TRIBAL MMA SALUTES MMAZ
SOUTH Africa’s Tribal Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Club coach Muhammed Rashad has hailed the MMA Zambia for hosting a successful Zambia National Amateur League (ZNAL) which had 17 bouts.
MMAZ fighters dominated the fight night held on Saturday night and attracted four foreign fighters from Tribal MMA Club based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Zambia won three of the four international fights but was unfortunate as South Africa’s Allistar Kunene outshined Zambia’s Tryford Mwanga in the main fight of the night at the Music Club in Lusaka.
After three rounds of intense action, Kunene won via a split point’s decision after two judges voted in his favour for the dominance in the first and third round of the fight.
The performance of the South African fighters did not disappoint Rashad who picked positives from the fight night in Zambia.
Rashad said the fight night in Zambia presented numerous lessons for his four fighters who recorded one win and three defeats.
“We don’t lose we learn. We will go back to the drawing board to work on our mistakes in the three fights we lost,” Rashad said.
“For Alistar, his win means the world to us. Next year we plan to go for the title and we are hoping for him to turn professional. He probably has one or two fights to turn pro and he is currently on a four-fight winning streak,” he added.
Rashad, who congratulated MMAZ President Benjamin Bush for a great fight night urged MMA Zambia to keep working hard to grow the sport.
Meanwhile, Kunene who was the only victor from the Tribal MMA Club said Zambia has a bright MMA future.
Kunene said winning a fight 3, 000 kilometres away from home was exciting for him as he remains with only two fights to turn professional.
On the organisation of the fight night, Kunene said; “When I walked in I thought I was in Abu Dhabi or UAE because the setup, the cage, the atmosphere and the promotion the way you guys did it, it is absolutely best.”
“Zambia has a bright future in this sport please continue building each other up because next step in the world of sport is coming to Africa. Let’s not get discouraged and show the world what we can do,” Kunene said.