Julian Kiewietz
After a four-year hiatus, the Professional Fighting Championship (PFC) returned to the South African combat scene and straight back into the hearts of fight fans across the Mother City, following a spectacular show at the Camps Bay High School on Saturday night.
Dubbed “The Comeback”, the popular promotion, in partnership with Tri-Core, Ring Contact Fighting Arts, and Fight Africa, rolled out a jam-packed 21-fight card that included three disciplines: boxing, mixed martial arts, and K-1 (kickboxing).
Since May 2012, the PFC brand has strongly focused on nurturing and moulding Mzansi’s upcoming stars, with many competing on the international stage.
With that said, the majority of this past weekend’s fight card consisted of amateur fights, which included two title fights.
The first title fight was the inaugural PFC ladies’ boxing bantamweight title bout, which saw Vibrant Sports’ Lisolethu Majalisa walk away with the spoils after beating Fighterz Inc’s Aayesha Majiet after a hard-fought four rounds.
Majiet was the aggressor for the majority of the fight as she tried to smother her opponent and overwhelm her with volume and combos. However, the Philippi-born Majalisa did well to remain composed and practice patience, using her fight IQ to secure valuable points while also unleashing power shots when the openings were on offer.
“It was a tough fight for me. I didn’t prepare for a fighter that brings pressure, because I don’t like it when they do that, I tend to lose focus,” said the new champion.
“Well done to Aayesha. She was on to me, putting pressure on me.
“I had to decide to throw bombs and move because she was coming forward with a lot of inaccurate punches mixed in there, so it was touch and go. But other than that, I am super excited, emotional, but very excited and happy,” concluded Majalisa.
The only professional fight of the night was a K-1 bout between South African veteran and former national K1 champion Wade Hammond and Eerste River’s Riaan Boois. Judging by the intensity and increase in tempo of this fight, one could easily pick up that this was a professional bout.
It was Hammond who first showed his intent with quick combos with his hands, immense power, and timing. His experience shone through with his great anticipation and level change as he attempted to mix up some beautiful head and body kicks before returning to his powerful jabs and hooks.
Boois never backed down, remaining calm and focused, and it was a great advertisement for upcoming fighters, showing off the good head movement, defence, and counter-low kicks aiming to subdue the power in Hammond’s hands.
Boois also mixed up some beautiful teep kicks to control the range or distance at times, but in the end, it was Hammond’s volume, power, and accuracy in his combinations that got him to the ‘W’ after three rounds.
“I feel good about getting the win,” said Hammond.
“My defence on the checking of the leg kick was a bit sloppy, my leg got kicked a lot. I don’t want to blow my own horn, but I think their game plan was to attack the leg to subdue my good boxing.
“Also, I was not following up my boxing with enough kicks, but that is why I like staying in the game because there is always room for improvement and working on getting better and on to the next one. My next goal is to get another K1 title.”
On the MMA card, Jelais Kitoubou could not have brought the curtain down on an exciting night of fighting more spectacularly after he stopped Zaakir Parker early in the first round to secure the PFC featherweight title.
Shortly after the fight began, Parker tried to shoot, but an excellently-timed sprawl saw Kitoubou go to work on Parker, stunning him with a flurry of shots that quickly brought an end to the fight.
Boxing results: Kane Skywalker bt Joshua Overberg by unanimous decision; Luke Brazier bt Tristan Calaca via TKO in the third round; Oliver van Niekerk bt Stefan Jantjies via unanimous decision; Liam Pearmain bt Jan Harm Salomons via split decision; Ashwell Young bt Brandon Boleli via unanimous decision; Matteo Cockburn bt Antonio Gomes via split decision; Lisolethu Majalisa bt Aayesha Majiet to win the PFC bantamweight title (four rounds)
K1 results: Riyaan Russouw bt Liam Black; Guthaifa Abrahams bt CP Groenewald; Laeeq Begg bt Michael Pienaar via TKO; Mpumelelo Dube bt Simamkele Stwayi; Super AM, 4 rounds – Adrian Mathews bt Altaaf Armien; Super Am, 4 rounds – Andrew Hunter bt Shayan Parbhoo via TKO in the third round; Pro fight – Wade Hammond beat Riaan Boois
MMA results: Nic Laubscher bt Irfaan Mohammed Saib via triangle choke in the first round; Reuben Job bt Jonas Tafara Dondo via unanimous decision; Terrance Kuture bt Stefan Bester via armbar; Colby Roberts-Baxter bt Stefan De Lange via unanimous decision; Zaahir Abrahams bt Lorenzo Joseph by submission due to armbar in the first; AJ Rossouw bt Andre Kapp via TKO in the first round; Jelais Kitoubou bt Zaakir Parker via TKO in the first round