Marcel wins his first pro fight

The fights took place at the Hellenic Community Hall in Primrose, Germiston and saw Marcel ‘Madness’ Els (29) win his professional debut.

Both Francois ‘The Saint’ Strydom (23) and Orlando ‘Mean Machine’ Mashaba (30) lost their ProAm fights.

Marcel took on Tommy Strydom from Junk Yard MMA in Boksburg, winning the fight in the first minute of the first round by rear naked choke.

He comments that Tommy is a great kickboxer, who put up a good fight, making the win all the more satisfying.

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“I’d like to thank Tommy for taking the fight at short notice.

“It was a tough fight, this guy really hits hard, but I was blessed with a great win.

“I just want to thank both my teams H.O.T and Artesuave Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu and all my sponsors for always having my back and making sure I get to training and can train and complete my fight camps to the best of my abilities.

“A special thank you to the people behind the scenes, my family and friends who always support me,” says Marcel.

Francois, an ex-Hoërskool Hugenote learner, is currently the amateur welterweight champion but turned in his belt to try his hand in the lightweight division.

He faced Douw Ekstien from CIT Pretoria in a match which was stopped by the referee at the end of the first round.

“The fight didn’t go as planned but we will be prepping for my professional debut.”

Although he did not win this fight, Francois says that all being well, and with the blessing of his coach, his next fight will be his professional debut.

Geduld resident, Orlando went to war with Valhalla MMA’s Chukwuma Okoli who fights out of Vereeniging.

He lost by referee stoppage at the end of the second round.

This was a contender fight and Orlando went into the hexagon with the hope of winning the fight and getting a title fight.

He is part of the Pro League Development Programme and has been training with H.O.T for the past five years, working towards his dream of fighting in a large professional promotion.

“I have come so far since I started and my dream is to turn pro after a few more amateur fights.

“I am sad that I lost because I’m pretty confident that I can do better, but I love to fight, so I’m happy,” Orlando says.

JP ‘Tinkerbell’ Kruger trains all three fighters and says that H.O.T was “super blessed” on Saturday.

“I am very happy with the boys’ evening, all of them showcased great heart and amazing skill.

“There is no winning and losing, only winning and learning and it doesn’t matter whether we win or lose, we praise Jesus.

“I’m actually quite happy with Orlando and Francois, they both had super hard fights and they laid it all out there in the cage and that’s all I ask of any athlete, any time.

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“As for coach Marcel he went in and all the hard work paid off in his pro debut fight.

“Now the boys can have a week or two off and then start training for a big year next year,” JP says.

James Read of XKT Pro League manages all three and says he is excited to see all three of these fighters make their way onto the professional stage.

“Marcel is the 11th fighter we have signed to the pro league and Francois and Orlando will be number 12 and 13.

“Win or lose these are Pro League people and we are excited about developing their professional careers,” James says.