Professional mixed martial arts fighter Cameron Saaiman at the CIT Boxing gym in Pretoria. Picture: Michel Bega
The 23-year-old Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) fighter Cameron Saaiman – better known as MSP or “Most Savage Player” – talks about getting ready to fight next year, hosting the very first Moer ’n Boer MMA and not giving up on his dream of becoming an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champion.
Saaiman, born and bred in Pretoria, started kickboxing at the age of 12 and joined team CIT at 14 where he has been training and fighting since.
“When I took the sport very seriously, I left everything else. I went to school and the gym to fight. It’s all I did and wanted to do which paid off. I was a junior amateur champion and a senior junior champion and was only 18 years old when I was offered my first opportunity to fight in the UFC,” he said.
Despite losing a fight earlier this year in March, Saaiman was getting ready to fight again in 2025 with his record standing at nine wins to two losses as a professional fighter.
“Losing a fight wasn’t great. Deciding what to do after you lost was more important than focusing on what’s to gain,” he said.
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While he was busy nursing his injuries from 11 fights in a short period Saaiman and his partner the president of Versus, Jan van der Berg, turned their focus to organising and hosting the first of its kind in Africa, the Moer ‘n Boer event in August which attracted over 4 000 spectators.
Saaiman met Van den Berg who is now his business partner when he agreed to drive to Hartbeespoort every day to coach MMA lessons at Van den Berg’s home gym.
“I was crazy enough to agree, which turned out to be the best decision ever because now he is an amazing friend and mentor who I can turn to and aspire to. He is definitely one of the few people in my inner circle,” he said.
Saaiman said while training with Van der Berg they shared their passion for the sport of MMA. “I remember during the MMA classes we started talking about an MMA clothing brand or start grappling thing.
“Before we knew it, we started a Versus, an amateur fight night organisation during Covid,” he said.
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Saaiman said no one pitched up at the first Versus event.
“We didn’t speak to each other for the next two weeks, because the event broke us. We didn’t think there were so many administrative processes involved in such an event. After two weeks when we got together again for breakfast, we asked each other when we would host our next event,” he said.
Saaiman said although it felt like they had their a***es kicked they were determined to try again. “I am glad we didn’t give up because Versus will be hosting our 11th Versus event and it is doing great. If Moer ‘n Boer showed us one thing, it was strong support from the farming community,” he said.
Saaiman said both the fighting events were a metaphor for what happened at the gym with the fighters.
“The public sees a five-minute fight on TV. They don’t see the hours of training and years in the making.
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“We really put so much time, effort and love in both those fight events,” he said.
Saaiman said seeing interest grow in the sport especially MMA was worth all the effort.
“We always say, if you don’t like fighting, it’s because you have never been at a fighting event. People have a misperception of MMA until they see a fight, it’s like love at first sight. That’s the idea behind the Moer ‘n Boer and Versus which is to get people interested,” he said.
When Saaiman is not at gym training he is sorting out something relating to the gym or a fight.
In his free time, he likes to go hiking with his musician girlfriend who has given him a new appreciation for nature.
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A day in the life of the young fighter-turned-businessman starts before 6am followed by his first gym session at 7am until about lunchtime to eat and refuel for the next workout session.
“I don’t consider it all work and play when I get to do what I love. I play with my chommies here in the fight ring. I get to panel beat them,” he said.
Saaiman said although he follows a very strict meal plan, he made time to braai at least twice a week.
“If I am in a fighting camp, I will braai something healthy like chicken, but we will braai,” he said.
Saaiman said it was difficult to choose who his favourite role model is between the international fighters but adds it includes international UFC champions and our own current UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis.
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