What goes down on fight night
Bloemendal mixed martial arts competitor shows plenty of mettle
BEADS of sweat form on his forehead as he paces up and down the stuffy classroom-turned-changeroom. He can hear the crowd in the school hall down the corridor, cheering as another fight comes to a spectacular finish. His fight is drawing closer.
Other fighters look nervous, jittery, some even stutter when they speak as they prepare to head out to the ring to face their opponents, but Shane Higgins, a 31-year-old father of three from Bloemendal, seems calm.
He is one of 10 amateur fighters from Port Eliza- beth set to take on an opponent from East London’s Black Dragons gym at the inaugural Chosen Fighting Championship, and even before fight night he was pegged as one of the fighters to keep an eye on.
The mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion Chosen FC is the brainchild of EFC heavyweight fighter Ivan Strydom, who wanted to give Port Elizabeth fighters a platform to show off their talents.
He wanted to keep it small, nothing flashy, so that he can slowly build the brand into one of South Africa’s premier amateur MMA promotions.
He managed to secure the Dr Viljoen Primary School hall, that seated only 300 spectators once the ring, similar to a boxing ring, was set up.
As the night progressed, he started selling standing tickets. It was a sell-out crowd. Fightstars, South Africa’s biggest amateur fighting promotion, backs smaller shows like this, and matchmaker Grant Oliff said they were looking to visit these smaller events to scout for talent in the coming year.
“The more guys getting involved, the better our chances are of developing talent,” he said.
“As long as the show does right by its athletes, and makes sure they get the proper medical attention, they should keep doing what they are doing.”
On opposite sides of the school, the teams from Port Elizabeth and East London each have their own changeroom.
On the Port Elizabeth side Higgins sits and watches his trainer Chris Bright, from the Port Elizabeth Submission Fighting Academy (Pesfa), wrap layers of gauze over his knuckles and wrists and tape it all down.
In the headphones covering his ears, renowned motivational speaker Tony Robbins is telling him how to be great in life, getting him pumped up for the challenge, while drowning out the rowdy crowd and chatter in the change room.
Asked how he is feeling, Higgins flashes a smile, puts up his fists and says: “I’m here, I’m ready. Let’s do this.”
Fight after fight finishes and bruised and bloodied fighters stumble back into the changeroom. Some of the less experienced fighters tense up when they see the condition of their teammates.
Two fights to go before Higgins is up and Bright jumps up, claps his hands and says it is time to get warmed up.
He slides on his boxing pads while Higgins adjusts the open finger gloves fitted over the layers of padding.
Bright calls out combinations, and Higgins’s precise strikes sound like small calibre gunfire as they make contact with the pads.
Left jabs and straight right punches fire out at lightning pace.
“Run out and turn him towards our corner. Cut him off from his team. And when you take him to the ground you can breathe, because that’s your world,” Bright says, talking him through their game plan.
Higgins and his cornermen make the walk to the ring. Opponent Justin Bradfield is already standing opposite him.
The referee tells them to touch gloves and the bell rings.
Three rounds, three minutes each.
Higgins catches a kick from Bradfield with his left hand and plants a crushing straight right punch, dropping his opponent.
The fight goes to ground where Bradfield slips out of a dangerous grip around his head before attempting a submission hold of his own.
Higgins brushes it off and both fighters scramble back to their feet, but a judo-style hiptoss by Higgins takes the fight to ground again, from where he advances into a mounted position on his opponent. He starts raining down punches on Bradfield, and the East London fighter makes a fatal error.
He turns over onto his stomach, giving his back to Higgins, from where the experienced grappler slips an arm underneath his opponent’s chin and applies a rear naked choke until Bradfield is forced to tap out.
The crowd erupts for the hometown hero.
Higgins jumps on the corner ropes and shrugs his shoulders at the crowd like nothing happened.
The announcer makes it official, calling out Higgins’s name as the referee raises his hand.
Higgins takes the microphone from the announcer.
“Without God none of this would have been possible,” he says, before thanking his coach, training partners, family and supporters.
Back in the changeroom, Higgins sits with a massive grin on his face as his teammates flock around him, lining up to congratulate him. His performance lands him the Fighter of the Night award.
Asked how he feels now that the fight is over, he flashes the same big smile from before the fight.
“Does someone else want to fight? I’m ready. Let’s go.”