EFC 80: Underdog Lesar takes the winnings aginst McLellan
All eyes now turn to EFC 81, which takes place on August 10 at Time Square, Menlyn Maine, Pretoria.
It was widely said that EFC 80, which took place at Carnival City on June 29, would be the biggest event of the year for various reasons, and unlike most over-hyped fighting events during their build-up, the latest instalment of Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) met its high expectations.
One of those reasons is that the fight card was packed with quality match-ups, but the main event was always going to be the draw card for this one, which featured one of the best fighters in the organisation’s history in the form of former middleweight champion Garreth ‘Soldierboy’ McLellan.
The decorated McLellan had vacated his title five years ago to pursue a career at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in the US – a move that’s becoming a norm for dominant fighters at EFC.
It was no surprise then that the man known as Soldierboy was highly rated as the favourite against Brendan ‘Decendant’ Lesar.
But what would come as an even bigger surprise was the outcome of the clash, which has, for sure, gone down in EFC folklore as one of the biggest wins by an underdog, and in the same breath, the biggest upset too.
When the referee signalled the beginning of the highly anticipated bout, all eyes were on McLellan to see what he had to offer, but he wasn’t given much time to do so as Lesar (3-0) pulled off a stunning act with a spectacular knockout punch just under three minutes into the first round to send shock waves around the mixed martial arts (MMA) fraternity.
The arena at Ekurhuleni’s playground stood in stunned silence and for that, Lesar deserves his earned respect.
With the big win earning him the interim middleweight title, the hero of the night immediately faced-off with another high profile middleweight fighter in Dricus du Plessis, whom he’s now on a clash course with.
When asked if he thought Lesar could beat him, du Plessis replied: “Not a chance”. Lesar gave nothing more than a confident laugh in response.
The fight between Netherlands’ Mellony Geugjes and France’s Manon Fiorot played out to a brutal conclusion.
Striking sensation Fiorot immediately set about peppering Geugjes with long-range missiles, landing with a full arsenal of karate-based firepower against Geugjes, who kept steaming forward and landing strikes of her own, but ultimately could not match Fiorot’s output in the first.
In the second round, Fiorot revealed a new aspect to her game, scoring an early takedown and from there grinding Geugjes with strikes from her opponent’s full guard.
In the third round, Fiorot revealed the full range of her aggression, smashing Geugjes with increasingly creative and brutal strikes, as well as once again scoring a takedown against the fence, and pounding Geugjes out to earn the stoppage.
Fiorot has now booked a shot against EFC women’s flyweight and bantamweight champion, Amanda Lino, for her flyweight belt.
The official EFC 80 results are as follows:
- The fight between Warren Richards and Benjamin Mangala was cancelled.
- Duane Jones defeated Tommy Strydom via split decision.
- Serge Kasanda defeated Adrian Sanchez via split decision.
- Djikasa defeated Ivan Strydom via TKO (punches) 1:47 into round one.
- Fafa Dwama defeated Sylvester Chipfumbu via DQ (illegal kick) 1:03 into round three.
- Devon Cronje defeated Guy Mongambi via TKO (punches) 3:34 into round two.
- Saxon Delafield defeated Marcel Els via submission (armbar) 0:47 into round one.
- The fight between Luke Michael and Conrad Seabi was cancelled due to medical reasons.
- Manon Fiorot defeated Mellony Geugjes via TKO (punches) 4:17 into round three to win the The Fighter Season 2 tournament.
- Brendan Lesar defeated Garreth McLellan via KO (punch) 2:56 into round one. – @SabeloBoksburg
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