Durban amputee earns MMA coaching licence

DURBAN Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter and amputee, Jason Brown, recently secured an MMA coaching licence, and aims to inspire other people with disabilities to take up the sport.

Jason, a member of Lions Den in Umbilo, completed the level one coaches licence at a Mixed Martial Arts of SA (MASA) seminar presented by the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF), attended by some of Durban’s top coaches, and presented by Dr Andrey Moshanov from the IMMAF.

Jason suffered from a traumatic brachial plexus injury after a motorbike accident in 1992 which left him paralysed in the left arm and lung, and his arm was amputated.

Jason, a former policeman, said he never thought he could go out and fight MMA, and in hindsight, he should’ve started years ago.

He ventured into the sport at the age of 38 after someone encouraged him to train at kickboxing.

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“As I was disabled, I thought this was a really stupid thing to try, but I had done kickboxing and had my provincial and national colours when I was with the police. I decided to go for it, and started Mauy Thai with a little bit of MMA. I found it very difficult as I had to adapt a lot of the moves and translate them into what I could do with one arm. Two years ago I started Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, which is ground fighting, and entered my first official competition in March where I fought an able bodied person. I was the first disabled person in South Africa to take part in a United Arab Emirates sanctioned event. It was a wonderful experience, I had great fun!” he said.

In 2018 Jason started running the SA Para Jiu Jitsu Federation to try get more disabled athletes together in the sport. He also runs the Disabled Support Group KZN on Facebook, which is aimed at upper-limb amputees and creates awareness for this type of disability and its challenges.

“My long term goal is the Olympics and looking at the disability aspect, to get more people onto the mats. It took me a long time to accept my disability, and the realisation of the disability is the way to overcome it. I want to encourage people to join the sport. There is scope as there are a lot of changes taking place in the MMA environment,” he said, adding that he hoped to visit schools for the disabled to encourage learners to start the sport at a younger age.

Contact Jason on 071 889 7985 to find out how to get involved in the sport. Join the Disabled Support Group KZN group on Facebook.

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