Extreme Fighting Championships Doused with Controversy
Mixed Martial Arts is a fast growing sport both worldwide and in South Africa. Personally I think most of the guys who participate are a tad nuts, but it doesn’t stop me from attending events, supporting my favorites and getting into the whole vibe that goes hand-in-hand with events like EFC Africa.
Last night was the sixth EFC event I’ve attended and despite a few hiccups like power outages and controversial judgements by the referees, the matches were very impressive with many knockouts and highly technical submissions.

Alex Cheboub
The fight of the night went to the lightweight battle between William Bentley and Alex Cheboub. Cheboub was victorious late into the first round and also won submission of the night with his omoplata – a technical Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu shoulder lock applied using a leg.
Paul Terblanche made an impressive return to the EFC by defeating Janus De Lange with a massive knockout eight seconds into the first round. Poor De Lange was out cold after catching a huge overhand right on the chin.

Janus De Lange during weigh-in. Bet he never knew he'd be knocked out then.
The most anticipated fight of the evening was between Lebanese star Abdallah Hamdan and no 1 ranked welterweight Adam Speechly. EFC says that “Hamdan showed off his exceptional striking, knocking out Speechly with a quick right cross”, but what I saw was very different… Speechly slipped and fall back on the ground at which point Hamdan delivered a hard punch to his face. Speechly appeared to be maintaining his defense (and consciousness) despite the ref stopping the fight – he was pretty pissed off by the decision!
The judges decision is final
Full contact mixed martial arts has rules like any other sport. And the purpose of the rules are to ensure safety for the people playing the game. So it’s quite controversial when a judge, who has the closest view of the action and the experience to back it up, is boo’d by the crowd for ending a contest he believes will result in serious injury.
In the last year one fighter was so severely hurt he spent quite a while comatose in hospital and to this day he is still recovering. His life will never be the same in one of the worst possible ways you can imagine.
So to all the steroid-chomping idiots who attend these events and heckle the referees while flexing their muscles and sporting their “official fighting gear”… get real and understand that walking around like a hero does not make you a professional mixed martial artist or referee. It makes you a naive idiot.

The EFC Hexagon
EFC 07
EFC Africa returns to the Coca-Cola Dome on 3 February 2011, featuring the headline bout between heavyweights Rico Hattingh and Calven Robinson. Visit the EFC web site for more info.
Take a look at EFC 05 where the title of heavyweight champion was won.
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