Pena powers his way to EFC title

DEMARTE Pena, ladies and gentlemen! Your undisputed Bantamweight EFC champion of the world.

Saturday night, at Time Square, Pretoria at EFC 66, the Angolan warrior underlined why he deserves to be the only one with a belt in his division when he TKO’d the interim bantamweight holder Irshaad ‘White Tiger’ Sayed in the fourth round to cap off 2017 .

After beating Sayed in their first clash in December 2016, the fight was declared a no contest due to Pena digesting a “contaminated supplement”.

As for any athlete, it was a tough situation for Pena to bear with all the labels that come with athletes being caught up in doping or banned substance scandals.

Yet, the man overcame and kept moving forward, improving his game and preparing for round two.

Saturday night’s fight was also the culmination of a rivalry as coaches for Pena and Sayed as they mentored and guided amateur fighters in the Extreme Fighting Championship reality show, The Fighter, season one, which saw fighters from around the world come together in a Big Brother kind of setup with the goal of earning an EFC contract.

Team Sayed’s Brendan Lesar was signed onto the EFC roster after overcoming Ibrahim Mane.

It was filled with drama, fun, hardwork, banter and some serious challenges which often saw Pena and Sayed clash in heated moments.

And it is no wonder that after exactly 400 days of their first fight, Pena greeted Sayed with a huge kick to the head in the first round, flooring the man from Cape Town.

You could hear the entire Time Square taking a big gulp of air as Sayed’s knees gave in.

Yet, Sayed proved why he too wore a belt around his waist as he recovered, but he was eventually defeated in the fourth round.

“I should’ve worked harder. I did not and that allowed him to go to work,” said Sayed of Pena.

“Well done to Demarte,” added Sayed showing his true sportsmanship. What next for these two warriors? Who knows. Yet 2017 has been a great year for EFC because of names like Pena and Sayed.