For the first time ever, lovers of combat sports in Abia State were on Saturday night thrilled by intense and entertaining bouts as professional male and female Mixed Martial Arts athletes converged on Umuahia for the maiden Abia State and South East MMA cage fight, tagged Festival of Warriors.\n<\/p>\n
Speaking with sports journalists during the event, the President of Akalaka Spirit of the Warrior MMA Promotion, Dr Ebere Bernard, described the show as both nostalgic and symbolic, noting that it was organised \u201cto re-echo the struggles and legacies of our heroes and ancestors during the civil war, in which Umuahia was strategic.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Dr Bernard, who is also the Director of Youth Development at the Nigeria Mixed Martial Arts Federation, noted that the sport has come to stay in Nigeria, revealing that MMA is set to make its debut as an amateur event at the 2026 National Sports Festival in Enugu.\n<\/p>\n
According to him, \u201cCombat sports, by way of MMA, are not only entertaining, they are symbolic of the struggles we pass through in everyday life. MMA has come to stay. We got recognition two years ago under the Ministry of Sports. At the festival coming up in Enugu in 2026, MMA is going to feature under the amateur category.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not yet at the level of Europe, the Middle East, the USA or even some African countries like South Africa that are doing well in the sport. But it is a source of livelihood for athletes. With restiveness everywhere, MMA is also a way of engaging the youth and keeping them busy.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a youth has a competition in the next six months, I don\u2019t think he will have time to engage in negative vices. He will be occupied with high-level training because once you walk into the cage and the doors are locked, you are on your own.\u201d <\/p>\n
He also used the opportunity to commend the ongoing efforts of Governor Alex Otti\u2019s administration in sports tourism, security and infrastructure, which he said informed their decision to stage the MMA fights for the first time in Abia State and the South East. He further called for funding and other forms of support from stakeholders to ensure the sustainability of the sport as a tool for youth empowerment.<\/p>\n
The maiden Abia and South East MMA Festival of Warriors attracted spectators from within and outside the state, including 16-year-old Umuahia-born rising female martial artist and taekwondo athlete, Eberechi Unekwu.\n<\/p>\n
Speaking to newsmen, Unekwu said martial arts were underutilised in Nigeria, despite their benefits for physical fitness, noting that the sport engages all parts of the body. She urged Nigerian youths to get involved.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cGet involved in the art. It can make you wealthy and take you to places,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
In some of the main fights of the night, Casmir Junior defeated Felix Valentine in the men\u2019s welterweight bout, while Abdulkareem Nasirudeen overcame Duru Bennet in the men\u2019s bantamweight category.\n<\/p>\n
In the men\u2019s featherweight, heavyweight and lightweight categories, Destiny Ekpo, Azor Chibueze and David Emmanuel defeated Emmanuel Ezekiel, Abdulkareem Enesi and Effiong Bassey respectively, while Enku Ekuta beat Patience Okon in the ladies\u2019 bantamweight bout.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time ever, lovers of combat sports in Abia State were on Saturday night thrilled by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-388729","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}