EFC Africa 21 delivered bouts exceeding expectations throughout the card, at Carnival City, on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Undefeated featherweight champion Demarte “The Wolf” Pena retained his belt after his opponent, Durban bad boy Abdul “Hollywood” Hassan, failed to appear for the second round.<\/p>
In addition, George native Sors “Guru” Grobbelaar defeated Bernardo “The Black Panther” Mikixi by TKO in the third round, thereby securing the number one heavyweight contender spot.<\/p>\n
The bout between Pena and Hassan was massively hyped and hugely anticipated.<\/p>
The match-up was preceded by unparalleled smack talk, when Hassan promised to school Pena.<\/p>\n
The champion responded that he was looking to hurt the challenger, adding that he would be revealing a new, aggressive incarnation of himself at EFC Africa 21.<\/p>\n
The champion delivered a dominant and brutal first round, initially making use of stinging leg kicks before clinching with the challenger, taking him down, and controlling him with brutal ground and pound.<\/p>\n
The break between the first and the second rounds revealed torn ankle ligaments for Hassan, forcing him to throw in the towel.<\/p>\n
Sors Grobbelaar went head-to-head with Bernardo Mikixi for the right to challenge heavyweight champion Andrew van Zyl, putting on a devastating display.<\/p>\n
Many had pegged the fight as a power trial, in which Grobbelaar would have to try to withstand the sheer strength of Mikixi.<\/p>\n
Instead, Grobbelaar revealed some steaming power of his own, dropping the Angolan with straight, iron hard punches and viciously timed leg kicks.<\/p>\n
In the third round, Grobbelaar succeeded in putting down Mikixi permanently, resulting in the referee diving between them to prevent further damage.<\/p>\n
Crowd favourite and former heavyweight champion Ruan Potts made his first re-appearance in the Hexagon since his EFC Africa 18 loss to Andrew van Zyl.<\/p>\n
His opponent was Egyptian Mahmoud “Hellboy” Hassan, the man with perhaps the heaviest hands on the continent.<\/p>\n
Potts wasted no time in taking Hassan down and applying a heel hook, which ended the fight in a record 37 seconds, securing Potts the submission of the night award.<\/p>\n
Francois Groenewald, a renowned BJJ practitioner faced Gareth Buirski at featherweight.<\/p>\n
Buirski is well known for his brutal overhand right knockout of Markus Taljaard and, on Thursday, performed a similar feat after stuffing Groenewald\u2019s takedown attempt, dropping him with a right hook and following up with a barrage of punches that left Groenewald stunned.<\/p>\n
The fight of the night was awarded to the incredible toe-to-toe slugfest between heavyweights Wilhelm Strauss and Lance Ceronio and submission of the night went to former heavyweight champion Ruan Potts.<\/p>\n
Knockout of the night went to the stunning second round head kick delivered by bantamweight Nkazimulo Zulu, in his bout against debutant Lourens Botes.<\/p>\n
The full results are:<\/p>\n
q Pierre Botha defeated Mawande Mazithambe via submission (arm triangle), 2:16 into round 1.<\/p>\n
q Nkazimulo Zulu defeated Lourens Botes via KO, 0:20 into round 2 (KOTN)<\/p>\n
q Vandam Mbuyi defeated Mohamed Karim via unanimous decision.<\/p>\n
q Johan van Staden defeated Steven Momah via TKO, 2:04 into round 3.<\/p>\n
q Dricus du Plessis defeated Tez Makuebo via TKO, 1:18 into round 1.<\/p>\n
q Boyd Allen defeated Hanru Botha via submission (RNC), 3:48 into round 1.<\/p>\n
q Wilhelm Strauss defeated Lance Ceronio via split decision.<\/p>\n
q David Buirski defeated Nicholas Radley via submission (RNC), 3:35 into round 1.<\/p>\n
q JC Lamprecht defeated Jason Culverwell via submission (RNC), 3:03 into round 1.<\/p>\n
q Gareth Buirski defeated Francois Groenewald via KO, 0:34 into round 1.<\/p>\n
q Ruan Potts defeated Mahmoud Hassan via submission (ankle lock), 0:37 into round 1, setting a new EFC AFRICA fastest submission record.<\/p>\n
q Sors Grobbelaar defeated Bernardo Mikixi via TKO, 1:00 into round 3.<\/p>\n
q Demarte Pena defeated Abdul Hassan via verbal submission (did not answer the bell for the second round).<\/p>\n