Johannesburg (South Africa) – Weigh-in for EFC AFRICA 11 proved the professionalism of Africa’s elite martial artists as every one of the 26 athletes on the bill weighed in within the acceptable limits of their weight categories.
Weigh-in took place at the Coca-Cola Dome at 2pm on 9 November, one day ahead of EFC AFRICA 11, the largest and last EFC AFRICA event of 2011. Judging by the intensity of EFC AFRICA lightweight champion Costa Ioannou, tomorrow night’s title fight against Alex Cheboub will be a clash to remember. Ioannou gave organisers a shock when he stepped onto the scale 5kg overweight, but the sizable crowd let out a joint sigh of relief as Ioannou unzipped his jacket to display his title belt underneath, accounting for his excess weight. As soon as challenger Alex Cheboub stepped up for the face-off, Ioannou underwent a Jekyll and Hyde transformation; he pressed his forehead against Cheboub’s and forced him backwards while demanding that the challenger look him in the eye. EFC AFRICA can’t wait to see how this epic confrontation unfolds tomorrow night!
Heavyweight champion Ruan Potts and title challenger Andrew van Zyl displayed great respect towards each other ahead of their bout. Van Zyl admitted that Potts would most likely be his toughest opponent to date, while Potts emphasised just how much work he’d put in to increase his chances of becoming EFC AFRICA’s first champion to retain a title.
Another notable highlight was Martin van Staden presenting Nolan Swanepoel with a pillow bearing ‘Goodnight Nolan’. Swanepoel laughed out loud and the two shook hands after the stare-down but make no mistake, when the cage door closes it will be all out war between these two top-ranked welterweights.
Weigh-in results (kg):
Tez Makuebo: 82 Armand de Bruyn: 83
Wesley Hawkey: 66 Victor Anyaogu: 65.3
Don Madge: 70 Wade Groth: 70
Amr Wahman: 77 Leon Mynhardt: 77
Denzil Wait: 66 Abdul Hassan: 66.15
Terrence Griessel: 69 Wentzel Nel: 70.5
James Rennie: 76.9 Jadyson Costa: 76.3
Yehia Deghidy: 81.5 Donavin Hawkey: 83
Chett Meyer: 93.5 Tumelo Maphutha: 93
Tyron Rightford: 83.4 Jacques Joubert: 84
Martin van Staden: 77.1 Nolan Swanepoel: 76.45
Alex Cheboub: 70.45 Costa Ioannou: 70
Andrew van Zyl: 111 Ruan Potts: 114
EFC AFRICA 11 takes place at the Coca-Cola Dome on 10 November. Tickets on sale now at Computicket and tickets for the live broadcast to Nu Metro Cinemas available at Nu Metro