A fighter to look out for
Strubenvale resident Sakkie Lombard recently won his amateur mixed martial arts (MMA) fight against Kempton's Scott Keene at FightStars 13 held in Primrose, Germiston.
After what Sakkie describes as a “slug fest and a very tough fight” he won by unanimous decision on points.
“No fight is easy and Scott was stronger than I expected but we had trained hard and I just kept my head down and stood my ground for the three rounds while we pounded each other,” he says adding, “in the end fitness was the deciding factor.”
Sakkie says he started training about seven years ago when he was very overweight and a friend took him to a kickboxing class given by JP Kruger.
“At that stage he was new to MMA and we fell in love with the sport together, although he was way ahead of everyone else in terms of skill.
“From there I started losing weight and the more I trained the more I enjoyed myself,” Sakkie says.
He started competing this year and, with the training regime and pace set by JP, has lost 36kg this year which he says was one of his greatest motivators.
On going professional, he says “as long as it is fun I will keep training and if I win enough amateur fights I might consider going pro.
“However, its important to keep it fun because at the end of the day I still have a day job (as a project manager for Mitech Control Valves) but I hope to be training for the rest of my life.”
Sakkie trains out of House of Tinkerbell Kickboxing and MMA Academy under JP’s watchful eye.
JP comments that they are still considering whether Sakkie will continue fighting in his present weight class or whether to drop a class.
“We are back in training and we will be sitting down and picking his next fight carefully,” says JP adding it might be in November.
Sakkie would like to thank his management company Pro League and James Read, as well as the Springs fans who travelled to Germiston to support him at FightStars.
