JP a winner in fans’ eyes
While he may not have won his title fight against Garreth 'Soldierboy' McLellan last week, Spring's JP 'Tinkerbell' Kruger remains a winner in the eyes of his fans.
The two took to the mixed martial arts (MMA) hexagon at the Coca-Cola Dome for EFC 28 where Soldierboy took the win with a rear naked choke in the first round.
“I was very humbled by this experience but most people know when I lose, when I win, I praise Jesus,” JP says.
The fight got underway with JP coming out boxing and the two were soon in a clinch which saw Garreth utilising some great judo throws.
JP responded with some wresting moves but Garreth grabbed his ankle and dragged him.
“I landed in half guard, pulled guard and worked my arm bars from plenty of angles,” JP explains.
“They definitely did their homework on arms bar defence and he followed my hips as I tried to put him into an arm bar. He was very good and after some mingling on the floor he passed my guard, took my back and put me in the choke.”
Commenting on his lose JP says: “It’s not fun to lose but I’ve always said in a fight at that level, the first guy to make a mistake will pay for it. I made the first mistake by giving him my back.”
He is, however, taking the lessons he learnt in this fight into his training in preparation for his next fight which hopes won’t be too far in the future, perhaps EFC 30.
But first he’ll be taking a well deserved break for two weeks before he gets back to serious training.
“I’m getting up and gunning for the title. I’m taking what I learnt last week to improve my game plan and my ground work and I’m coming back hard.
“The next guy I meet must know that I’m coming in strong to take the title,” he says.
Despite his lose his friends and fans are still firmly behind him as evidenced by the abundance of messages of support on his facebook page.
Responding to this outpouring of support, JP says he is extremely humbled.
“I don’t have fans, they are all friends and they are awesome,” he says adding that each one of these people make the sport worth it.
“It humbles me to see how many people love and care about me.
“I’ve trained around the world but no one, nowhere is so compassionate and loving as the people here in South Africa. It’s amazing.”
Adding to this, training mate Francois Groenewald adds: “the most important lesson JP teaches is that it’s okay to lose as long as you learn to get back up. Sometimes it’s necessary to lose to learn to dust yourself off and try again.”
Adding to this is Reuben Lombar, a facebook friend, who says: “It takes a real champ to stand up and continue fighting even harder than before. Ons is trots op sensei nog allipad.”
