The first WKF South Africa pro event of the year took place in the Beautiful riverside setting of the Ghost House outdoor entertainment venue with seven professional fights and some great amateur action opening the proceedings.
A beautiful clear African afternoon and evening proved a perfect setting and the aromas of meat cooking on the barbecues made for a very relaxing environment.
Top of the bill was WKF World number 4 and South African K-1 champion Nkosinathi “Tiger” Ximba who met Apheus Mphokane a much larger fighter who stood in following the non arrival of official opponent Brian Ntiwane who one can only assume was too scared to meet the Tiger.
Mphokane is journeyman fighter with a few years pro experience behind him and started aggressively with flurry’s of kicks aimed at the Tiger.
The Tiger had the large crowd laughing and clapping with a series of athletic evasive manoeuvres that saw the kicks hit nothing but air.
All this movement was interspersed with lightening attacks by the tiger with great punch combinations and knees giving Mphokane plenty to think about.
Round two followed suit with the tiger putting Mphokane down twice with knee strikes one for a standing count and his evasive maneuvers still greatly entertaining the crowd.
Round three saw a devastating knee strike to the body down Mphokane for another count and a minute later a similar attack coupled with hooks and uppercuts saw the referee end the bout to bring the Tigers total pro record to 18 fights with 16 wins and two losses and adding to his unbeaten run of 16 K-1 fights.
(latest news: it´s official confirmed - Ximba will fight in fall in Europe for the Lightweight- 60 Kg World title in K-1 rules !!!)
The second pro fight saw a Shidokan battle between Intercontinental Kickboxing title aspirant Andre Els and Kyokushin based Rip Mashele.
The format of the fight starts with 2 rounds of bare knuckle Kyokushin with no face strikes with the hands but everything else goes. Rounds two and three are straight forward K-1 rules with rounds five and six fought to MMA rules.
The Kyokushin rounds were violent all action with both fighters being knocked down on more than one occasion but a close points score as they moved to K-1.
The K-1 rounds caused a major surprise with the mainly kick based Mashele downing Els twice, once after a superb hook combination and again with a powerful hook and uppercut.
It looked as if Els was finished and Mashele was set for a memorable victory when sadly a stray kick saw Els block with his knee and Mashele collapse in agony with what turned out to be a broken foot handing a lucky victory to Els.
Pro fight three saw the third appearance in as many events of the hapless Morne Van Niekerk who for the third event running was MASSIVELY overweight.
You might remember that his last fight against Rip Mashele saw him more than 14 kgs overweight and 21 kgs heavier than his opponent.
That fight was allowed under the close attention of the referee and provided a simple and amusing crowd pleasing massacre for Rip Mahele.
This time the weight challenged opponent was meeting well known MMA fighter Gavin Green from East London who came as always at 77kgs.
Van Niekerk this time managed around 92 kgs so had a weight advantage of ONLY 15 kgs.
The fight was to extreme striking rules (basically full Muay Thai in MMA gloves)and saw Van Niekerk charging around like a wounded elephant trying to squash Green who very skilfully moved around and scored some excellent punches while bobbing and weaving and side stepping.
This proved to be the plan for the fight and the longer it went on the more tired Van Niekerk got and the more punches Green landed.
By the mid point of round two it had become a bag workout with Van Niekerk in the role of the punch bag.
Blistering combinations kept landing from Green downing Van Niekerk repeatedly and it must be said that he is not short of courage as he repeatedly got up for more.
By the end of round two the referee counted out a battered Van Niekerk leaving Green with an impressive and very professional victory over an outclassed but very brave opponent.
Gavin will become a big player in WKF in South Africa so keep an eye out for him both at home and overseas.
The supporting pro fights saw a very quick knee based victory in Shidokan fighting for Andries Swanepoel and a strong knockout performance for East London’s Mabasa Cekata over a once again disappointing Given Majuba in Extreme Striking.
The final Extreme Striking fight saw young ex MMA fighter Mawande Mazathambe beat the more experienced stand up specialist Jan Moatse in two rounds with a very controlled and polished performance.
It was very enjoyable event with some great fight action and a tremendous mixed MMA and K-1 amateur support bill.
The next WKF pro event is due for XKT PRO in Brakpan near Johannesburg on April 14th; then May 14th in Rustenburg and then Mabopane on May 27th all for WKF pro.
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