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MAD DOG AND THE PITBULL AT AFRICA VS BRAZIL
AN INDEPTH LOOK AT THE TWO NATALIANS SET IN BATTLE
Johannesburg, South Africa – The greatest female fighter in the history of African combat sports returns to reclaim her title at EFC 123 on the 8th of May against the rising star of Brazilian mixed-martial arts in a fight between two Natalians for the EFC Flyweight Championship of the World!
Ask any Fight fan, who the greatest female mixed martial artist from the African continent might be, the first name crossing lips is Amanda ‘Mad Dog’ Lino from the warrior province of KwaZulu-Natal. Not just for being a torch-bearing, pathfinding forerunner, not only for being one of the first double-division champions in EFC history, not because her jaw-dropping finishes rank amongst the best on the promotional server,
neither due to it being a decade to the day since she first stepped-foot into the Hexagon on her professional debut nor for stepping straight back out of it after a first-round knockout of Ireland’s Stephanie Quaile.
But because she’s pure pay-per-view.
After that inaugural late summer evening stoppage on the shores of the Indian Ocean came another first-round fist finish at EFC 47 followed by the second-round tap from Trossee at 60 for the belt, then the glorious come-from-behind win against Zouak at 70 creating history as the first woman in global mixed-martial arts to become a two-division champion, a whole seven months before another Amanda repeated the feat by beating Cris Cyborg in Cali at UFC 232. Though losing the 125lb strap during Fiorot’s ferocious 14-fight win streak which now places the Frenchwoman opposite Shevchenko next month for UFC flyweight gold, Lino spent lockdown building her business and mentoring the national amateur team before eventually vacating the 135lb belt and lying in wait, because if history has taught us one thing, it is that when legends return to the battlefield it is never to face an unworthy foe.
Five years later and the wait will finally be over with the touchdown of a red-eye from São Paulo carrying with it, Mariana ‘Guerriera’ Salles. Emanating from the world-famous Pitbull team in Rio Grande do Norte, which has provided EFC with a steady stream of champions and contenders such as Reinaldo Ekson, José da Rocha, and Mariana’s longtime coach - Gian ‘Patolino’ Souza, Salles is a fighter moulded in the image of her hero and mentor, the four-time Bellator champion Patricio Pitbull. Originally from Paraíba, she made ends meet as a supermarket cashier, a laundromat attendant, a cleaner and a factory worker until the pandemic hit. Seeing an opportunity for natural health solutions at a time of immunological uncertainty, she turned her fortunes around by trading in the wonder-berry açai made famous by the Gracie family, and it was this smart career-switch that provided the income to move permanently to Natal and train full-time at Pitbull Brothers. With a strong Karate background, she fell in love with Jiu- Jitsu in 2016 before transitioning to MMA in 2019 where she has several KO wins on her record, the most recent of which being a stupendous knockout in Colombia. With a propensity to go toe-to-toe with her opponents and a stifling grappling offense, she is the perfect match for the Ballito Brawler in the co-main event of the numerical lodestone of EFC 123 in Johannesburg. But this incredible clash between the two fiercest female fighters of southern republics is not the only title fight going down on the 8th of May as EFC 123 is set to be one of the biggest fight nights in the history of the promotion!
EFC 123 Africa vs Brazil takes place on Thursday 8th May 2025, live from the World Sports Betting Arena at the EFC Performance Institute in JHB, South Africa
