Cage Competitors

Blood and bruises, sweat and fury. Mixed martial arts is gaining popularity in South Africa with home-grown talent fighting to find their place in the continent and beyond.

For many people, cage-fighting throws up images of gladiators tearing into one another with spears and other weapons. Branded ‘the ultimate fight’, it brings together a range of martial arts. Introduced to Africa 18 years ago by South African Brad Bloch, fondly referred to as the Godfather of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), this no-holds-barred is a full-contact combat sport. It involves much more than just stepping into a cage.

“People have different skill-sets,” says Bloch, “whether it’s kung fu, karate, boxing, kickboxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, sunbi, or whatever. You can’t just have one skill-set in order to fight this fight”.

Dating back to the ancient Greeks, when unarmed combat was first introduced into the Olympic Games in 648 BCE, cage-fighting has always been regarded as the most extreme combat sport. It recently resurfaced in the early 2000s in the United States when an American reality television series, The Ultimate Fighter, gained huge popularity. The show featured daily preparations of fighters and their interactions with each other while they lived under the same roof. It was instrumental to the survival and expansion of the sport into mainstream.

However, for all those who support MMA, there are just as many critics who argue the sport gives fighters much more liberty than professional boxers or judoka. And that’s despite the fact that it has been scientifically proven that a cage is safer than a boxing ring.

“If you’re fighting and get taken down to the ground, the cage supports you,” points out Bloch. “Your head drops down correctly and rolls down on the