MMA group eyes 500 young Nigerian fighters

Veteran martial artist, Dr Ebere Bernard, has initiated a mixed martial arts tournament in Rivers State aimed at diverting the attention of the youths from cultism, kidnapping and related crime.

Bernard, who is the Director, Youths Development, Nigerian Mixed Martial Arts Federation, in an interview on the second day of the international amateur and professional fighters tournament in Ahoada main town, Rivers State, explained that the tournament had a target of 500 youths from rural areas.

“What we are doing now is to go to the local communities, because if you look at almost all the local communities in Nigeria and other parts of Africa, you see that youths are indulging in different kinds of vices: cultism, kidnapping, militancy and others.

“In the next two or three years, I intend to bring as many as 500 youths into Mixed Martial Arts, the campaign is not only in Nigeria, we are also touring round other countries to work with the youths,” he stated.

The organiser noted that scholarship and entrepreneurship were also prepared for the youths who wished to further their studies or start small businesses.

He added, “Africa is full of talents and we know we can still produce many more fighters like Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, Francis Ngano, but for you to be able to find fighters, you need to go to the grassroots.

Speaking at the event, D’Juan Owens, popularly known as Dirty South, an American kickboxing champion, said he came to Nigeria to train young fighters to master mixed martial arts, especially on grappling, a technique that helps fighters tackle their opponents on the ground) in order to give the young fighters a competitive advantage globally.

PUNCH/Nnenna.O