EFC 83 – On Or Not?
Written by Emjay on November 14, 2019
With just on a month to go until the final EFC event of 2019, I cannot help thinking that the EFC must be happy that this year is almost done. What was meant to be a celebratory year following 10 years of building Professional MMA on the African Continent gradually turned into a nightmare following the demise of Kwese – the broadcast partner who was meant to detonate the EFCon the African continent but somehow conspired to owe the EFC millions of rands in outstanding fees – and then the inevitable feud with MMASA which has put this event in jeopardy. The result, has been a year with fewer events and fewer international fighters than what we have become accustomed to.
That said, we are “hopefully” just weeks away from EFC 83, scheduled to take place Times Square in Pretoria, South Africa and the main card is really something to be excited about!
Opening up proceedings it is the bantamweight bout between Asiashu Tshitamba (4-1) and Sylvester Chipfumbu (5-3) – Tshitamba is on a 4-fight win-streak that started back in September 2018 while his opponent will want to stop his current 2-fight slide. Both athletes were impressive in their last outings, delivering dominant performances – Tshitamba with that front-kick KO of Billy Oosthuisen while despite his domination, Chipfumbu will definitely want to put that illegal head-kick DQ behind him!
Next up is another bantamweight clash between Marino Cutendana (6-3) and Devon Cronje (4-1). By the time this fight happens, Cutendana would not have fought under the big lights in over a year and with only 2 competitive outings – both wins over Martin De Beer – since that loss to Baldwin Mdlalose back in July 2016, one wonders about the rust factor. His opponent Cronje, has been slightly more active – his most recent victory over Guy Mongambi putting him on 3-fight win-streak. Its CIT vs FFM (Quan University), are we set to see the rivalry continue?
Positioned nicely before the night’s two Title fights is the Lightweight bout between Anicet Kanyeba (11-9) and the 1stRound powerhouse, Saxon Delafield (6-3-1). The Showstopper has previously stopped Delafield (EFC 64) and will look to do so again and improve on his current 3-fight win-streak. Delafield is an altogether different athlete since their last meeting. The big question for most fight fans will be about Delafield’s conditioning, especially if the fight moves past the first round as this will be new territory for him as he has never gone past the first round in his professional career!
The co-main event features the organisation’s first double division women’s champion, Amanda Lino (4-1), putting her flyweight title on the line against TF2 winner, Manon Fiorot (1-1). Undefeated during the TF2 reality show, Fiorot will need a very different game-plan if she is to beat Lino who has dispatched all comers including former Olympians. I am not sure what to make of this fight, it has the makings of an all-out-war but this writer feels that this could be one of the dullest fights on the Main Card.
The Main Event of EFC 83, sees reigning Middleweight champ Dricus du Plessis (13-2) fight to retain his title against the Interim Middleweight champ, Brendan Lesar (3-0). Can Lesar topple yet another South African MMA legend or will Du Plessis’ experience both here and in Europe be too much for the Interim champ to handle?
Its almost time for their biggest event of 2019 and there are only 2 questions on this writer’s mind;
Will the EFC get their event sanctioning in time?
Have you got your tickets for EFC 83?
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Jaryd On April 14, 2020 at 11:21 am
It is clear from that fight that Amanda can no longer expect to be the best if she continues to train out of Durban. her skill-set was tested and found wanting…….