Things we Know after EFC 73

Sun City remains a destination too far for many MMA fans as the traveling distance means that many have to “make-a-weekend” out of it which in the current economic climate makes it a nice-to-have and not a necessity. Speaking to many fans on the night, future fight cards at Sun City would need to be “fucking awesome” to justify future attendance…….let me not get started on the Sun City staff and service offering!!!

The quality of debutants remains problematic for EFC as all 3 of Saturday nights debutants were handed heavy defeats – none more devastating than that suffered by Danie Swart who somehow happened upon a PRO license. As for Christian Bobo, I cannot remember ever hearing of a professional fighter “verbally submitting due to strikes” but maybe HP V Staden was just hitting him to hard – which for professional fighting is just not on!

THE CAMERON CONUNDRUM: The drop in division from welterweight to lightweight has not lived up to all expectations – his own as well as those of fight fans. Following on 2 devastating quick finishes, has Pritchard now shown that he is susceptible to any opponent that starts “hard & fast”?

Following on previous judging decisions that adversely impacted both Jared Vanderaa and Ricky Misholas, both made sure that they left no doubt in many minds that they are serious contenders with relatively early finishes. Add to that the fact that only 2 fights needed judges decisions, surely made many breath a HUGE sigh of relief – fighters, fans and judges alike!

BRIGHT PROSPECTS TO WATCH: Both Tshilumbu Mikixi and Mzandile Hlongwa were super composed throughout, showing signs of professional maturity beyond their respective fight records. As always, Steven Goncalves always comes ready to throw down, and following his impressive 40 second sumbmission he remains on our radar

FUTURE FIGHTS TO MAKE: The Heavweight division has offered up a number of mouth watering prospective fights, namely; Bezuidenhout v Koekemoer with Misholas v Vanderaa being a justifiable no.1 contender fight. As much as a welterweight unification title fight is warranted between Gunter Kaunda and Dricus Du Plessis, I feel that there are still 2 fighters who definitely need to be eliminated before the EFC can justifiably start throwing around the “undisputed” label, and they are Joe Cummins and Mark Hulme. In the Lightweight division, Tshilumba Mikixi v Deon Brunning would make for a great fight as Mikixi builds up to a possible showdown with 2 fighters we can nolonger continue to ignore, namely; Alain Ilunga and Themba Gorimba. An interesting featherweight match-up would be Steven Goncalves up against Roedie Roets as arguably the next best contenders to the featherweight strap.