Cape Town — The Alpha Mixed Martial Arts promotion will kick-off its 2022 events roster this weekend.
In partnership with BoxOp promotions, AMMA 12 will take place at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria on Saturday.
The event will showcase four separate fight cards, each consisting of five fights showcasing some of South Africa’s most exciting and up-and-coming athletes.
The fight night includes purple, orange, yellow and green cards.
The individual-card idea was designed with fighters' friends, family members and fans in mind. Those who cannot afford, or prefer not to watch an entire day’s fighting are allowed to purchase a ticket which covers either one or more cards, ensuring that you get your money's worth.
Some of the fights one can look forward to include the welterweight match-up between Stiaan Brown (9-7) and Tyrone Platt (2-2), and the lightheavyweight bout which sees Josiah Obasi (2-2) face Zhane Tannous (5-2).
The AMMA 12 fight card was set to take place in December already, however, due to Covid-19 complications the AMMA brainstrusts were forced to postpone the event.
“We are extremely excited to be back up and running in front of a live audience again,” says AMMA president Dwain Meredith.
“Nothing motivates fighters more than screaming fans next to the cage. During our time off we have been working tirelessly in the background and have partnered up with one of the most cutting edge sports promotion companies in SA (BoxOp). We believe that the partnership between AMMA and BoxOp will bring in a new era in contact sports on the African continent.
"Do not miss our big announcement at our opening event.
Big things to come.”
With this being the first fight card of the year on the SA Mixed Martial Arts calendar, it would have made for a good consolation for those athletes who were selected to fly to Abu Dhabi to represent the country at the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation World Championships. South African athletes were unfortunately unable to go due to travel bans placed on various African countries because of the pandemic.
With AMMA 12 originally set for last year December, the promotion could not accommodate any more athletes - unless a few from the current batch pulled out.
“This card was set up for 19 December 2021 and we had to pull it due to Covid-19," says Meredith.
“I offered all the fighters that were on that card first choice. A few of the Team SA athletes asked if they could get on the card, however, we can only offer them fights if the current athletes pull out.”
Doors open at 1.30pm on Saturday with the first card (purple) starting at 2.00pm. For those unable to attend, you can catch the livestream show on iTickets free of charge.
Tickets at the door will cost R150 (per person) for one segment. A full day’s show will cost R400.