On Thursday, May 7, Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) held its 39th event from Grand West, Cape Town, South Africa.
The event was headlined by a heavyweight title fight that pitted champion Brendon Groenewald against challenger Andrew van Zyl. In the co-main event former light heavyweight champion Gideon Drotschie looked to get himself back to contender status, squaring off with Tumelo Maphutha.
Groenewald looked to make the first defense of the EFC heavyweight title after winning it at EFC 35 in a first-round stoppage over Christophe Walravens. Groenewald had won four straight inside the Hexagon and five of his six career victories had been by way of stoppage.
Van Zyl, a former EFC heavyweight champion himself, had only lost twice inside the Hexagon, with both of those losses coming at the hands of former UFC competitor and former EFC heavyweight champion Ruan Potts. Van Zyl headed into the EFC 39 title fight sporting back-to-back wins, both of which came by way of submission.
EFC 39 kicked off Thursday with the preliminary card at 16:15 CAT.
Gideon Drotschie def. Tumelo Maphutha by majority decision
Don Madge def. Regis Muyambu by knockout. Round 1, 4:59
Champion Dalcha def. Yannick Bahati by unanimous decision
Irshaad Sayed def. Oumpie Sebeko by unanimous decision
Sibusiso Mdoko def. Luke Michael by TKO. Round 3, 4:32
Mark Hulme def. Shaun de Lange by unanimous decision
Joe Cummins def. Marcel Teniers by TKO (strikes). Round 1,
Cameron Pritchard def. Pupanga Tresor by knockout. Round 1, 0:23
Mamoudou Toure def. Sizwe Mnikathi by disqualification (illegal elbow). Round 2, 3:52
Quaid Openshaw def. Didier Nyembe by TKO (strikes). Round 1, 3:58
Kaleka Kabanda def. Mark Moleke by TKO (strikes). Round 1, 1:19