‘Bring them both on’
CONFIDENT BUYS: I’LL TAKE ON BOTH ROUCH AND ZULU ON THE SAME NIGHT
Vacant title up for grabs in Carnival City showdown.
Such is the confidence of JP Buys, that the talented 22-year-old joked that he would fight twice at EFC69 at Carnival City tonight. Buys, who meets France’s Philippe Rouch for the vacant Extreme Fighting Championship bantamweight title tonight, also said he’d fight Nkazimulo Zulu.
Zulu is the EFC flyweight champion and was due to take on Angola’s Marino Cutendana tonight, but the challenger had to withdraw from the event due to medical reasons.
“I will fight both Zulu and Philippe on Saturday,” stated Buys confidently.
At yesterday’s weigh-in a vocal crowd greeted the Frenchman with boos and shouts of ‘how dare you!’ – Rouche’s now signature phrase since his live outburst after beating South Africa’s Gareth Buirski at EFC66 in Pretoria last year.
The “love to hate him” Rouch has poured pure confidence on a swaggering Buys in the buildup, who famously slapped the Frenchman in the face with a baguette at last Wednesday’s press conference.
The animosity between the two is intense, the meeting has the MMA world on the edge of their seats.
“The time for talking is over,” declared Buys.
“Let them boo louder, I cannot hear them!” replied the charismatic Rouch, and added: “I will end his career.”
With the last-minute cancellation of the flyweight title fight, South Africa’s Pierre Botha and Scotland’s Calum Murrie will be the co-main event at the Big Top Arena.
Botha is a Commonwealth Games wrestler with devastating knockout power, while Murrie brings a submission arsenal peppered with Taekwondo styled strikes.
The men faced off with intent and a gentleman’s handshake after – signalling a tough contest tomorrow.
France’s Ibrahima Mané returns after his loss to Brendan Lesar, and brought the fire in his face-off with the rising star from Pretoria, Quaid Openshaw.
This will be Openshaw’s first main card appearance and his biggest challenge yet.
Opening the main card is a pair of heavyweight battles. Sudden star Juan Bezuidenhout, after his show-stopping performance at EFC 68, takes on Simon Harle, and proven battlers Kevin Koekemoer and Cameroon’s Nico Yamdjie Yamdjie finally face each other in the Hexagon.
Bezuidenhout makes his main card debut and, still riding the wave of his EFC debut last month, got close and personal at his faceoff with Harle.
The more experienced Harle stood back, eyeing his opponent with a smile, giving fans a glimpse of a full-tilt match-up tomorrow night.