Mixed martial artist wins silver at national champs
Women also learn self-defense skills.
Scottburgh’s Erin Fourie earned a silver medal at the recent Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) SA 2022 national champs, and has been selected to be part of the South African team for the upcoming International MMA Federation World Championships.
Overall the KwaZulu-Natal team brought home 19 medals. Only three women, including Fourie represented the province at the event.
She has been participating in MMA since 2017.
“I started for self-defence and fitness, then in 2018 I had my first grappling tournament, but initially I had no interest in competing in the cage,” she explained.
“Last year, I started training again in Amanzimtoti with gym training in Scottburgh.”
Fourie said that the support and drive she’s had from everyone around her spiked her interest in the arts.
“An opportunity came up to go to the KZN MMA national trials and finally my time to make my amateur MMA debut.”
The KZN team coaches are William Oberholzer, Dallas Jakobi, and Fathima Asmal.
The team is still growing and is looking for sponsorships for the athletes to continue competing, in the hopes of working their way up to Africa and World champs.
Fourie added that she highly recommends MMA to everyone, especially women and is grateful for her selection to the SA team.
“Not only is MMA great with the self-defence aspect, it is also an amazing way to empower yourself for the world we live in,” she said.
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