This Friday, 01 June 2012, the Extreme Fighting Championship
will host its third event of the year –
EFC Africa 14. The MMA event, which
sees the return of the Hexagon to Johannesburg will take place at Carnival
City.
Predicting the fight results for EFC 14 is quite different
to predicting those for
EFC 13, as there are fewer debutant fighters, meaning
more information to work with. That being said, this is MMA and its never an
easy task to accurately forecast how the fights will play out. Excuses aside,
here are my EFC 14 fight predictions:
EFC 14 fight predictions
Costa Ioannou vs Adam Speechly (Lightweight title fight)
Winner: Costa Ioannou via TKO
This fight has all the makings of an action packed tussle.
Costa Ioannou will come out the more aggressive fighter, looking to close the
distance and nullify Speechly’s reach advantage. Speechly will be content to stay on the
outside and work his striking, but will certainly favour his chances on the
ground.
Costa’s aggressive style will lead to a clinch situation
early on. This will be pivotal to the outcome of the fight as the clinch is not
only where Ioannou can do the most damage, but also where Speechly can get the
fight down to the ground. Due to both fighters being comfortable on the ground,
I believe this fight will definitely end up there and the two master grapplers
will have to work hard to secure anything. Round one will end with both
fighters intact.
Round two will see Costa Ioannou begin to take control of
the fight and wear
Adam Speechly out. I predict the Fightfit Militia fighter
will once more close the distance, land some big shots on the inside and take
Speechly to the mat. A worn down Speechly will not be as effective in his
defence and Ioannou will be able to obtain a dominant position and work some
vicious Ground and Pound over the course of the round to end the fight in the
second frame via TKO. Costa Ioannou will maintain his lightweight title and
solidify himself as one of the best fighters in South Africa.
Demarte Pena vs Wesley Hawkey (Featherweight title fight)
Winner: Wesley Hawkey via Submission
Wesley Hawkey will come out aggressive, of that you can be
certain. The Durbanite will favour his striking and want to put
Demarte Pena
under pressure from the get go. Pena will be more patient, looking to counter
strike and settle himself in his routine.
I believe Hawkey will get the better of the early exchanges,
forcing Pena to look for the take-down. Hawkey will want to keep the fight on
the feet, and this battle will be crucial to the outcome of the fight. After
working hard, I foresee Pena being able to complete a takedown and maintain a
dominant position for the rest of the round, but not without a few hair-raising
moments, as Wesley Hawkey works for submissions off his back.
Round two will see the same script unfold, as the two
featherweight fighters look to fight in their favoured realm. I believe that
Hawkey will be able to do some damage to Pena on the feet, before another take
down is completed, and the fight is once more taken to the ground. Round two
however will play out rather differently, and I predict that Hawkey will be
able to submit the champion via Guillotine choke to make Wesley Hawkey the new
EFC Africa featherweight champion.
Garreth McLellan vs Danie van Heerden (Middleweight
fight)
Winner: Garreth McLellan via Submission
Danie van Heerden will come out aggressive, looking to press
the action. McLellan will have to weather some heavy storms early on, but will
be able to avoid taking too much damage while using effective counter striking
to earn some points of his own. The fight will likely continue its frenetic
pace for the majority of the first round with Van Heerden pushing forward and
McLellan trying to keep his distance.
Round two will see a drop in pace as the two fighters begin
to tire.
Garreth McLellan will begin to take control of the stand-up, using
effective strikes to pressure Van Heerden. As the round unfolds the momentum
will swing more and more into McLellan’s favour, who will be able to get the
fight to the ground and work his superior grappling to finish Danie Van Heerden
via second round Rear-naked choke.
Bernardo Mikixi vs Mahmoud Hassan (Heavyweight fight)
Winner: Mahmoud Hassan via TKO
Bernardo Mikixi and Mahmoud Hassan are both powerful men
with knockout power. I don’t see this fight going past the first round. I
predict Mahmoud Hassan will drop Bernard Mikixi with a big punch and finish it
on the floor to earn a first round TKO victory
Wentzel Nel vs Denzil Wait (Featherweight fight)
Winner: Wentzel Nel via decision
I believe Wentzel Nel will be literally be an animal at
featherweight. I predict that the former lightweight champion will prove too
much for Denzil Wait and will earn himself a unanimous decision victory.
Francois Kabulu vs Amr Wahman (Welterweight fight)
Winner: Amr Wahman via KO
Both Francois Kabulu and Amr Wahman are not afraid to trade
punches, this should result in a short but action packed fight. I believe
Wahman will beat Kabulu to the punch to win via knock out in the first round.
Terrence Griessel vs Gareth Buirski (Featherweight fight)
Winner: Terrence Griessel via decision
This should be a great fight between an experienced EFC
vetran and a talented newcomer. It will
be interesting to see how Griessel takes to the lighter division, but I think
he will be able to grind out a decision victory against the tough Shido
fighter.
JP Kruger vs Mwande Vapi (Middleweight fight)
Winner: JP Kruger via Submission
Both Vapi and Kruger have impressive stand-up skills. Kruger
however showed willingness to adapt his strategy to his opponent coupled with an
impressive ground game against Pete Motaung at
EFC 12 and I believe he will
approach this fight very similarly. I predict Kruger will win via first round submission.
Alex Cheboub vs Ashley Calvert (Lightweight fight)
Winner: Ashley Calvert via TKO
I believe Ashley Calvert is a very underrated fighter who
has shown great promise in the early stages of his fights. With a new
conditioning program underway, I believe Calvert may have been able to put his gassing
problems behind him. I am going to go against the grain and predict a Calvert
upset victory via first round TKO.
David Buirski vs Kelvin Mwale (Welterweight fight)
Winner: Kelvin Mwale via TKO
This was one of the hardest matchups to call and I think it
could go either way. I am going to go with Kelvin Mwale to win via TKO
in the second round .
Koba Iakobidze vs Alain Ilunga (Featherweight fight)
Winner: Koba Iakobidze via KO
I have yet to see Alain Ilunga fight, but being a stand-up
specialist he is likely to stand and trade with Iakobidze. Having seen
Iakobidze fight at EFC Africa 12, I believe there are very few fighters in the
division who can get away with this. I believe Koba Iakobidze will be too quick
and will finish the EFC debutant via first round KO.
Wade Groth vs Markus Taljaard (Lightweight fight)
Winner: Markus Taljaard via decision
Markus Taljaard impressed me with his hand speed at EFC 12
when he faced Ryan van Niekerk. I believe his stand-up will be effective enough
to earn him the win over Wade Groth via decision.
Tshikangu Makeubo vs James Le Roux (Middleweight fight)
Winner: James
Le Roux via Submission
I am going to back James Le Roux for this fight. Le Roux
trained really hard leading up to EFC 13 and will be in great shape for EFC 14.
I think Le Roux will win via Submission in round 1
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