Johannesburg - Pride Fighting Academy’s Jessica Mouneimne says that facing Romania’s Alice Ardelean is a ‘quite a daunting task’.
After two impressive wins in Africa’s premier mixed martial arts promotion, the Extreme Fighting Championship, Mouneimne has been offered a shot at the vacant EFC Strawweight title - previously owned by Dana White Contender series star, Poland’s Karolina Wojcik.
Mouneimne - who only just started her professional MMA journey - comes up against former EFC ‘The Fighter Season Two’ star, Alice Ardelean at the momentous EFC 100 show taking place in December.
In comparison to Mouneimne’s two professional fights, Ardelean has oodles of experience with a 7-5 record thus far dating back to 2012.
Ardelean is riding a five-fight winning streak which includes her two victories at the EFC Performance Institute when she partook in the 2019 reality TV series, which saw a group of female fighters enter a Big Brother setup where they lived and trained together before fighting each other with the purpose of earning a title fight and contract.
Ardelean is not only more-experienced, she is also the naturally-bigger athlete as she regularly competes at Flyweight.
“This is by far going to be my toughest fight yet. I think besides fighting the South African National Champion Cassandra Le Roux, I've only fought girls who have had similar records to mine,” says Mouneimne, a 36-year-old mother of two.
“This will be somebody that has had 14 professional fights. That is quite daunting. Based on her experience, based on her weight - I think all of that plays into why I feel this is my toughest fight yet,” says Mouneimne who pulled off two incredible professional wins this year when she finished South Africa’s Crystal van Wyk and Egypt’s Haidy Ahmen via rear-naked choke and punches at EFC 92 and 96, respectively.
Her next fight may be her toughest yet, however, the ever-calculating and gritty PFA athlete is motivated by the mission.
“From what we can tell, she seems like a very good kickboxer, reminiscent of that Dutch kickboxing style. She’s got strong leg kicks, I also see that her wrestling is pretty good, so we’re definitely expecting her to be heavy on the wrestling. In general, she’s just quite a big and powerful fighter, so we’re preparing for a strong fight.
“I had never expected to fight for a title so soon. Fighting for a title is not something that drives me at all, I'm not necessarily needing a big shiny belt, but the opportunity is there and I am grabbing it with both hands. I am just super excited to test myself against Alice,” added Mouneimne.
Ardelean’s coach and training partner, the EFC Lightweight champion, Joe Cummins also returns to the EFC Hexagon in December to defend his belt against Brothers in Arms gladiator Cole ‘The Hitman’ Henning. The third title fight of the night will see the EFC Middleweight belt on the line once again as champion Luke Michael defends his belt against Pupanga Tresor.
EFC 100 takes place on December 1 at the EFC Performance Institute in Paulshof, Johannesburg.
IOL Sport