Springs’ Hot of Tinkerbell (HOT) and Pro League Fight Management had cause to celebrate when two of their fighters won their respective fights at EFC 71 at Carnival City on Saturday night.
Cedric ‘The Dominator’ Doyle made his long-awaited return to the EFC hexagon against the Congo’s Trezeguet ‘2 Pac’ Kanyinda, after a two-year absence.
Doyle, who fights out of his own gym, Dominator’s Den in Secunda, trains with JP Kruger of House of Tinkerbell and is managed by James Read of Pro League Fight Management, both located in Springs.
After a gruelling fight, including an illegal knee from Kanyinda while Doyle was on the ground, Doyle won the fight by a technical knockout in the third round.
Also read: Cedric chases Bantam belt
He opened his assault with two takedowns and sat out a guillotine choke attempt to dominate the first round which almost ended in Doyle’s favour with a rear naked choke as the buzzer sounded.
He went into the second round strong, threatening his opponent with multiple submissions, which met with Kanyinda’s knee.
This gave Doyle a five minute rest period in which to plan his final assault which came three minutes 46 seconds into the third round.
Speaking after his fight, Doyle says: “I felt very good during my fight, I felt I was in total control and I was never in any real danger.
“Its very good to be back and I can only thank the Lord for granting me this opportunity to get back to the sport that I love.
“I would like to thank HOT Springs, my MMA coach JP Kruger, Huntley Smith from Arte Suave Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Springs and a special thanks to my manager James Read from Pro League Fight Management.
“Without these guys backing me in my corner I could never have done this.”
Marcel ‘Madness’ Els defeated Rocky Ilunga via tapout in a rear naked choke one minutes 27 seconds into round two.
Els opened the round with a barrage of combos pressuring Ilunga with some great boxing.
Also read: Marcel wins his first pro fight
Ilunga took to back footing it and tried to land some long-range kicks on the run but Els seemed unphased by them and kept pressing forward, slamming uppercut hooks and straights at Ilunga’s chin.
Ilunga did a good job of staying out of punching rage until the second round when Els managed to corner him and submit him via rear naked choke, after a great clinch set up, takedown and some vicious ground and pound.
This was Els’ second EFC fight and he comments that he and coach JP Kruger had a solid plan of action going into the fight.
“We have a stunning game plan and trained hard to ensure that when we went into the cage it was second nature.
“I didn’t really have to think about it, I went into action because we drilled so much and worked so well together.
“This was an emotional win after a very hard fight and a wonderful way to finish of a hard camp.
“My management team has put a great team together to ensure our success.
“Guys like Huntley Smith, Chris Bright from Pesfa and my coaches all congregate around this facility to increase our chances of winning events like this through the sharing of a great pool of knowledge from which we all draw our strength.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what EFC has in store for me.
“I’m keen to climb the ladder like any fighter and become champ and I want to make that a reality and look forward to the challenge,” Els says.
He adds he is ready to get back to the drawing board and start training for his next fight.
Speaking about his fighter’s win, Kruger comments: “What a great fight. I’m super proud of Madness.
“He came up with his hands up and turned on the pressure from the word go.
“We knew that his opponent had super strong head kicks so we knew we needed to put on the pressure and close the gap, and that’s exactly what we did.
“We are so blessed that we came out with a win and I am very happy he and his opponent came out of this injury-free.
“Madness has worked so hard for this and from now on we will start taking a look at where he is going from here and who he will be fighting next. The sky’s the limit.”
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