EFC Worldwide
Controversial Ending to EFC 92
The EFC is officially back and ready to put on an exciting year of events for African fight fans. The promotion’s first event of the year, EFC 92, took place on Saturday, March 5th, and the event had quite a bit of drama. 2021 saw the EFC make an impactful return as Africa’s leading fight promotion, following the pandemic causing sporting events to come to an abrupt pause in 2020. 2022 was meant to be the year that the promotion rises to greater heights than ever before and, with the first event, the promotion’s first order of the year was to crown a new middleweight champion.
The EFC Middleweight championship has been vacant since former champion Dricus du Plessis vacated the title as he signed to the UFC. Now, the division would get their champion as two former training partners turned rivals would square up in a quest to claim gold. EFC 92 saw a stacked 12-fight card with some new fighters, as well as legends all stepping into the hex for the promotion’s first showing of the year and, to top it all off, Luke ‘The Young Gun’ Michael would go up against Pupanga ‘Fireboy’ Tresor for that 185lb gold.
The event’s early prelims started off in a gruesome manner as Willem Smith, who was going up against Ivan Strydom in a heavyweight fight, broke his leg. Following a kick from Smith to Strydom’s calf, he fell backward and it became clear that the leg had broken.
OUCH!
Shocking first fight of EFC92.
Wishing Willem Smith all the best on his road to recovery from this very unfortunate incident!#EFC92 pic.twitter.com/cfdoaQawot— EFC Worldwide (@EFCworldwide) March 5, 2022
The rest of the card progressed on and there were some major upsets. The main event of the evening though only went on for one round but that round had heaps of drama. Early on in the first round, Tresor was looking to get the finish with a vicious ground ‘n’ pound on Michael. The referee then waved off the fight before changing that to quickly calling for time. With the intensity in the atmosphere, everyone believed that was the end of the fight, and celebration erupted amongst Tresor’s supporters. The only problem was that the fight was not done – the referee was just looking to either deduct a point from Tresor (or just give a warning). Many were not happy about this and, when the referee resumed action, Tresor took the dominant position once more but, after a bit of grappling, Michael found himself in the dominant position and eventually had the fight go his way via TKO by way of strikes. Many fight fans were not happy with the officiating of this fight, and many in the audience were visibly angered and began physically expressing their frustration. Although the fight was marred in controversy, Luke Michael is the new middleweight champion. Now, the main questions in everyone’s minds are:
- Does this call for an immediate rematch?
- What are the ramifications of this on the referee?
- What is going to happen to the supporters/cornermen of Pupanga Tresor?
It all remains to be seen what exactly will happen moving forward. The EFC is yet to also make a statement on the events that transpired. For now, all sights are set on EFC 93, which will happen on Saturday, April 9th.
EFC 92 Results
Luke Michael def. Pupanga Tresor by TKO (Strikes) in Round 1 [Middleweight Championship Main Event]
JP Kruger def. Roy Lokolo via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in Round 1 [Middleweight Bout]
Cameron Saaiman def. Roevan de Beer via TKO (Strikes) in Round 1 [Bantamweight Bout]
Jessica Mouneimne def. Crystal van Wyk via Submission (Rear Naked Choke) in Round 2 [Women’s Strawweight Bout]
Conrad Seabi def. Wade Henderson by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) [Catchweight Bout]
Nerik Simoes def. Keir Harvie by Unanimous Decision [Featherweight Bout]
Vandam Mbuyi def. Robert Cunningham by TKO in Round 1 [Heavyweight Bout]
Fafa Dwama def. Salahuddin Plaatjies by Split Decision (29-28, 29-28, 28-29) [Flyweight Bout]
Diego Bandu def. Khulekani Hlongwa via Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) [Middleweight Bout]
Guelor Sondi def. Hanro Enslin via TKO (Strikes) in Round 2 [Lightweight Bout]
Guide Moyo def. Qaasim Coetzee via TKO (Ground ‘n’ Pound) in Round 2 [Featherweight Bout]
Ivan Strydom def. Willem Smith via Medical Stoppage (Injury) in Round 1 [Heavyweight Bout]
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