Ruan Potts |
Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of talk about
EFC heavyweight champion Ruan “Fangzz” Potts. Many people were disappointed to hear that a potential
blockbuster bout with fellow Capetonian Rico Hattingh at EFC 13 would not
materialise due to Hattingh being injured. This has left Potts without a worthy adversary and as a
result, the fans without a heavyweight championship fight.
While the initial result is a less marketable main event for
EFC 13 in Cape Town, Hattingh’s injury has also exposed a much bigger problem
for the EFC. With only one potential title contender available, the heavyweight
division is looking rather thin, a problem which will continue to create match
making nightmares in the future.
Ruan Potts too has a serious problem. No contenders means no
fights, and no fights can be detrimental to a fighter’s career, both from a
fighting and a financial perspective.
The EFC Africa Heavyweight Landscape
Fighter
|
Record
|
EFC
|
Streak
|
Challenger Status
|
Rico Hattingh
|
14-2
|
1-0
|
1 Win
|
Injured
|
Ricky Misholas
|
1-0
|
1-0
|
1 Win
|
Not enough wins
|
Andrew van Zyl
|
7-1
|
2-1
|
1 Loss
|
Lost his last fight, against Ruan Potts
|
Calven Robinson
|
8-1
|
0-1
|
1 Loss
|
Lost his last fight, against Ruan Potts
|
Bernardo Mikixi
|
4-3
|
2-2
|
2 Losses
|
Back to back losses against Norman Wessels and Andrew van Zyl
|
Ian Visser
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
|
No fight history
|
Morne Marais
|
0-0
|
0-0
|
|
No fight history
|
Wilhelm Strauss
|
0-1
|
0-1
|
1 Loss
|
Not enough wins
|
How does the EFC fix this problem?
The solution to the problem is simple in principle – get
more fighters into the heavyweight division and schedule more fights. This
means bringing in quality talent now and concurrently investing in new talent
for the future. This is easier said than done, as high level heavyweight
fighters are few and far between in South Africa’s young MMA community.
Long term solution
The EFC has already begun the process of bringing some new
talent into the heavyweight pool, this investment in fighters will take some
time to mature, as fighters will need to earn a title shot in a very
unpredictable division. Fighters like Ricky Misholas, Ian Visser and Morne
Marais have already been brought in, and hopefully this is just the beginning.
While this is a necessary step, more drastic action is
required to fix the problem in the short term.
Short term solution
The EFC needs to bring in an established fighter to
challenge Potts, this too is easier said than done. Bringing in a fighter for a
single fight is not ideal for the EFC or the fans, and is not an
option in my mind. Why risk your heavyweight champion’s reputation for a single fight? A
loss would really upset the apple cart and undo all the hard work the EFC has
done in building up their champion. The solution then is to find a highly
reputable fighter whom the EFC could contract, and while I am not au fait with
all the EFC’s contractual procedures, I can’t imagine this to be a simple task.
Where then does this leave Ruan Potts?
I guess for now we can only hope that either the EFC can
find the abovementioned mythological fighter or that one of the other
heavyweights can string together an impressive streak in the short term. Either
way, it seems unlikely we will see Potts in action in the EFC in the very near future.
1 comments:
Heavyweight is definitely a division that needs a lot of work, before Ruan Potts, heavyweight fights were almost always guaranteed to be the most boring fight of the night on any EFC card. EFC should get Ruan Potts some quailty competition quickly before we lose him to an international promotion!
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