Speechly grounds Fadipe, Allen beats Nienaber
Adam “The Prodigy” Speechly executed a clinical ground performance to beat Henry “Herculeez” Fadipe for the welterweight championship at Carnival City, on Thursday, August 7.
Speechly, who’s EFC’s first ever welterweight champion, forced Fadipe to a ground battle for most of the match, neutralising Herculeez’s damaging finishing prowess before grinding out his win via unanimous decision.
The Prodigy’s win also means that the fable welterweight curse in which the belt has never been successfully defended, continues.
In the same bill, Boyd Allen’s journey to the featherweight gong ended as planned with the Springs fighter claiming the title at Barend Nienaber’s expense.
Allen had been campaigning for the title over an incredible seven-fight winning streak, as well as patiently waiting for teammate Demarte Pena to vacate it before he challenged.
Allen kept his composure, attacking, and reversing Nienaber’s attempts to pin him on the ground before sinking a decisive rear naked choke to seal victory.
Allen’s triumph also ended Nienaber’s then-perfect 3-0 professional record, with both fighters leaving the hexagon with records of 3-1 and 11-2-1 respectively.
Asked where it went wrong against Allen, Nienaber from Bokburg said: “Nothing went wrong, everything went to plan and the match was 50-50. For a split second, the match turned to his favour and he capitalised. I’ll be training hard to get to the top of the rank again.”
In another main card fight, another local fighter JP “Tinkerbell” Kruger survived Liam Clelend’s strangle-hold on the ground to claim a split decision victory.
Kruger set out to unbalance Cleland with his high kicks, which Cleland countered by taking the bout to the ground. All three round followed a similar pattern which took the fight to the judges.
“It was very tough fight,” said Kruger. “He (Cleland) is a brilliant ground specialist. I tried to keep the damage to a minimal when we went to the floor and worked the game from there. Thank you to everyone for the amazing support.”
EFC returns to Carnival City in October.
EFC 32 full results are:
* Oumpie Sebeko defeated Boney Bukaka via unanimous decision.
* Pupanga Tresor could not compete against Sydney Mokgolo due to a lung infection.
* Giovanni Pretorius defeated Chimmy van Winkel via unanimous decision.
* Michael Vermeulen defeated Ivan Strydom via TKO 0:27 into round 1.
* Sizwe Mnikathi defeated Tshilomba Mulumba via unanimous decision.
* Tumisang Madiba defeated Mbulelo Swekile via TKO 3:58 into round 1.
*Knife Didier defeated Sors Grobbelaar via TKO 3:10 into round 1.
* Wade Groth defeated Peter Nyide via unanimous decision.
* Shaun de Lange defeated Gordon Roodman via split decision.
* Elvis Moyo defeated Tiny Strauss via TKO 2:44 into round 3.
* JP Kruger defeated Liam Cleland via split decision.
* Boyd Allen defeated Barend Nienaber via submission (RNC) 4:34 into round 2.
* Adam Speechly defeated Henry Fadipe via unanimous decision. -@SabeloBoksburg
