EFC AFRICA 21 - Pena Delivers his Promise

The bout between Pena and Hassan was massively hyped and hugely anticipated. A matchup preceded by unparalleled smack talk, Hassan promised to school Pena. 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.

 

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 with brutal ground and pound. The break between the first and the second revealed torn ankle ligaments for Hassan, forcing him to throw in the towel.

 

Sors Grobbelaar went head to head with Bernardo Mikixi for the right to challenge heavyweight champion Andrew van Zyl, putting on a devastating display. Many had pegged the fight as a power trial, in which Grobbelaar would have to try to withstand the sheer strength of Mikixi. Instead, Grobbelaar revealed some steaming power of his own, dropping the Angolan with straight, iron hard punches and viciously timed leg kicks. In the third round Grobbelaar succeeded in putting Mikixi down permanently, resulting in the referee diving between them to prevent further damage.

 

Crowd favourite, and former heavyweight champion Ruan Potts made his first re-appearance in the Hexagon after his EFC AFRICA 18 loss to Andrew van Zyl. His opponent was Egyptian Mahmoud ‘Hellboy’ Hassan, the man with perhaps the heaviest hands on the continent. 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.

 

Francois Groenewald, a renowned BJJ practitioner faced Gareth Buirski at featherweight. Buirski is well known for his brutal overhand right KO of Markus Taljaard and tonight performed a similar feat after stuffing Groenewald’s takedown attempt, dropping him with a right hook and following up with a barrage of punches that left Groenewald stunned.

 

The fight of the night was awarded to the incredible toe-to-toe slugfest between heavyweights Wilhelm Strauss and Lance Ceronio. Submission of the night went to former heavyweight champion Ruan Potts. Knock out of the night went to the stunning second round head kick delivered by bantamweight Nkazimulo Zulu in his bout against debutant Lourens Botes.

 

EFC AFRICA 21 full results:

• Pierre Botha defeated Mawande Mazithambe via submission (arm triangle), 2:16 into round 1.
• Nkazimulo Zulu defeated Lourens Botes via KO, 0:20 into round 2 (KOTN)
• Vandam Mbuyi defeated Mohamed Karim via unanimous decision.
• Johan van Staden defeated Steven Momah via TKO, 2:04 into round 3.
• Dricus du Plessis defeated Tez Makuebo via TKO, 1:18 into round 1.
• Boyd Allen defeated Hanru Botha via submission (RNC), 3:48 into round 1.
• Wilhelm Strauss defeated Lance Ceronio via split decision.
• David Buirski defeated Nicholas Radley via submission (RNC), 3:35 into round 1.
• JC Lamprecht defeated Jason Culverwell via submission (RNC), 3:03 into round 1. Gareth Buirski defeated Francois Groenewald via KO, 0:34 into round 1.
• Ruan Potts defeated Mahmoud Hassan via submission (ankle lock), 0:37 into round 1, setting a new EFC AFRICA fastest submission record.
• Sors Grobbelaar defeated Bernardo Mikixi via TKO, 1:00 into round 3.
• Demarte Pena defeated Abdul Hassan via verbal submission (did not answer the bell for the second round).

 

EFC AFRICA 22, presented by MusclePharm, takes place at the Carnival City Big Top Arena on 15 August 2013. Tickets on sale now at www.computicket.com. Tickets for the live broadcast to Nu Metro Cinemas available soon at www.numetro.com.

 

Broadcast information and full fight card available at efcafrica.com

 

About EFC AFRICA™ – The Extreme Fighting Championship™

Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, EFC AFRICA™ now produces 10 live Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) events annually, all hosted on the African continent. With over 100 athletes exclusively contracted to the organization from across Africa (Angola, DRC, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa and more), EFC AFRICA is the continents leading MMA organization and showcases the greatest warriors on the continent.

 

EFC AFRICA™ events are broadcast to over 110 countries across the globe on 9 television networks in multiple languages. The live broadcast is available to over 130 million homes across Africa on SUPERSPORT, the continent’s largest sport network, as well as in the USA, Canada and the Caribbean on FIGHT NOW! TV, America's only 24-hour combat sports and entertainment channel. Live broadcasts of every event are available across Romania on free to air broadcaster Transilvania L!VE. Delayed live events are broadcast throughout Malaysia on MAX MAN TV.

 

The best bouts from every EFC AFRICA™ event fill up action-packed television episodes broadcast to 50 million homes in the USA on the CSI SPORTS network, throughout Europe and the Middle East on EXTREME SPORTS CHANNEL and across Canada on FIGHT NETWORK as well as in Africa on FOX FX and SUPERSPORT.