EFC lightweight champion Madge joins UFC

Former EFC lightweight champion Don Madge

Bengaluru, February 15: EFC lightweight champion Don Madge has signed a contract with the global MMA leader the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

The South African Madge, who recently worked as a sparring partner for UFC women's featherweight champion Christiane 'Cyborg' Justino before the UFC 219, was approached by UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby on Tuesday (February 13) to join the promotion.

Madge took to Instagram to announce the news:

Since I started my MMA career, this has been my dream to sign with the @ufc - today I realized that dream!! I’m very proud to say that I am officially a UFC athlete. Thank you to everyone that has supported me from day one. This has been a crazy ride so far, can’t wait to show off my skills in this next venture 🔥 ➖➖➖ Thank you to @efcworldwide for all the years of support and promotion. You’ve given many guys just like me the opportunity to showcase their skills. ➖➖➖ #MMA #UFC #MagicMan #KnowYourWhy #QuanDeathSquad #CoachQuan #YoungSavage 📷: @theotainmentp

A post shared by Don Madge (@donmadgemma) on Feb 13, 2018 at 4:02am PST

"The UFC is every MMA fighter's goal, it's the pinnacle of the sport. It's like the Premier League and it feels like it's just around the corner, it feels like I'm right there. I think that I'm ready for the step-up in competition," Madge said in 2016 in an episode of The Clinch.

Madge has vacated his EFC title, which will now be contested between his teammate and fellow South African MMA legend, Martin van Staden, and the number one contender, England's undefeated Gavin Hughes in Cape Town on 31 March.