Feather(weight) in his cap
Tumisang Madiba (25) is a Springsite with a bright future in the Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) hexagon and the sport, in part, owes his participation to the Addie.
This Springs Boys’ High alumni made his MMA debut at EFC31 held at The Coca-Cola Dome last week, winning his fight against Sizwe Mnikhati.
Fighting in the featherweight division out of Springs’ Rio Grappling under the XKT Pro League banner, Madiba beat Mnikathi by majority decision with the judges voting 2-1 in his favour.
Madiba says Mnikathi, who did not make weight, was a tough opponent but he credits the support of his team with helping him win his first professional fight.
The first two rounds saw Madiba try to keep the fight standing with Mnikathi taking him down in both rounds.
“In the first round I initiated stand-up but he took me down and landed some ground and pound.
“He literally gave me horns, I had to two horns on my forehead so I looked like I have been in a fight for the first time. I was quite pleased with that.”
In the second round Madiba says he was more successful with his stand-up and managed to land a “big head kick that startled him.”
However, Mnikathi quickly recovered to take the fight to the floor.
It was the last 10 seconds of the third round that Madiba says impressed the judges and may have led to their decision in his favour.
“The round started with more standing on my part before he took me down.
“Due to inaction the ref stood up back up – he was just standing over me while I landed kicks to his knees, from the ground, to keep him off me.
It was then that his teammate Francois (Franaconda) Groenewald offered valuable advice that helped him win the fight.
“Franaconda said, ‘This is all or nothing, you have to win this round.’ Then I just kept landing punches.”
As the 10 second clapper sounded, he says Franconda again told him it was his fight to win and that he should push the pace.
“That’s what won me the fight because it looked good to the judges.
“I celebrated with my trademark back flip off the cage.”
His training leading up to this fight included Mauy Thai, Brazillian jiu jitsu, wrestling, kickboxing and strength and conditioning.
However, he comments: “My hands were very low in this fight so I will be returning to boxing before my next fight which I hope will be at Carnival City of August 8.”
Madiba says he feels really good about winning this fight but adds: “Having watched the video, I realise how much I need to do to become the fighter I want to be.”
Addie’s influence
Madiba has been training at Rio Grapling since March 2012 when he saw an article and photos in the Addie featuring an old school friend, Boyd Allen.
He says he contacted Allen who put him in contact with Rio Grappling and he has been fighting ever since.
After a couple of amateur fights, Madiba became a Fight Star Champion in November last year and signed up with XKT Pro League to take his chance against the professionals.
“I signed up with Jimmy (Read) at XKT on Thursday and the next day I signed with Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) Africa. That’s how jacked up Jimmy is,” he says adding that on the day he signed they offered him his first fight with only two weeks notice.
I dont know where majority decision with the judges voting 2-1 thats actually a split decision, I wouldn’t be gloating over a fight like this with such a bias decision. Unfortuanitly Sizwe took this fight on very short notice and I didnt have much time to work on fixing his game as he had deteriated over the last year from changing camps and he had picked up very bad habits his previously very good record with only one loss came from one Jordi Machtle fortuanitly for all in that weight division Sizwe wont be a threat because his mma career is done.