Tumelo Maphutha (left) and JP Kruger were all smiles ahead of tomorrow’s main event, middleweight war

Johannesburg (South Africa) – Carnival City’s Sports Bar venue was treated to 30 minutes of smooth MMA action at the EFC AFRICA 22 weigh-in. JP ‘Tinkerbell’ Kruger and Tumelo Maphutha headline the event in a middleweight, striker vs. striker battle certain to rock the Hexagon. “I’m going to have fun,” said Maphutha, smiling evilly, to which Kruger agreed. “I have no expectations; we’re going to put on a great fight.”

Frederich ‘Ninja’ Naumann, by his own admission ahead of his biggest test yet, surprised the crowd with ghost like contact lenses when he faced off with brutal former welterweight champion Dallas Jakobi, no doubt a tactic to get into the mind of the Durban legend.

The much hyped bantamweight showdown between Donnovan Wilken and Matthew Buirski took a further controversial turn when Buirksi failed to make weight, coming in at 1.35kg over, forcing him to negotiate a purse penalty with Wilken’s camp. There was no love lost when the two men faced off, with EFC AFRICA president Cairo Howarth forced to break them apart.

Further down the card, the heavyweight and light heavyweights delivered tense stare downs. Egytian powerhouse Mohamed Aly and UK based Fraser Opie showed ominous intent and Egyptian wrestler Koko Hammer showed no fear as he glared up at the towering Roelof Scheepers.

Two athletes failed to make weight. Aside from Matthew Buirski, Donald Nzirawa hit the scales at 1.95kg over the lightweight limit, a weight he will attempt to drop in the standard two hours.

EFC AFRICA 22 Weigh-in results were as follows:

Bout 1: Welterweight bout
Morne Prinsloo 76.75kg
Chimmy van Winkel 77.00kg

Bout 2 : Heavyweight bout
Koko Hammer 115.65kg
Roelof Scheepers 109.10kg

Bout 3 : Lightweight bout
David van Schalkwyk 69.90kg
Donald Nzirawa 71.95kg (He has two hours to cut 1.95kg)

Bout 4 : Welterweight bout
James Saks 76.70kg
Josh Muller 76.95kg

Bout 5 : Bantamweight bout
Cedric Doyle 60.80kg
Nkazimulo Zulu 60.65kg

Bout 6 : Welterweight bout
Temba Gorimbo 76.10kg
Juan Lubbe 76.70kg

Bout 7 : Heavyweight bout
Christophe Walravens 109.00kg
Ian Visser 113.30kg

Bout 8 : Light heavyweight bout
Mohamed Aly 93.00kg
Fraser Opie 92.60kg

Bout 9 : Featherweight bout
Amos Hlatswayo 65.50kg
Barend Nienaber 66.00kg

Bout 10 : Bantamweight bout
Matthew Buirski 62.35kg (Purse deduction negotiated)
Donnovan Wilken 61.00kg

Bout 11 : Lightweight bout
Dallas Jakobi 70.15kg
Frederich Naumann 70.00kg

Bout 12 : Middleweight main event bout
Tumelo Maphutha 83.75kg
JP Kruger 83.95kg

EFC AFRICA 22, presented by MusclePharm, takes place at the Carnival City Big Top Arena on 15 August 2013. Tickets on sale now at www.computicket.com. Tickets for the live broadcast to Nu Metro Cinemas available now at www.numetro.com.

Broadcast information and full fight card available at efcafrica.com