Over the past few
months the South African lightweight division has undergone a serious facelift.
Many of the division’s fighters have migrated to the featherweight division,
and some new fighters have dropped down from welterweight to join its ranks. This
has resulted in many changes to the pecking order and created some interesting
new matchups for the future.
Here are my
lightweight rankings post EFC Africa 14:
SA MMA lightweight rankings
1. Costa Ioannou (5–0)
Costa Ioannou
faced his toughest test yet in Adam Speechly at EFC 14. After a dominant start,
Ioannou seemed to run out of steam and was forced to dig deep to stop a very
determined Speechly from taking his title. All in all, Costa Ioannou managed to
get the job done and once more showed why he is South Africa’s best
lightweight.
2. Adam “The Prodigy” Speechly (12-4)
Former EFC Africa
welterweight champion Adam Speechly impressed at EFC 14, pushing Costa Ioannou
right to the very end. Though Speechly would lose the decision on points, The
Prodigy added another impressive title fight performance to his resume.
Speechly looked great at lightweight and I hope to see him remain in the
division in the future.
3. Ryan “The Lion” van Niekerk (20-6)
Ryan van Niekerk
is a veteran of the sport, and has held division gold in other promotions. Van
Niekerk has also fought some of the toughest names in the business including
Wesley Hawkey and Chris Bright. Currently on a four fight winning streak, The
Lion managed to win his EFC debut against Markus Taljaard and will be looking
to build on this platform and ultimately earn an EFC Africa title shot.
4. Alex Cheboub (9-6)
Alex Cheboub returned
to his winning ways at EFC 14 by submitting Ashley Calvert in the second round.
Cheboub has now won 4 of his last 5 fights in the EFC Hexagon. With this win,
Cheboub has once more put himself in line for a top 5 opponent, hopefully we
will be treated to Alex Cheboub vs Adam Speechly.
5. Leon Mynhardt (10-5)
Leon Mynhardt has
had mixed results in the EFC at welterweight, but his lightweight debut against
Don Madge at EFC 13 will not quickly be forgotten. Mynhardt managed to weather
a huge early onslaught from Madge, regroup and ultimately win via TKO in the
third. With a wealth of MMA and kickboxing experience, incredible stand-up and
an ever improving ground game, Leon Mynhardt may be a serious threat to the
pro-grappling lightweight division.
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