ‘One Gear’ van Zyl brushed aside Sors Grobbelaar in the second round to successfully defend his title in the second main event bout of the night.
Grobbelaar’s powerful punches in round two were not enough as he moments later tapped-out due to repeated strikes to his head.
In another highly-anticipated match, Boyd Allen continued his dominance in the featherweight division by defeating mixed martial arts legend Wesley Hawkey.
Allen planted the man from Durban with a variety of strikes, followed him to the ground, and finished by guillotine submission.
Allen has yet to lose a round in the hexagon.
Sibusiso ‘The Master’ Mdoko whose entrance music was ‘Nkalakatha’ from Mandoza, beat Johann van Staden in a lightweight bout to win in the early stages of round three.
Van Staden found himself often on the floor in both rounds.
‘The Master’ dramatically performed a jump and landed on his knees in celebration and proved to be a real Nkalakatha (the man).
In one of the main fights, Vandam Mbuyi dismantled opponent Wilhelm Strauss in a heavyweight bout with a knockout in the night’s shortest fight.
Mbuyi’s win came 28 seconds into the first round.
The other awards of the evening went to Pierre Botha for his impressive arm triangle victory over Baldwin Mdlalose and the epic welterweight title clash between Michiel Opperman and Dino Bagattin was awarded fight of the night.
Other results:
Nelson Feiteira defeated Anicet Kanyeba via submission (heel hook), 3:50 into round 1.
Pierre Botha defeated Baldwin Mdlalose via submission (arm triangle), 3:44 into round 2.
Dricus du Plessis defeated Bruno Mukulu via submission (RNC) 2:34 into Round 1.
Hanru Botha defeated Peter Nyide via unanimous decision.
Francois Groenewald defeated Craig Ninow via submission (RNC), 3:50 into round 3.
Brendan Groenewald defeated Roelof Scheepers via submission (RNC), 4:10 into round 1.
Alexander Cheboub defeated Kalil Akleker via unanimous decision.
Henry Fadipe defeated Martin van Staden via submission (ankle lock), 2:18 into round 1.
