Igeu Kabesa Reclaims Extreme Fighting Championship Featherweight Title With Dominant Submission Victory

Igeu Kabesa Reclaims Extreme Fighting Championship Featherweight Title With Dominant Submission Victory

Byron Pillay
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:07 PM
  • Igeu Kabesa overcame a scary start in the first round to dominate Nerick Simoes and take him down regularly
  • Igeu "Smiley" Kabesa won the Featherweight title for a third time by submitting Nerick Simoes in the third round
  • HP van Staden and Peace Nguphane went to war in the co-main event which saw van Staden win by submission

Igeu Kabesa is the new Extreme Fighting Championship Featherweight champion.

Kabesa beat Nerick Simoes by submission to claim the belt he once held not too long ago.

Igeu Kabesa, Reclaims, Extreme Fighting Championship, Featherweight Title, Dominant, Submission, Victory, South Africa, MMA
Igeu Kabesa made history at EFC 95 as he won the Featherweight title for the third time. Image: @Scuffle_SA
Source: Twitter

Smiley showed the heart of a champion in the first round as he pushed through the pain to overturn a potential submission loss. Simoes hooked in a deep kimura lock and it looked like only a moment of time before Smiley would have had to tap.

Kabesa showed great fighter IQ to find a way out of the predicament and even ended the round in a dominant position. Kabesa ended the first round on top of Simoes, raining down punches on The Beast.

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The second round was a bit more of the same as Igeu ended the round on top of Simoes, executing some brutal ground and pound.

Simoes did all he could to avoid the shots and stop the referee calling an end to the fight.

Igeu’s wrestling skills came to the fore in the third round as he immediately took Simoes down to the mat. He wore down the Angolan fight and eventually took his back, locking in a rear-naked choke. Simoes could not escape and was forced to tap out.

Kabesa made history by winning the title for the third time and cementing his place as one of the greatest fighters on the continent.

In the co-main event, HP van Staden and Peace Nguphane went to war for victory.

Both fighters landed some big blows, but Nguphane’s resilience made major headlines. Van Staden locked in submission attempts in the first two rounds, attempts that would have put away many other fighters.

Nguphane had a never say die attitude and found a way out of everything that HP threw at him. Ultimately it wasn’t enough. HP locked in a rear-naked choke in the third round and Nguphane finally had to tap.

Igeu "Smiley" Kabesa battles Nerick "The Beast" Simoes for Extreme Fighting Championship featherweight title

Africa’s premier mixed martial art fighters will return to the cage today to battle for bragging rights and big wins.

Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) 95 will take place at the EFC Performance Institute in Johannesburg, with Igeu “Smiley Kabesa taking on Nerick “The Beast” Simoes in the main event.

The duo will battle for the vacant EFC Featherweight title, that was vacated by the previous champion, Reinaldo Ekson, who joined the Professional Fighters League’s Challenger Series.

EFC93: Igeu ‘Smiley’ Kabesa Produces Another Dominant Display, Defeats Ashley Calvert in the First Round

Igeu ‘Smiley’ Kabesa showed just why he’s one of the best mixed martial artists in the country.

Smiley was dominant as he dispatched Ashley Calvert in the first round of their co-main event at EFC93.

Kabesa perfectly executed a judo throw to take the fight to the ground. It didn’t take him long to finish the fight and he hooked in a rear-naked choke to pick up the win.

Authors
Byron Pillay photo
Byron Pillay
Byron Pillay is a sports writer and Head of the Department at Sports Brief (joined in 2022) with over 10 years of experience in community journalism and a degree in journalism from Caxton's Cadet School.
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