Tough MMA Battle

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighters Tumisang Madiba and Stefan Pretorius from Springs Rio Grappling Club took part in the amateur MMA tournament Fight Stars 3 recently held at Mandeville Sports Centre Bezuidenhout Valley, Bedfordview.
Tumisang took on Pierre Botha from Guts n Glory, while Stefan fought Robert Simbowe from WOW.
Stefans fight with Robert only lasted one round.
My plan was to take him to the ground and keep the fight on the mat, says Stefan.
Robert threw a few good punches during the fight, landing some ground and pound to Stefan on the mat. Stefan worked his way around this, by having Robert in a triangle headlock.
Robert tried to retaliate by attempting to pick Stefan up for a slam, but this proved unsuccessful.
Like a python Stefan tightened his leg grip around Robert’s neck, eventually leaving Robert to tap out.
Despite Robert entering the fight with three wins and one loss, Stefans fighting skills ended the fight in a mere two minutes.
Tumisang’s fight proved to be a three round battle with the well-known wrestler Pierre Botha.
In the first round the two fighters sized each other up, delivering punches to one another.
Tumisang’s game plan was to keep the fight standing to avoid Botha’s wrestling skills on the mat.
After throwing some combo punches, Tumisang had the upper hand when he slammed Botha to the ground.
Both were cornered on the ground and let loose with some up kicks, and Pierre connected a few to Tumisang’s head, who fought back with some ground and pound punches.
He eventually tried to grip Pierre from the back, working in a choke, but this also proved useless for the young fighter.
In the second round, Tumisang changed his strategy, unleashing his signature fight move the Zulu boy; this is a rolling somersault, combined with a kick to the jaw. The move proved to benefit Tumisang as he had Pierre in a roll, landing some punches to his chest.
The third round tested both fighters endurance and strategy.
Pierre kept the fight on the mat, landing some knee kicks.
He basically took me down and laid and preyed, I tried using some Jujitsu, but his wrestling moves were superior, says Tumisang.
Towards the end of the third round, the fight was stopped and the decision went to the judges.
They rewarded Pierre with the win.
According to Stefan I would’ve called it a draw.
Despite the loss for Tumisang he says he felt prepared.
Compared to my past fights, I am proud of myself that I was able to compete with a decorated South African wrestler.
Cage Wars Championship is the next MMA fighting tournament that will be held at Spring Indoor Sports Centre in August.
The fighters will seek victory in a cage that has been shipped in from Britain, which was used in the original cage wars tournament.