On Saturday, Aug. 19, EFC Worldwide returned to Carnival City in Johannesburg, South Africa, for EFC Worldwide 62. The main event of the night featured a champion vs. champion bout as welterweight title holder Dricus du Plessis took on EFC middleweight champion Yannick Bahati.
The South African set out to become the first ever EFC dual weight champion and took little time in getting the job done, much to the joy of the electric local crowd who were vocal from the moment du Plessis entered the cage.
Both men looked to implement their dominance early on, exchanging in back and forth strikes. Bahati looked to take the fight to the ground, however, this would inevitably prove to be his downfall. The Englishman secured the takedown whilst leaving his neck extended, this was exactly the opening the South African needed as he immediately looked for a guillotine and began cranking his opponent’s neck.
The UTC man tried his best to transition out but after being only seconds away from being choked unconscious, was forced to tap and in doing so crowned du Plessis the middleweight champion.
Also on main card were two additional title bouts. Nkazimulo Zulu returned to the promotion to defend his flyweight belt against Sylvester Chipfumbu, while Igeu Kabesa looked to defeat Pierre Botha for his featherweight gold.
It proved to be a successful return for South African champion Zulu after he successfully defended his flyweight title against Chipfumbu. The challenger had an impressive first round managing to take down Zulu but drifted in the latter stages of the fight. The champion began to come into his own in rounds two and three, drawing first blood before dominating in round three leaving the Zimbabwean sat on the canvas due to a straight left hand. It looked as if Zulu was ready to secure a stoppage victory on his birthday but was interrupted as Chipfumbu saw himself saved by the bell in the final round.
This was then followed by Igueu Kabesa’s quest to dethrone the featherweight champion Pierre Botha; it took the challenger all of one round to get the job done securing a first round TKO victory. The 23-year old took little time before taking the fight to the floor and achieving full mount position. Despite an unsuccessful submission attempt and finding himself on the receiving end of a slam; Kasebe once again managed to take Botha to the ground before delivering some ground and pound leaving the referee no choice but to intervene.
Earlier on in the main card, EFC debutant, UK’s Callum Ellenor fell to a controversial split decision loss against Gareth Buirski.
The first round was that of an event contest with both fighters landing strikes, Ellenor looked to land the cleaner strikes though including a straight right which proved a useful weapon for the Brit throughout the fight.
In another evenly contested round Buirski set the crowd alight as he managed to secure a takedown midway through the round, this no doubt proved a factor in what won the South African round two after a back and forth contest.
In the final round Ellenor continued to have control on the feet, this time dropping his opponent to the mat with a straight right hand. Buirski recovered well, however, managing to find a way back to his feet. Ellenor looked to have sealed the win securing another takedown late on in round three; the Englishman had to be vigilant however after leaving his neck in nearly setting his opponent up for a guillotine.
As we went to the judges the Englishman looked to have done enough but this proved not to be the case much to the disbelief of himself and many of the spectators who took to social media to express their frustrations.
FULL RESULTS:
Dricus Du Plessis def. Yannick Bahati by submission (guillotine choke). Round 1, 1:30
Nkazimulo Zulu def. Sylvester Chipfumbu by TKO (punches). Round 4, 1:38
Igeu Kabesa def. Pierre Botha by TKO (punches). Round 1, 3:19.
Gareth Buirski def. Cal Ellenor by split decision
Sindile Manengela def. Barend Nienaber by submission (rear-naked choke). Round 3, 2:48
Ricky Misholas def. Nico Yamdjie by unanimous decision
Rizien Zouak def. Bunmi Pjewole by TKO (punches). Round 2, 1:08
Trezequet Kanyinda def. Stephan de la Rey by TKO (punches). Round 1, 4:54
Sfiso Ngcobo def. JP van Rooyen by TKO (punches). Round 1, 4:26
Steven Goncalves def. Claude Ntumba by unanimous decision