Costello Van Steenis delivered one of many best comebacks in MMA historical past, defeating Johnny Eblen within the PFL Africa 1 major occasion.
Eblen largely dominated the primary half of the combat together with his wrestling, carrying down Van Steenis together with his unrelenting floor sport and clinch work. With a minute to go within the third, Van Steenis appeared to get clipped with a proper hand, sending him to the canvas. Eblen dropped a giant proper hand and ended the spherical in high management.
Whereas Eblen seemed to be in management by way of the primary three rounds, the tide started to vary within the fourth because the defending champion seemed to be working on empty whereas Van Steenis was getting his second wind.
Van Steenis ended the penultimate spherical with a flurry of strikes, together with a head kick that clipped Eblen and had the American on the ropes.
Together with his again to the wall and in determined want of a end, Van Steenis bit down on his mouthpiece and managed to get on high of Eblen close to the fence with time ticking down within the fifth and ultimate spherical. Van Steenis managed to cinch in a rear-naked choke, however Eblen had completely no intention of tapping out. Regardless of his finest effort to outlive, Eblen in the end went to sleep, bringing the bout to a crashing halt and giving Van Steenis the best comeback of his blended martial arts profession.
Official Outcomes: Costello Van Steenis def. Johnny Eblen by way of submission (rear-naked submission) at 4:51 of Spherical 5 to win the PFL middleweight championship.
