On Saturday 19 August EFC flyweight champion Nkazimulo Zulu (8-2-0) will celebrate his 28th birthday with a return to the Hexagon for EFC 62 following a stint in the United States.
Zulu's birthday bout against rising star Sylvester Chipfumbu (4-0-0) has all the ingredients for a standup war at Carnival City, Johannesburg.
Prior to participating in the UFC's Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality show, 'Zulu Boy' defended his flyweight belt one last time at EFC 43 in 2015. And, it took him just over two minutes to finish the fight against Craig Ninow via TKO stoppage.
Arguably one of the best pound for pound fighters in the organization, fans on the African continent had high hopes for the EFC flyweight and former bantamweight champion.
However, things did not go as planned for the South African who lost his opening fight against Shooto Japan flyweight champion Hiromasa Ogikubo via second round submission.
"The fight against Hero was going well for me as I was hitting him up on the standup before he realized he wouldn't last and he switched to wrestling," Zulu told KweséESPN. "After that fight I worked a lot on my ground game and trained with my TUF coach (Henry Cejudo) after the finale."
For the next six months, Zulu went into camp with the Olympic gold medalist Cejudo to not only close the holes in his ground game, but also prepare Cejudo for his fight against Joseph Benavidez.
"Henry Cejudo invited me to live with him during this time and he helped improve my wrestling game," said Zulu.
"He liked my standup and asked me to help him prepare for his upcoming fight. It was an amazing opportunity and I learnt a lot in that six months.
"I've learnt more technique in that camp than what I did in the last three years of my MMA career. It was a big step up for me, so for my next fight I'll be a different animal," he said.
Zulu is confident ahead of his title defense and told KweséESPN how he plans on beating Chipfumbu and shared some insight on how he intends to get into the UFC.
"Everyone liked me over there. Dana White told me that I'm like the young version of Anderson Silva.
"I'm currently working on my Visa, but once that comes through it won't be long before you see me in the UFC," said Zulu.
"My plan is to go over to the States, live there, train there and fight there. That is the dream.
"But before I get there, I'd like to hold two belts and I have my eyes on the bantamweight. I was the first bantamweight champion and I think it's time to bring the belt home again.
"So whoever is holding it, they must be ready, I'm coming for it," he said.
Zulu lost the bantamweight belt to current champion Demarte Pena in 2014 at EFC 31 via unanimous decision.
"I don't care who has the belt so I don't mind a re-match against Pena. I know what he feels like inside the Hexagon and I'm more than ready for him now that I've worked with an Olympic champion wrestler," he said.