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Rory Daniels (W) VS Willy Francis

Willy Fancis came into this fight as the overwhelming crowd favourite, his record far outweighed that of Rory Daniel and we expected the fight to go the way of Francis.  It didn’t.  Rory Daniel is a massive man with punching power that is fitting for a man that size.  

Round 1 started with Daniels coming out and throwing massive punches at Francis, of which he landed most.  The fighters ended up in the clinch and the ultimately on the ground with Francis moving from side control to mount and landing some blows.  Daniels managed to escape the mount and the fighters ended up on their feet again.  Daniels was by far the better striker of the two and caused Francis’ nose to bleed profusely early in the first round.  Daniels rocked Francis with a massive right hand which knocked him to the canvass, Daniels didn’t charge and finish Francis with GnP allowing Francis to stand up and continue the bout.

Round 2

The fighters came out of their corners and Daniels threw some huge hooks which all landed causing the bloody nose of Francis to bleed even more than in the first round.  The rest of the fight was pretty much a one sided affair with Daniels pummelling Francis with huge punches until Francis turned his back on Daniels and the fight was stopped by the referee at 1m 24 sec in the second half.

Cecil Smith (W) VS Bresler Bekker

These guys touched gloves and came out swinging.  Each fighter throwing wild punches in the hope of getting in a lucky punch.  It was a very scrappy affair, but entertaining nonetheless.  It’s always nice to see 2 big guys throwing hey makers at each other.  Cecil landed some massive right hands which caused Breslers nose to pour with blood early in the first round. The exchanges continued for a few more seconds until Smith landed another massive punch which landed square on his already bloody nose rocking Bresler quite badly.  You could hear the impact of the punch from cage-side.  Bresler had given up after that punch and the ref jumped in to stop the massacre.

Dino Bertolis (W) VS Francois Groeneveld

This was a really good fight and spells great things for the future of MMA in SA.  Ruby Wolf (photographer) came up to me at the start of this fight and said “Watch how good Dino’s Jits is) and he was right.

Round 1

The fight started with both fighters exchanging blows but neither doing any real damage or harm to the other.  Groeneveld took Dino to the canvas where the wrestling on display was very good from both parties.  Dino was constantly looking for submissions and was more than comfortable on his back.  He almost locked in a triangle choke but Groenevelt managed to escape it.  For the most part of the first round Groeneveld was the aggressor and Bertolis was very comfortable absorbing the pressure.  The first round was spent predominantly on the canvas.

Round 2

This is where it started getting awesome.  Dino came out striking landing some massive head kicks which rocked Groeneveld.  Groeneveld was not going to be outdone in the striking department and landed some really insane hooks and straight punches on Dino.  Dino was in control of the round and was far more aggressive than in round 1 but Groeneveld certainly held his own.  He didn’t throw as many strikes but everyone he did throw was accurate and effective.

Round 3

Dino was certainly the fitter of the 2 and came out in the 3^rd as strong as the previous 2.  Groeneveld, visible tired, threw some good punches which caught Bertolis perfectly.  Bertolis took the fight to ground and landed some good GnP.  The ref stood the fight up after both fighters became a little inactive.  Dino kicked himself into high gear and started striking like his life depended on it until the ref called a stop to the fight.

This was a really entertaining fight and both fighters did exceptionally well.  Congrats to the Men Of War guys for this well deserved victory.

Boyd Allen (W) VS Justin Radford

Not much to report on this fight.  The fighters touched gloves and started off tentatively each happy to feel the other out for the first while.  The first exchange happened and the fight ended up on the ground where Allen quickly sunk in a rear naked choke at 1m 21 sec – and that’s all she wrote.

Jason McAuliff (W) VS Dean Austin.

With Jason fighting out of Attila’s Fight Club we could only expect the fight to go to ground, especially due to the fact that Dean Austin fights for the Tri Dragons who are a kick boxing focused gym.  As per our expectation the fight went to ground early on in the round but it was Austin who had the control.  He locked in a guillotine when Jason stuck his neck out a little too much.  Austin spent a good while softening up Jasons ribs in order to open a gap so that his free hand could be used to complete and tighten the guillotine.  No such luck and Mc Aullif escaped.  Austin showed massive improvement in his ground game and the fight spent the majority of the time on the canvass.  The Mc Aulliff moved into mount landed some big strikes and literally in a blink of an eye he landed the most acrobatic arm bar we have ever seen.  He blended a pile driver with his legs and an arm bar at the same time (like Hawkey did to Henderson at Invasion).  It was incredible to watch and with that the fight was over.

Well done to Attila, Speechly and company. Jason looks like a man to watch in the future!

Warren Du Toit (W) VS Morne Van Niekerk.

Du Toit walked in with massive crowd support, the second his name was announced the crowd went mad.  Morne Van Niekerk, as I said in my event report looked completely out of place in the cage.  He almost seemed bewildered that he was there and about to fight a far bigger, very focused Du Toit (Im really not sure why this match up happened at all and was one of the only blemishes of the night).  The round started and Du Toit rushed Van Niekerk, locked in a guillotine, fell down to sink it in deeper and choked until Van Niekerk blacked out.  I would like to see Du Toit pitted against someone a little more his size, power and skill in his next bout.  Take nothing away from him, he looks like a man to watch and has a corner and support of some of the biggest names in the industry.

Daniel Sinclair (W) VS Josh Muller

This was a very highly anticipated fight as it was a return to the cage for Sinclair and he was to be fighting Brad Bloch’s protégé in Josh Muller.  Rumour has it that Brad Bloch wants to send Muller America to compete such is his belief in Muller.

Round 1

The fight started with Sinclair in control and constantly moving forward with Muller backing up.  This annoyed Sinclair so much he actually took a few steps back and invited Muller to exchange blows with him.  As Muller stepped forward Sinclair landed a left head kick that came out of nowhere- the boy has speed! Daniel then took the fight to the ground where he landed some good GnP. The fighters began the customary wrestling match where Sinclair was in complete control all the time. Muller ended up on his back, Sinclair stood up, passed Muller’s guard and landed some huge, accurate diving bombs clean on the face of Muller (I was sitting right in front of this and I could hear the punches landing ).  Sinclair was the aggressor on the night and controlled the fight completely.  Round 1 came to an end.  The fight did not go further than the buzzer as Muller was actually out on his feet at the end of the round.  He collapsed trying to make his way to his corner – and that was that.

Sinclair is a machine of a fighter, he strikes well, his Jits (thanks to the guys at 10^th Planet) is insane, his confidence is growing – along with his humility it must be stated. He has all the makings of a man that will take a strap home in the future.

Kelvin Mwale (W) VS Paul Schreuder

Well, well, well.  This was the fight that really got the fans going.  It was filled with good scraps, big punches, equipment failure and most of all controversy!

Round 1

The fight started like more of a bar brawl than a MMA fight with the fighters exchanging scrappy but menacing blows. The “lead” swapped between the two fighters fairly evenly with each landing good punches on the other.  The fight was stopped due to Mwale’s headgear coming loose.  The headgear was fastened, the fighters touched gloves and continued the slugfest.  Mwale’s nose bled badly towards the end of the round.  Schreuder was starting to gas badly – which started his downward spiral.

Round 2

The round started exactly the same way round 1 did.  The guys came out swinging each relying on knockout power more than finesse or skill.  Again one of the fighters newly introduced headgear came loose and the fight was stopped.  The headgear was fastened, the fighters touched gloves…and Schreuder threw the dirtiest punch you could ever imagine, he caught Mwale completely unaware, which infuriated Mwale and more importantly the crowd.  The Boo’s rang through the 700-1000 strong crowd and the support was no all for Mwale.  The fight continued with Schreuder gassing more and more and Mwale starting to control the fight and the exchanges.  Again headgear came off.  And guess what?  While touching gloves Schreuder threw another dirty, cheap shot.  By this time the crowd wanted blood – Schreuder’s blood!  Mwale now in control landed some good punches and the fight ended up on the floor.  The ref tried to stand them up and Schreuder couldn’t stand.  He gassed too badly.  The ref called the fight! Justice was served and Mwale’s hand was raised in victory!

Extreme Striking Bout

Sydney Mokgolo (W) VS Chimmy Van Winkle.

Now this in my mind was a pointless fight.  I’m not sure why the organisers put it in the card, I’m sure they have their reasons but people go to MMA events to watch MMA and other events to watch extreme striking, kickboxing and the like.

For those of you who don’t know Extreme Striking is like MMA but the fight can’t go to ground.  As soon as it does the fight is stopped and a point is awarded to the fighter who took the other to ground through a takedown, throw or sweep.  You get the picture.

Round 1 started and finished fairly quickly.  Chimmy came into the fight wearing  knee support which is an obvious target for your opponent.  Mokgolo targeted the injured knee and three or so kicks later Chimmy called it a day with a verbal submission.

By Smacktalk Editor

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