This week Thursday, Africa’s biggest combat sports promotion will broadcast the greatest athletes on the continent to what continues to be an unprecedented global audience for any sportscasting entity on these shores, with EFC 107 featuring the highly-anticipated Flyweight title fight between Gift ‘The Day’ Walker and Terrence ‘The Black Panther’ Balelo. Neither competitor has ever left a result in the judges hands, with both displaying raw first-round finishing power throughout their undefeated careers inside the famous Hexagon. Now they clash at the top of the division to decide who is the 125lb apex fighter of African mixed-martial arts and worthy of wearing the prestigious golden buckle.
Preceding this crucible of combat will be the welcome return of Cape Town’s very own ‘Troublemaker’, Faeez Jacobs, who like many former EFC champions, platformed to international promotions to compete around the world, but now returns to the same arena in which he won his belt four years ago. His return path however is a rocky one, as he must now deal with the grit and guts of Angola’s ever-improving Eduardo Barros from Luanda whose elusive footwork and landscaping right-hand has dispatched many prior pugilists placed in the past before him. But Jacobs is the epitome of unorthodox striking, which when allied with a prize fighting heart of pure determination, becomes a deadly combination that has endeared him to the hearts of millions of fans.
Nor is he the only mauler from the Mother City representing the surly south at EFC 107 as Pride Fighting Academy’s undefeated flyweight, Tumelo Manyamala continues to tear-up the rankings sheet, having finished every single one of his opponents in the Hex before now facing fellow Capetonian Fafa Dwama. With superb victories over top-drawer fighters like Themba Mkhize, Sylvester Chipfumbu and Asiashu Tshitamba, Dwama is a fighter of guile and cunning who can use his cage craft to lure his opponents into deadly counters, setting the stage for a fascinating clash of styles between these two gnarly neighbours.
Zambian standout Humphrey Mulenga has yet to go past the first round in every single one of his five pro fights but now comes up against Amanzimtoti-based Zimbabwean, Tapiwa Katikati who embarked upon a 5-fight winning tear when he entered the EFC. Following his first loss in the EFC Performance Institute this year, ‘The Mighty Warrior’ gets an immediate re-booking here against the deadly ‘King Cobra’. The main card curtain-raiser will fittingly witness ‘The Showman’, Divin Bosomi putting on a fist-feast for fight fans against Corvus’s outstanding Zimbabwean grappler Simbarashe Hokonya which follows six equally thrilling undercard match-ups featuring the best fighting prospects competing on the continent today.
EFC 107 Walker vs Balelo Flyweight Championship is presented by World Sports Betting and takes place on Thursday, 7 September 2023, live from the EFC Performance Institute in JHB, South Africa.
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