If he does nothing else, Costello van Steenis will always be remembered for Saturday’s fight.
Not only did he become PFL middleweight champion, van Steenis (17-3) did so in improbable fashion when he submitted Johnny Eblen with nine seconds left in their five-round bout. The stoppage came at 4:51 of Round 5.
The middleweight clash headlined PFL Africa at GrandWest Arena in Cape Town, South Africa.
Eblen (16-1) had utilized his strong wrestling base and relentless pressure to largely dominate van Steenis the entire fight prior to his demise.
Entering Round 5, Eblen was up 39-37 on two judges’ scorecards with a third having the fight tied 38-38.
Eblen got the fight down to the ground midway through Round 5 and took van Steenis’ back. With approximately 45 seconds left on the clock, Eblen made a fatal mistake and fell off the top.
Van Steenis slickly flipped the script, got Eblen’s back, locked in a rear-naked choke, and put Eblen to sleep.
A longtime training partner of Gegard Mousasi, van Steenis built his name in Bellator where he went 7-2 prior to PFL’s merger. A 48-second head kick in his PFL debut earned him a crack at Eblen, who had never lost prior to Saturday’s bout.
Up-to-the-minute PFL Africa results include:
- Costello van Steenis def. Johnny Eblen via submission (rear-naked choke) – Round 5, 4:51
- Dakota Ditcheva def. Sumiko Inaba via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-24)
- A.J. McKee def. Akhmed Magomedov via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Artur Zaynukov def. Takeshi Izumi via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
- Corey Anderson def. Denis Goltsov via TKO (punches) – Round 2, 3:28
- Nkosi Ndebele def. Mahmoud Atef via TKO (punches) – Round 1, 4:50
- Maxwell Djantou Nana def. Mickael Groguhe via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-25)
- Boule Godogo def. Shannon van Tonder via split decision (30-26, 28-29, 29-27)
- Justin Clarke def. Jashell Ticha Awa via TKO (doctor’s stoppage) – Round 1, 5:00
- Karim Henniene def. Asiashu Tshitamba via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)
- Joffie Houlton def. Abdoulaye Kane via DQ (illegal knee) – Round 1, 0:40
- Simbarashe Hokonya def. Frans Mlambo via unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-25)
- Abraham Bably def. Paul-Emmanuel Gnaze via knockout (punch) – Round 1, 4:59
- Juliet Ukah def. Ceileigh Niedermayr via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
