PFL Africa 1 was a Knockout!

PFL Cape Town was always going to be a litmus test for whether South African fight fans would support arena-style fight events again. For many years now, fight fans have had to choose between box-&-dine, town-hall or warehouse-style events, but Saturday night proved that local fight fans will participate, as long as there is something in it for them. PFL put on a fight production that has not been seen on our shores for quite some time and the action in the cage also did not dissappoint.

As part of its international expansion, PFL Africa was served up as the appetiser for the PFL Champions Series – which was headlined by American Johnny Eblen, looking to defend of his middleweight title against Spain’s Costello van Steenis. The main card was true value for money with fans being treated to sixteen (16) rounds of action from a possible seventeen rounds.

The main event witnessed a “passing of the strap” as van Steenis submitted Eblen with mere seconds remaining in their fight to be crowned #AndNew!

The co-main event saw Dakota Ditcheva – the PFL’s biggest female drawcard – put on a clinic as she outclassed Sumiko Inaba, with one judged scoring the bout 30-24!

The main card also saw comfortable UD wins for both AJ KcKee and Artur Zaynukov while Corey Anderson despatched with a former PFL heavyweight champion, in his PFL debut in a new division – heavyweight!

Moving to the undercard, where fans were treated to the first round of the PFL’s “winner moves on” bantamweight and heavyweight tournaments. Zimbabwe’s Simbarashe Hokonya, Algeria’s Karim Henniene, Angola’s Boule Godogo and South Africa’s Nkosi Ndebele all booked their places in the bantamweight semi-finals while England’s Abraham Bably and Joffie Houlton along with South Africa’s Justin Clarke and Cameroon’s Maxwell Djantou Nana secured their spots in the heavyweight semi-finals. The opening bout of the event saw Juliet Ukah maintain her undefeated record with a UD win over a game Ceileigh Niedermayr.

One of the most memorable moments of PFL Cape Town had to be the response of the local fans to former UFC Champion, Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was almost inaudible on the post fight interview due to the crowd chanting his name.

This is a great start for PFL Africa however, many questions remain:

• Was England’s Joffie Houlton the only possible replacement for Mohammed Ben Yahia – was there no other African fighter that the PFL could call on for this inaugural African event? Really?
• As outlined in a previous artcle (https://www.ruckusmedia.co.za/has-pfl-africa-arrived/), if PFL is being billed as this “transformative platform for African athletes” why was there an all European bout on the PFL Africa card, namely Bably vs Gnaze? Again, I ask, are there not enough African fighters?
• Finally, where was Francis Ngannou, the Chairman of of PFL Africa? Was this not the supposed “first global MMA organisation to stage an event of this scale on the continent of Africa”? What none of the MSM writers are saying is that the only truly historic aspect of PFL Africa was seeing the event unfold WITHOUT the man who is meant to be spearheading the African expansion for the PFL!

With PFL Africa’s next stop again being in South Africa, this time in Johannesburg on August 9th, all indications are that this card could be an “all African” card and hopefully the PFL Africa Chairman will grace us with his presence.

PFL Africa 1 Main Card Results:

Costello van Steenis (17-3) def. Johnny Eblen (16-1) via 5^th rnd submission

Dakota Ditcheva (15-0) def. Sumiko Inaba (8-2) via UD

AJ McKee (23-2) def. Akhmed Magomedov (11-2) via UD

Artur Zaynukov (16-4) def. Takeshi Izumi (6-4) via UD

Corey Anderson (19-6, 1 NC) def. Denis Goltsov (36-9) via 2^nd rnd TKO 

PFL Africa Undercard Results:

Nkosi Ndebele (9-3) def. Mahmoud Atef (5-3) via 1^st rnd TKO

Maxwell Djantou Nana (7-1) def. Mickael Groguhe (6-3) via UD

Boule Godogo (4-0) def. Shannon van Tonder (7-3) via SD

Justin Clarke (3-0) def. Jashell Ticha Awa (3-2) via 1^st rnd TKO (doctor stoppage) 

Karim Henniene (5-0) def. Asiashu Tshitamba (6-5) via SD

Joffie Houlton (8-4) def. Abdoulaye Kane (3-1) via 1^st rnd DQ (Illegal Knee) 

Simbarashe Hokonya (6-0) def. Frans Mlambo (15-7) via UD

Abraham Bably (6-2) def. Paul-Emmanuel Gnaze (8-6) via 1^st rnd KO 

Juliet Ukah (7-0) def. Ceileigh Niedermayr (3-3) via UD