ZAMBIA’s professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, Robert “The Black Tiger” Simbowe’s quest to land a title fight suffered a major setback following Thursday night’s defeat to South Africa’s Tapiwa Katikati during a lightweight fight at the EFC 99 in South Africa.
Simbowe, who needed a victory to challenge for a title fight was caught in a guillotine choke by Katikati who recorded his fifth win of the season after the Zambian tapped-in at 1:49 seconds of the first round.
Simbowe showed composure in the early stages of the first round where he managed to get a point after taking down Katikati who he tried to defeat via a heel hook submission.
After being in control of the fight, Simbowe slammed Katikati down with his third take down attempt and landed on his own head first with the opponent taking advantage of the situation and pinning him under the chin, forcing the Zambian to give up.
The defeat is Simbowe’s sixth in eight fights where he has recorded three wins, a knockout of Anicet Kanyeba and two impressive heel hooks wins over Stefan Pretorius and Given Majuba.
Meanwhile, EFL reports that Featherweight champion Igeu Kabesa kept his belt in emphatic fashion with the sixth first-round finish of his stellar career with a TKO win over the previously undefeated challenger Bradley Swanepoel.
With a series of precision strikes, “Smiley” immediately had “The Nightmare” on the back foot and closed-out the fight after knocking his opponent down to force the referee’s intervention.
With half an eye on entering other international promotions and the other on a possible run in the EFC Lightweight division, the future remains incredibly bright for the three-time champion, whilst Swanepoel voiced his desire to return on the very first card of 2023.
