THE RISE OF COMBAT SPORTS IN NIGERIA

The rise in popularity of Combat sports in Nigeria has not gone unnoticed. Long before now, combat sports were limited to Olympic amateur boxers, with very limited promotion and no professional platform. But all of that is changing as more Nigerians are embracing the sports as both participants and spectators.

What are combat sports?

Combat sport is a competitive contact sport where two combatants fight each other using certain rules of contact, with the aim of stimulating parts of real hand-to-hand combat. Some examples of combat sports include boxing, mixed martial art, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, Wrestling, Karate and so much more.

Combat sports in Nigeria can be tracked all the way back to 1940 when the DAMBE BOXING  was first discovered in kano. Since then a few Nigerians have gone on to win impressive features outside of the country one such is BASH ALI who won the cruiserweight title in 1967 in an impressive performance that is remembered today.

Fast forward to the 2020s when mixed martial art is settling into a comfortable position in the industry and enjoying some much-needed popularity and attention, Nigerians like ISRAEL ADESANYA currently the UFC middleweight champion and KAMARU USMAN who sadly lost his bout last month, have put some major spotlight on the combat sports industry that Nigerian have decided to be fully active in the industry. The guys at TMA MMA Club can testify, they created a platform to welcome all levels of fighters even your grandma can sign up.

Living in Nigeria back in the day, the only sports your parents wanted to engage in was football and nothing else, but all of that is changing as not just kids want to get involved but parents too.

More Combat sports promoters have also come to improve the outlook of the sports, one of those is the guys at BODYROX FITNESS who run a combat sports gym, fighter management and fight promotion.

With a good number of successful fight events under their belt, they are championing how the combat sports industry will be perceived.

MENCITY BOXING EVENT

Another group are the guys from MENCITY BOXING a promotion company that had their first fight event over the weekend in Abuja (CAPITAL CITY RUMBLE), and it redefined how the spectators in the industry can expect to see future fight events.

Red carpet event for the GORILLA CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT

The future of the industry looks healthy considering where we are coming from, however, more involvement from big sponsors will go a long way in improving the quality of events and fighters coming out of Nigeria.

Just like BASH ALI, SAMUEL PETERS, ISRAEL ADESANYA and KAMARU USMAN and many more who had the opportunity to go beyond the shores of Nigeria to achieve all they have achieved and will achieve, big sponsors and industry supporters can also do their own bit to make sure we can export some of the talents we have here in Nigeria.