A typical MMA athlete relies heavily on his shoulder joints to drive power either while punching, or acting defensively. It is also a joint that is used for pushing, pulling, and for weight bearing on the ground. The joint must, therefore, be strong, stable and pain free. In order for the joint to function at [...]

‘King’ Leo visits Combat Coaching    Quintin van Jaarsveld – The Witness   EXTREME Fighting Championship (EFC) Africa star “King” Leo Gloss conducted two boxing workshops at the Amanzimtoti-based CombatCoaching.com gym recently. Gloss, a 12-time South African boxing champion, is one of the premier strikers in all of EFC – Africa’s biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) [...]

With Lenin Rajgopaul   Leg locks are amongst the most underutilised attacks in grappling and mma. Join us at World Of Warriors for an awesome and informative seminar with leg lock wiz, Lenin Rajgopaul. Lenin is a multiple time jits medallist( including  an Africa Cup gold medallist). He has been a student of the jits [...]

Smack Talk took a drive through to the east rand to have a look at the much talked about, new and exciting mma gymWorld of Warriors. Here’s the Scoop World Of Warriors (WOW) was originally a Muay Thai gym founded by Shaun Simpson. Shaun has been studying and teaching Kickboxing and Muay Thai for almost [...]

Created in 2006, Venum Fightwear has become the leader in innovative and creative designs for Mixed Martial Arts shorts and apparel. Securing such top level sponsored UFC fighters such as Champion Frankie Edgar, Lyoto Machida and Wanderlei Silva to name a few, Venum has become the standard. Venum Gloves have been constructed from the highest [...]

Gorgeous Boyz Hardcore or GBH as they are more commonly known, love them, hate them, it’s your call, but you cannot deny that these guys have so much character it oozes out of them. I had heard reports of the gangster and bad boy image they portray and read the comments in our previous posts [...]

Smacktalk recently caught up with Mark Strydom, co-founder of Fight Force and one of the main reasons MMA is steadily gaining ground as a household acronym in SA. According to Strydom, a large part of the Fight Force formula involves understanding and staying true to the essence of MMA, and it is this recipe for [...]

Birds of a feather flock together and the Hawkey’s are a family that fights together.  Wesley is the youngest and most aggressive of the fight famous brethren to emerge from the Hawkey hatchery.  We watched as Wesley made his Professional debut against Tyson Chelin, also a Professional MMA debutant, at Fight Force Redemption.  The fight [...]

In the first of our “Uncut” specials we spend some with Wentzel and Jackie Nel, at their Durban home, discussing the recent EFC Africa title victory and the life of MMA’s nicest couple. Look out for the second instalment of this interview next week

Mention the word wrestling in any conversation with an MMA enthusiast and there is a distinct chance the name Attila will come up.  Attila Barna is one of South Africa’s premier wrestling and grappling coaches and has helped many professional fighters climb the ranking ladder to its highest rung.  He has a reputation for being [...]

Dino Bagattin, perhaps EFC Africa’s best welterweight striker, recently took a break from the Quantum Tribe pads to tell Smacktalk how his martial arts journey turned a frustrated weekend warrior into one of the most relaxed and respected fighters SA has ever seen, and why we can expect an even more deadly Bagattin at EFC [...]

If as people we can be judged by the friends we keep;  a sport, and its stellar growth, can be judged by the mainstream Captains of Industry that have crossed over and now proudly promote, stock and distribute MMA related apparel and gear. Full Throttle was a purist motorcycle apparel retailer until owner and founder [...]

Wayne Borrino (photographer) and I were standing outside in the parking lot of the Urban Warriors Gym in Illovo waiting for Denzil to arrive for the interview.  Two guys clad in boxing and MMA gear walked passed us, not knowing exactly where the gym was situated in the center I asked the guys if they [...]

It is often said that in business you need to find your passion, look for, and fill gaps with your product or service, outwork your competition and the rest will fall into place. This could not hold more true to anybody than entrepreneur and founder of Fightgear Justin Navetta.  In 2009 when many of us [...]

Technique wins fights; but conditioning keeps you in them.  In today’s professional MMA era fighters need not only have bone crunching, joint mangling weapons in their arsenals but they need plenty of gas in the tank too.  Smacktalk spoke to Martin Van Staden about his training camp for the up-coming fight against American Brian Ebersole [...]