Mixed Martial Arts card in South Africa
Cage fighting comes to Africa Africa is rarely portrayed in the media as anything other than a politically tumultuous continent…
Cage fighting comes to Africa
Africa is rarely portrayed in the media as anything other than a politically tumultuous continent with lions prepared to eat tourists right off the runway. (This is amusing, but untrue: It’s actually the cheetahs that’ll get you.) African citizens enjoy their distractions the same as any other segment of the world, and MMA is increasingly becoming one of them.
On Thursday, EFC Africa will host 12 bouts in Northgate, Johannesburg. One of two competing Americans is Gabe Casillas, who reportedly trains out of Wanderlei Silva’s Las Vegas gym. The venue, the Coca-Cola Dome, has previously been host to Elton John, 50 Cent and the WWE. (You guess which one of these things doesn’t belong.) There’s even the requisite gaudy afterparty at Platinum. VIPs get in free.
This news follows word that Dubai could soon host MMA events, the UFC’s journey into Germany, and increasing, sanctioned violence in China and the U.K. MMA probably never will be the biggest sport in the states, but the notion of it becoming the biggest sport in the world is looking less and less ridiculous.