Wednesday 25 January 2012

EFC Africa 12 fightcard shakeup

EFC Africa 12 has taken its first casualty. Welterweight contender Martin van Staden has been forced to pull out of his March 2 bout with Dino Bagattin due to a neck injury. In a video released yesterday, the Fight Fight Militia fighter announced that he had been suffering from an inflamed disk in his neck, which pinched a nerve and said he would not risk permanent damage for a single fight. Below is Van Staden's youtube video release:


This is the second time that the much anticipated Welterweight clash between Dino Bagattin and Martin Van Staden has had to be cancelled. Last year, Bagattin was forced to withdraw from their EFC 10 fight due to injury.

Van Staden has expressed an interested in facing The Lion at EFC 13 in Cape Town come April, once he has fully healed and full prepared. Bagattin however, has stated that he will be fighting at EFC 12 against a yet to be determined opponent.

While this fight, which was almost certainly a number 1 contender bout, has left the Welterweight division in a bit of a predicament, there are potential replacement fights which make sense. Here are my recommendations:

Adam Speechly (#2 Welterweight Rankings) vs Dino Bagattin (#4 Welterweight Rankings)
Adam Speechly will be anxious to get back in the hexagon following his recent title loss. With Van Staden out of the picture, this fight, a rematch of their 2010 clash will certainly determine the number 1 contender and offer Speechly a potential launch pad to reclaiming his title.

Dino Bagattin vs Neil Diesel (#5 Welterweight Rankings) 
This fight would go a long way to sorting out the top 5 of the division. It's a great fight for the MMA connoisseur but may leave the division without a legitimate title contender for Dallas Jakobi, as both Van Staden and Speechly would still have a claim to the shot. It does however open up a potential bout between the Punisher and the Prodigy.

0 comments:

Post a Comment