Although South Africa has had the good fortune of an international
mixed martial art blueprint, it is just not possible for the sport to bypass
all the hurdles which needed to be overcome in other developing environments.
The professional MMA path, however, is much easier for us to trod as a result
of it.
Following the footsteps of more established MMA communities,
South African MMA has gone a long way down the road of developing the quality of our
mixed martial art events, so much so that they are very rapidly approaching
world class. The organisation and production of these events has however, drastically
outgrown the single most important element of the sport... the fighters
themselves.
This is not to say that we do not have some extremely
talented fighters stepping into the cage, we have just not given them the time
to fully evolve afforded those pioneering communities. Our ranks are still very
much dominated by fighters hailing from traditional disciplines, who rely on
these skill sets to win fights and often look very out of sorts should the
fight not remain in their area of expertise. We currently lack a well rounded
MMA fighter. Someone who is completely comfortable and competitive in all
aspects of the game - at the highest level. The creation of such an athlete cannot be
rushed, as the mastery of the skills required takes decades of hard work and
dedication, time we have not yet been privy to.
The closest we currently have to someone of this calibre, is
current EFC heavyweight champion Ruan “Fangs” Potts, who, though lacking the
same MMA experience that the rest of the country does, has got amazing credentials
in almost every independent traditional discipline conducive to being a
complete MMA fighter.
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