Double gold for Dricus du Plessis
The evening’s main event was contested between EFC welterweight champion Dricus Du Plessis and EFC middleweight and British Association of Mixed Martial Arts (BAMMA) champion, the UK’s Yannick Bahati.
The biggest night in EFC history, EFC 62, had a fairy-tale ending at Carnival City’s Big Top Arena on August 19, when South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis became the first man in the organisation’s history to hold a title in two divisions simultaneously.
Flyweight champ, “Zulu Boy” Nkazimulo Zulu, also defended his title and Igeu Kabesa reclaimed the featherweight strap.
The evening’s main event was contested between EFC welterweight champion Dricus Du Plessis and EFC middleweight and British Association of Mixed Martial Arts (BAMMA) champion, the UK’s Yannick Bahati.
Du Plessis did what many thought was impossible and finished Bahati by brutal guillotine in the first round, obliterating his opponent and stepping into a new era of the organisation.
Bahati was gracious in defeat and agreed if du Plessis wanted to return the favour and meet him in the UK for his BAMMA title, he would be happy to oblige.
Zulu lived up to his reputation by delivering a stand-up master class.
Although Sylvester Chipfumbu troubled Zulu in the first round, the champion dismantled his opponent thereafter, leaving him cowering in the fourth when the referee finally called it off.
Kabesa against Pierre Botha for the vacant featherweight title was always going to be wrestler versus wrestler affair and it was a poorly timed suplex that sealed Botha’s fate.
Storming into the first, he was controlled by Kabesa. He attempted a suplex escape against the fence and gifted his opponent the full mount position.
The fight ended by TKO (punches) in the first.
The UK’s Cal Ellenor made his EFC debut against local favourite Gareth Buirski and both fought a hard fight to the final bell.
The judges’ decision caused consternation when they ruled in favour of Buirski (split decision), with most of the crowd convinced the foreigner had done enough to take it.
Sindile Manengela and Barend Nienaber put in two hard rounds of even fighting in their main card opener until Manengela found the edge in the third, finishing his opponent from Pretoria by rear-naked choke.
Performance bonuses were awarded to Ngcobo, van Rooyen, Buirski and Ellenor. The Fight of the Night accolade was awarded to the flyweight title bout between Zulu and Chipfumbu.
The official EFC 62 results are:
• Steven Goncalves defeated Claude Ntumba via unanimous decision.
• Sifiso Ngcobo defeated JP Van Rooyen via TKO (punches) 4:26 in round one.
• Trezeguet Kanyinda defeated Stephan De La Rey via TKO (punches) 4:54 in round one.
• Rizlen Zouak defeated Bunmi Ojewole via TKO (punches) 1:08 in round two.
• Ricky Misholas defeated Nico Yamdjie via unanimous decision.
• Sindile Manengela defeated Barend Nienaber via submission (rear-naked choke) 2:48 in round three.
• Gareth Buirski defeated Callum Ellenor via split decision.
• Igeu Kabesa defeated Pierre Botha TKO (punches) 3:19 in round one.
• Nkazimulo Zulu defeated Sylvester Chipfumbu via TKO (punches) 1:38 in round four.
• Dricus du Plessis defeated Yannick Bahati via submission (Guillotine) 1:30 in round one.
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