The Changing Face of Cage Fighting in SA

Oh how things have changed... and for the better in my opinion!

"Cage Fighting", for lack of a better description used to be dominated by kickboxing bouts, with the odd MMA fight thrown in. These days you're lucky if you get to watch a single kickboxing fight at an event. Not that I'm complaining, and don't get me wrong, I have nothing against kickboxing... it's just that MMA is so much more unpredictable, technical and exciting.

MMA fighters need to be well rounded in so many different disciplines (boxing, jui jitsu, kick boxing, muay thai, wrestling, etc.) that you can never predict the outcome of a fight. Will the fight stay standing, will one of the fighters be taken to ground and submitted, or will somebody be slammed and ground and pounded until the ref has to step in?

It's this multi-dimensional aspect which makes MMA so exciting and popular. The sport can only grow from strength to strength and soon we should be seeing more international fighters visiting our shores to test our best guys (keep an eye on the EFC Africa events as they previously brought out fighters from Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva's training academy).

If you're a fight fan and have never watched a MMA event live... you've been missing out big time!

Check out www.fightforce.co.za for dates of their next event, or if you're in JHB check out the next EFC Africa event on the 10th March 2010 (www.efcafrica.com).

If you're in the DBN area and keen on learning MMA, drop me a mail (steven@mmaguide.co.za) and I can recommend some places to try out.