Amateur fighters are jostling for the available slots as Nigeria continues to prepare their contingent with the maiden Mixed Martial Arts National Amateur Championship which will be used to select the country’s team for the 2024 MMA World Championship 2024 in Jakarta, Indonesia by December.
The series saw fighters from the northwest and central zones of the country in action at the Abuja Continental Hotel last weekend for places in the grand finale.
The tournament organised by Boxing & MMA Hall of Fame, the official representative of the Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts featured MMA fighters from Kwara, Kogi, Kaduna, Kebbi, Niger, Nasarawa, Plateau, Benue states and the FCT Abuja.
In some of the bouts decided in the women’s division, Beauty Akatiku of Nasarawa beat her state counterpart Zubair Fatimoh in the 56Kg, while Felix Stephanie of Plateau also defeated Yusrallah Abdulraheem of Kaduna in the 65kg.
In the men’s fights, Tarkpe Stephen of Benue was ahead of Uthman Ahmed of Kwara in 60kg, Aliyu Taofeeq of Kogi outscored Abdulazeez Abdulrahman of Abuja in 77kg, Ovye Charles of Nasarawa defeated Momoh Itopa of Abuja in the 66kg and David Ezekiel of Abuja was ahead of Joseph Jackson of Nasarawa in the 70kg.
As part of the program, the organisers hosted the first open national referees and judges seminar and certification program which was managed by GAMMA Nigeria international judges and referees, who attended and officiated at the 13th African Games in Ghana.
The free programme resulted in the certification of seven new officials as MMA Judge – National LEVEL C and one official as MMA Referee – National Level C.
