Vanderaa spoils Potts’ EFC return
It was a bad night at the office for local EFC fighters.
Two-time EFC heavyweight champion Ruan ‘Fangzz’ Potts suffered a TKO defeat to American Jared ‘The Mountain’ Vanderaa during their interim heavyweight title fight at EFC 76 in Pretoria on December 8.
Potts, a former UFC heavyweight, was eyeing to make a comeback that would’ve impressed Lazarus, since having been absent from the hexagon for over a year due to a serious knee injury.
A victory would have meant claiming the title for the third time on his return.
But his parade was ruined by the US international, who dominated proceedings before it finally told a little over three minutes in the third and final round, with the referee intervening, which improved Vanderaa’s record to 8-3. Potts, on the other hand, dropped to 11-7.
In another bout that signalled a glaring change of the guard in the heavyweight division, England’s Stuart Austin stopped EFC’s most experienced heavyweight fighter Andrew ‘One Gear’ van Zyl in rather embarrassing fashion.
Van Zyl is legendary for both as a champion (three times) and as a man with the iron jaw within EFC circles. Having come out steaming in true One Gear style, landing a series of rights and lefts that seemed to have rocked the Brit, he would soon find himself on the canvas thanks to a takedown scored by Austin after recovering from Van Zyl’s flying start.
The Englishman then proceeded to knock out Van Zyl, silencing the crowd and handing the heavyweight stalwart his fifth defeat in 24 fights, a result that paid testament to his retirement announcement at the post-event press conference to emotional fans.
Elsewhere, Billy Oosthuizen fell to Tumisang Madiba via TKO, just under two minutes into the third and final round.
This handed Oosthuizen his first EFC defeat.
In the night’s other title fight, Poland’s Karolina Wojcik (4-1) edged Italian Chiara Penco (4-1) to take her women’s strawweight gold in an absorbing five-rounder.
Performance bonuses were awarded to Asiashu Tshitamb, Takunda Gorimbo and Austin. Additional bonuses were awarded to Oosthuizen and Madiba; Penco, Wójcik and Dallas Jakobi. Fight of the night was awarded to Marino Cutendana and Martin de Beer.
The official EFC 76 results are as follows:
- Marcel Els defeated Kabeya Amisi via tapout (armbar) 3:31 into round 1.
- Devon Cronje defeated Orlando Mashaba via tapout (guillotine) 1:23 into round 1.
- Asiashu Tshitamba defeated Tukunda Gorimbo via unanimous decision.
- Neil De Plessis defeated Roger Griffin via tapout (guillotine) 0:54 into round 1.
- Marino Cutendana defeated Martin De Beer via split decision.
- Tumisang Madiba defeated Billy Oosthuizen via TKO (strikes) 1:56 intro round 3.
- Justin Smith defeated Pietie Coxen via tapout (guillotine) 1:12 into round 1.
- Roedie Roets defeated Sindile Manengela via tapout (rear naked choke) 0:44 into round 3.
- José Da Rocha defeated Conrad Seabi via TKO (strikes) 0:50 into round 1.
- Dallas Jakobi defeated Mark Kamba via tapout (verbal submission) at the end of round 2.
- Stuart Austin defeated Andrew Van Zyl via knock out 4:58 into round 1.
- Jared Vanderaa defeated Ruan Potts via TKO (strikes) 3:25 into round 3, to claim the interim EFC heavyweight title.
- Karolina Wójcik defeated Chiara Penco via split decision, to take the women’s EFC strawweight title. – @SabeloBoksburg
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