Fighting for a future

About 13 years ago, a little orphan had a dream.

This dream involved becoming an internationally recognised athlete – and he has now turned his aspirations into a reality.

Sunninghill-based 21-year-old mixed martial arts (MMA) athlete, Bokang Masunyane, realised his passion for the ring and cage as a young orphan. He started out as a wrestler and is now an MMA fighter.

Masunyane has set his sights on the international mixed martial arts arena and will represent South Africa in Las Vegas later in the year.

His introduction to the sporting world started with many successes in wrestling. “Living in an orphanage, I started wrestling when I was eight years old. At the age of 15, I began competing at international level and in 2010, I won my first African title for wrestling in Egypt. I went on to win another title in 2012, and competed in the commonwealth games in 2014.”

However, last year the wrestler decided to make the switch from wrestling to MMA.

“It was difficult and exciting at the same time having to switch from one discipline to another, but I knew that with wrestling as my background discipline I was going to be able to compete at a high level in MMA. I am now a current Fightstar amateur champion in the flyweight division at a weight of 57 kilograms.”

Masunyane has been selected to compete in the Mixed Martial Arts Amateur World Championships in Las Vegas and is hoping to eventually move from an amateur fighter to a professional one.

He also feels passionate about community work and recently visited the orphanage where he grew up to deliver sweet treats to the orphans. Masunyane stressed that he would never forget his roots and is grateful to all of the people who supported and loved him while he was growing up, especially his ‘sporting family’.

“With the hard work I put in at training, I’m hoping to soon compete at a professional level in MMA and I will never give up.”