By Ross Patterson
The IMMAF Africa Championships are less than a month away. The host nation, South Africa, is looking forward to welcoming the continent.
This will be the fourth African Championships and the first IMMAF competition in Africa since 2019. The competition will take place in Johannesburg, from 28-30 April. So far, 8 countries from across Africa have submitted their teams for the competition. MMA South Africa CEO Jason Brown said:
“To be the host nation for such an auspicious event is a huge honour. We look forward to welcoming the various countries to our country.”
South Africa had a strong team together for the IMMAF World Championships in January, but unfortunately, due to Covid, they only ended up sending one athlete. For this competition, however, they will be fielding some of their top talent.
“Most of the team we had in preparation for the Worlds [IMMAF World Championships 2021] will be taking part in the event bar one or two who, after not being able to take part in World’s, turned professional.”
Nathaniel Komana is competing in his 3rd Africa Championship. He won 2 bronze medals in previous competitions and will certainly be aiming for the podium again.
Cassandra Le Roux is also highly experienced in IMMAF. She won a gold medal at the 2018 Africa Championships and a bronze in the 2018 Worlds in the flyweight division.
Adei Volker won a bronze medal at Light-Heavyweight in the 2019 Africa Championship.
And Jason Brown named Cameron Coulson, Nicholas Vermaak and Mischka Laubscher as prospects who will be looking to make a statement this tournament.
The event will be hosted by MMASA in partnership with EFC, an organisation well-known for delivering professional live MMA events at their studios in Johannesburg. Jason Brown commented that the EFC centre is “a beautiful venue and luxurious part of our country.”
MMASA President and IMMAF Director for Africa, Raymond Phillips, said:
“The IMMAF Africa Championships is the elite international showcase for Africa’s amateur MMA talent. As an IMMAF Director and President of MMASA, I welcome all our national teams from across Africa to join us in Johannesburg to show the world that we are a force to be reckoned with.”
The 2022 IMMAF Africa Championships take place on the 28-30 of April and can be watched on IMMAF.tv
