Crystal Van Wyk lauds EFC’s efforts in growing female MMA

The 35-year-old goes up against Juliet Ukah from Nigeria in the strawweight bout, while Jessica Mouneimne and Alice Ardelean are the headline act for the title fight in the same division.

The winner between Van Wyk and Ukah subsequently becomes a championship contender, given the small pool of female MMA fighters within the EFC arena.

"Honestly, there's not a lot of females. That's the big disappointment about it. That's why I'm going to America to fight and train because the pool of females is massive, every gym has a couple of females to train with, to sparr with. I've got handful of contracts or fights offered to me in America but here in terms of opponents in my weight division, I don't have it all," she said.

Van Wyk tells SABC Sport that she has been back in the country for some time now, after spending seven years in the USA.

She plans to go back abroad but acknowledges the efforts made by EFC to recruit more women.

"It's very, very small, you are dealing with a handful of females. The EFC is doing a great job in sourcing females in Africa but it must be quite tough because there just aren't. So, we need the females to step up and get going in Africa," she added.

The American approach is an ideal barometer to assess the growth female MMA in the coming years and months, she adds.

"MMA being a male dominated sport, I think in America they are just ahead so females started doing MMA much quicker. So, it's growing but here it's still kind of old school. I think females still feel like it's an intimidating sport and they don't want to get cut open," she added.