Cape Town – Wade “El Torito” Kerspuy finally has a chance to properly showcase what he has learnt and improved on since moving to MADFit MMA a few years back.
El Torito (2-2) made the move from SBG Cape Town and the highly respected coach Steve Bazzea to MADFit MMA due to logistical reasons with his work being closer to the latter.
But in a short space of time, Wade quickly found a new family at the world-renowned gym that is home to a big stable of very high-level fighters.
Being exposed to the likes of Africa’s finest in the form of Matt Leisching (coach), Don Madge (UFC, PFL athlete), Bokang Masunyane (One Championship athlete), Tian Fick (South African Boxing Heavyweight champion), Brandon Hoffman (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt and teacher) and more, you’re either going to thrive, try to survive … or leave.
And Wade seems to be holding his own with some of Mzansi’s top combat sport athletes and mentors.
“If you have not fought or trained with the best then it's hard to gauge where your level is at,” says Wade.
“Training with these guys and realising you can hang with the best, you’re like ‘oh my word’ I am actually up there and can compete with the top-tier.”
Wade’s base in mixed martial arts was built around jiu jitsu, however, being in a gym that has such high-level athletes in different fields of combat sport, the man has learnt to sharpen all his tools especially his wrestling which plays such an imperative role in MMA.
It helps a great deal that one of Wade’s training partners (who also happens to be one of the most dangerous Flyweights in the world) is Bokang (8-0).
BK (or Little Giant) - as he is more affectionately known - could fight for the One Championship flyweight title soon as he is yet to find the man who has his number.
“Spending time with BK, you don’t have a choice but to adapt and get good at wrestling otherwise you’ll quickly get acquainted with “Bokang Airways,” says Wade, referring to the vicious moves Bokang dishes out during “wrestling class”.
“You don’t want to take that flight too many times, so you have got to learn how to wrestle him, he is one of the best in the world, number three in the ONE FC.”
Wade takes on Julio Plaatjies (1-0) tomorrow at EFC Fight Night in Johannesburg. It won’t be Wade’s first time representing MADFit MMA, his last fight in the Extreme Fighting Championship was also under the tutelage of coach Matt and co. The only difference is, due to the pandemic and the subsequent lockdown, Wade has had way more time to acclimatise himself with the systems at MADFit and now has an even better opportunity to showcase his growth in comparison to his win over Josemare Emerson Octavio (2-3) at EFC78.
“There is lots being made of Julio’s grappling, but whoever knows me knows that I am a grappler too,” says El Torito.
“People don’t realise that most of my fights have gone to the ground, but in the same breath nobody has had a chance to see me stand, so some people may be surprised and see something special if the fight goes longer on the feet,” says Wade who has improved his striking working with coach Matt and a marksman like the lethal Magic Man, Don Madge.
“My last fight with Octavio, I threw one combo (combination) and I dropped him before the fight went to the canvas, so I do feel that if we spend more time on the feet, fans may see something special.
“There’s levels to this game. During the first few months of my training at MADFit, coach Matt kept telling me that I was going to be the flyweight champion. I would always respond with a ‘hey coach, don’t joke like that, lol’.
“Now, I am telling him that I am coming for all the belts. I believe I have the ability and skill to get it and I truly believe that I am at the top level now and am confident that I can take both (top flyweights) Nkazimulo Zulu (13-4) and Luthando Biko (8-3) at this point.”
Nkazimulo pulled off an amazing guillotine choke over Luthando in the second round of their vacant flyweight title bout at EFC89. Due to Nkazimulo missing weight, he unfortunately was not eligible for the title which means he would have to again fight for that belt he once owned.
You can catch all the EFC Fight Night 1 main card action on SuperSport, SABC Openview, EFCWORLDWIDE.TV (pay-per-view) and a host of African channels,
EFC Fight Night 1 prelims (which can be seen on www.efcworldwide.tv only) start at 14:30 (CAT) and the main card starts 17:00 (CAT).
IOL Sport