Brakpan’s Raymond Phillips was recently appointed the president of Mixed Martial Arts South Africa (MMASA).
Phillips has hit the ground running as he looks to work hard on the administration of the sport he loves.
“We are focusing on both the amateurs and the professionals. We would like amateur MMA to become an Olympic sport,” said Phillips,who is also the African director of International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF).
“We know we will face opposition from sports because in order for MMA to become an Olympic sport some other discipline will have to lose its place.
“MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world.”
Locally, Phillips is focusing on seeing regular competition after the lockdown.
“My vision is for us to start competing,” he said.
“We have only opened now and had our first event in Midrand last weekend. We have fallen behind other countries around the world who have been competing for a long time now.
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“Cameroon is the African country that has held numerous events this year so we have fallen behind.”
The administrator, who is also a trainer that runs Xtreme Kickboxing Technologies (XKT) at the Brakpan Indoor Centre, emphasised on making sure the return to competition is done safely, with government guidelines for Covid-19 being followed.
“We are following the rules and regulations to make sure it is safe for everyone from the athletes to the promoters, officials and administrators,” he said.
As the president of MMASA, Phillips is also focusing on making sure everyone involved in the sport is given a voice.
“We are establishing different boards which will be headed by people from those boards. We have medical, promoter, professional and amateur boards, to name a few,” he said.
“Each board is headed by people working in that department, for example, the medical board is headed by a doctor.
“We want everything to be transparent to all. In the past things were not always transparent in sports and I don’t like that.”
While he is working so hard as an administrator, Phillips is still a trainer at XKT.
Recently, one of the club’s members, Leigh Jordaan, won the Sports Achiever of the Year Award at the Ekurhuleni Women in Sports Awards.
“It is great prestige for the club and we are proud,” said Phillips.
“It is also a big drive for women in sport. In the past, women athletes were looked down on but now they are starting to have an impact similar to the men, and I like that.”
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