Gladiator targets EFC Bantamweight title

SYLVESTER Chipfumbu's remarkable rise in the Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) is set to continue after he secured a shot at the coveted EFC Bantamweight Championship, in what he has described as one of the biggest fights of his career against South African and the bantamweight titleholder, Faeez Jacobs.

The 29-year-old, who is nicknamed Gladiator, will challenge Jacobs in the EFC Bantamweight Championship at a yet-to-be-announced venue on May 8.

This will be his first fight since his thumping victory over Asiashu Tshitamba in December 2019.

Jacobs was yet to get his first title defence shot in the EFC since winning the belt in August last year and now the rumbling Chipfumbu stands tall in his way.

The rangy and explosive former Zimbabwe karateka has been in top form and continues to grow as an athlete with the main aim of winning his maiden EFC title.

Since making a storming entrance in EFC in 2016, the Gweru-born fighter has previously challenged top fighters in search of an elusive title.

However, this time he is brimming with confidence that a victory is imminent in the Bantamweight Championship, although he admits that a mammoth task lies ahead of him.

“I'm aware of the threat that my opponent poses and I respect that. That being said, my focus is to get a win.

“I know I have put in the required work and we are still doing that. Another cherry on top is the quality of training partners I am surrounded by.

“I have been working towards this fight since I last competed which has given me the right mindset and a winning mentality drilled into me over and over again,” Chipfumbu told NewsDay Sport from his base in South Africa.

The mixed martial artist is living his dream in South Africa where he boosts of six wins out of nine fights, a commendable record on its own.

And in his quest to break the record and become the first Zimbabwean to win an EFC title, Chipfumbu will have to be at his mauling best to bring down Jacobs, affectionately known as the Troublemarker, who is sitting on an impressive winning streak.

Jacobs is ranked second out of the 29 active South African professional bantamweights nevertheless, but the ranking does not deter Chipfumbu to make a bold statement about his abilities in this Championship, where Zimbabweans have hardly been successful.

The EFC will host seven further events, but the headline fight on the card is this bantamweight title fight between South Africa's “Troublemaker” and the bubbling Zimbabwean challenger “Gladiator” .

In the only other match announced, Boyd Allen will make his return to the octagon against the Democratic Republic of Congo's Bruno “Major” Mukulu.