New PFL champion Costello van Steenis is aware of he’ll struggle Johnny Eblen once more after his Hail Mary submission win at PFL Africa, nevertheless it might not be subsequent—and if Eblen had survived these ultimate 10 seconds, van Steenis feels the rematch storyline would look a lot completely different on Eblen’s aspect.
Van Steenis choked Eblen unconscious within the ultimate seconds of their primary occasion championship struggle this previous Saturday in Cape City, South Africa. Eblen was forward on two of the judges’ scorecards heading into the ultimate spherical, whereas one decide had it even. Had Eblen made it to the ultimate horn, he possible would have gained a majority resolution.
With Eblen calling for an immediate rematch within the aftermath, and hoping van Steenis and PFL will grant it, if the roles have been reversed, van Steenis believes Eblen would have despatched him again in line.
“No, he wouldn’t take a rematch,” van Steenis advised MMA Combating. “I feel I screwed him up actual dangerous. I imply, the one factor he gave me was like a little bit little bit of a blue eye, and to be sincere, I may begin going into coaching camp tomorrow. I don’t know if he can stroll due to the calf kicks.
“One other factor is he bought bruised up actual dangerous on his face. He bought some stitches. He bought to have a little bit of his head shaved off to get stitched up from the aspect. So I beat him up [in the] standup. I feel messed him up, so I feel he wouldn’t need to rematch with me. He would say, ‘Oh no, I beat you by hugging you down and doing the least harm potential. So you have to be combating anyone else and earn your spot once more.’ I feel that’s what he can be saying as a result of Johnny and his group is aware of that I’m probably the most harmful and probably the greatest fighters on the earth that he can be combating once more.
“And naturally, he needs to rematch now as a result of I’ve bought this lovely [belt] right here. But when he had this one, then he would say, ‘No, no, I’ll give anyone else the [chance].’ That’s what I consider. Possibly I’m flawed, however that is what I consider.”
It was a story of two fights, as Eblen used a wrestling-heavy assault to set the tone within the early rounds. Because the third spherical concluded, it appeared as if the momentum had shifted to van Steenis’ aspect. That continued into the championship rounds as van Steenis had Eblen badly harm on the finish of Spherical 4 and almost captured the title then. That led to the magic in Spherical 5 in probably the most memorable finishes in promotional historical past.
After re-watching the bout, van Steenis revealed his largest takeaways.
“Oh man, I had an excessive amount of respect for him,” van Steenis mentioned. “I used to be saying, in fact, Johnny Eblen is a legend. He’s a really robust fighter, however so am I. Within the first two rounds, I used to be like—particularly the primary spherical—I bought into the struggle, I’m like, OK, I must be careful. Apparently this man is absolutely robust as a result of all people is saying he is among the finest middleweight fighters on the earth. I imply, he’s educated with [Sean] Strickland, Dustin Poirier [is] saying in an interview, ‘Yeah, this man’s going to be on high of the pyramid for a really very long time.’ I used to be like, ‘Oh shit, OK, OK. I’m nonetheless going to complete this man, however I must be careful.’
“However then after the primary spherical completed, OK, he took me down, he had good management, however I bought to face up. He’s simply human, similar to I’m. And within the second spherical, on the finish of the second spherical, he was getting drained. He walked to his nook together with his head down, I used to be like, ‘This motherf*cker is getting drained.’ So then I bought into the third spherical with self-confidence, and that’s once I was placing up the tempo. And at that very second I used to be like, ‘All proper, I feel I’m going to get you, and perhaps not on this spherical, however I’ll in all probability get you within the fourth spherical.’
“And within the fourth spherical, I almost knocked him out, I feel within the final 10 seconds, as a result of I noticed his eyes going squared or crossing, crossing eyes. However then it bought too late and the bell went.”
Van Steenis will not be ruling out a right away rematch with Eblen. If the PFL needs to go in that course, the brand new champion would fortunately signal the contract.
So far as what he’s being advised, the promotion appears to be eyeing a bout between van Steenis and the winner of the PFL middleweight event championship bout between Fabian Edwards and Dalton Rosta.
In his problem for that speedy runback, Eblen referred to as himself the higher fighter, and van Steenis “fortunate” to capitalize on his large mistake. Van Steenis doesn’t agree with that sentiment in any manner.
“I feel Johnny and I undoubtedly will struggle once more sooner or later, so rematch, yeah, we’re going to have a rematch,” van Steenis defined. “However when? I consider anyone else is subsequent in line. Let’s put some new circulate into the division. I do know that Dalton and Fabian are gonna struggle one another in August, and I’ve heard that I’d be combating perhaps the winner of them too at finish of the 12 months. In order that could be very attention-grabbing.
“I fought Fabian Edwards. I gained towards him 4 years in the past via break up resolution. He’s fighter, so that may be attention-grabbing as effectively, and Dalton Rosta is a brand new man. I consider that may be a really good, good struggle as effectively. And Eblen yeah, we’ll cross paths undoubtedly. However, I by no means mentioned no to a rematch. …
“Yeah, fortunate, nevertheless it appears like an ex-girlfriend making an attempt to come back again to me or wishing me the worst. I don’t know. I beat you, put you to sleep.”
