After the shock announcement on social media that interim title contender Tumelo Manyamala had sustained a knee injury in sparring and is subsequently no longer able to compete for the interim125lb belt against fellow Capetonian, Terence ‘The Black Panther’Balelo this Thursday in the main event of EFC 114. Yet before the news spread, the promotion announced an immediate replacement that has dropped jaws on two separate continents.
Flying out from Belgium, Liridon Ramani intends to take advantage of an opportunity to take a title in Africa’s big show, Liridon Ramani is a bronze medallist at the IMMAF World Championship and several times Belgian Champion in different disciplines, he has just been crowned Flyweight Champion at the European BeatDown and is ranked 7th best P4P fighter in the neighbouring hotbed of MMA, France. Upon accepting the new opponent without hesitation, the mercurially-talented Balelo welcomed the opportunity to test himself against one of Europe’s’ best and has already sent a message to his opponent on social media, demanding a frenetic pace to their title encounter.
With Africa’s fastest flyweight against the Wallonian warrior, the main event this Thursday a truly fitting climax to an astonishing card of legislated hand-to-hand violence which also features a killer co-main event with another title hanging over the Hex!
Fighting for the right to face the imperious goat, Igeu Kabesa in a cage is certainly not on most people’s to-do list this Thursday, unless you are Ayanda ‘The Power’ Zwane and Simbarashe Hokonya as the two duke it out for the contendership of the 145lb division. Even though Zwane is a relative newcomer to the EFC, this massive young prospect has always been vocal about his intent to fight for a title. Now he gets his chance to compete for a number one contender spot, as a reward for running through some of the biggest names in the featherweight division. His most notable victory was against the superb Steven Goncalves who at the time, had three times as many fights as ‘The Power’.
Showing over three rounds how he has grown under the tutelage of renowned wrestling coach Attilla Barna, Zwane was able to negate Stevens grappling prowess and also show why he’s highly regarded in his stand-up. The judges recognised this as such, putting Ayanda on a four-fight winning streak, to now face Simbarashe Hokonya for the number one spot at 145lbs. But Hokonya from Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe has had an almost flawless beginning to his EFC career with four superb victories, which showed his outstanding boxing pedigree and a willingness to go toe-to-toe with even the most accomplished of opponents.
The man they call ‘The Hawk’ was flying high as he entered EFC 112 against one of the most feared strikers on the entire EFC roster, the knockout artist and bookies favourite Billy ‘The Kid’ Oosthuizen. But Hokonya was keen to pull-off an upset and silenced the doubters with an incredible finish with the fists in the first to continue his undefeated professional record and book an appointment in the Hexagon against Zwane.
Even though the Zimbo is favoured to win at World Sports Betting, the path to gold is clear for both of these two massive prospects and they will do battle on Thursday night with everything at stake! With three other stupendous main card bouts featuring stars of strife, striking and struggles like Peace ‘X’ Nguphane, Hanru Botha, Vuyo Jula and Osvaldo Benedito, Africa’s Big 5 is set to detonate the World Sports Betting Arena into an explosion of combat sports and shower fight fans with the best action available anywhere on the planet! But that’s only after an unprecedented undercard of 8 preliminary bouts and furthermore, you can catch all the incredible action on efcworldwide.tv as well as EFC’s countless broadcast partners across the globe.