When you think of South Africa and sports, rugby, cricket, and soccer usually dominate the conversation. But over the past two decades, a new sport has been quietly growing into a powerhouse of its own-mixed martial arts (MMA). The history of MMA in South Africa is a story of passion, persistence, and pride. What started as a fringe sport has transformed into a national movement, inspiring a new generation of athletes and fans. One thing is certain: the Octagon hasn’t seen the last of South Africa.
The Early Days of MMA in South Africa
MMA didn’t arrive in South Africa overnight. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, combat sports like boxing, karate, judo, and kickboxing already had a strong presence. At first, MMA in South Africa existed on a small scale-sparring in gyms, private events, and local competitions.
The Rise of EFC Africa
The turning point came in 2009, when Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC Africa) launched. EFC quickly became the premier MMA promotion in Africa, similar to what Cage Warriors did for Europe. EFC also played a huge role in educating South African fans about MMA.
Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) is a South African mixed martial arts promotion company established since 2009. It is the largest MMA promotion company on the continent of Africa and features on its roster professional fighters from across the world including the United States, Europe, South America, the UK, Australia, and Africa. The organization produces 10 live events annually.
EFC was founded in 2009 by brothers Cairo Howarth, Silas Howarth, and Calvin Howarth who are the present owners and along with Graeme Cartmell, who is the Vice President of Talent and Matchmaker, are the key people in the company.Prior to 2009, the Howarth brothers were great admirers of the UFC and would regularly watch UFC events through pay per view channels. This inspired them to create an African-based MMA promotion company modelled on the UFC which they named Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC).
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EFC's inaugural event took place at the Ticketpro Dome (formerly the Coca-Cola Dome) in Johannesburg, South Africa on 10 November 2009. The first 7 events took place at the Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg. From the 8th event in 2011 onwards, the organization held events in other major cities throughout South Africa which to date includes Cape Town, Durban, Carnival City Casino, Sun City Casino, Pretoria and Johannesburg. When the demand to watch EFC events grew, they signed television broadcasting and streaming deals with a number of media organizations throughout the world.
Extreme Fighting Championship's rules were initially drafted and aligned by Marius Lotter, the then regulator for Amateur and Professional MMA and are based upon the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. All bouts are contested over three, five-minute rounds, with the exception of five-round championship bouts. There is a one-minute rest period between rounds.
As per the Unified Rules of MMA, Extreme Fighting Championship only allows competitors to fight in approved shorts, without shoes or any other sort of foot padding. Fighters must use approved light gloves (4-6 ounces) that allow fingers to grab. The ten-point must system is used for all EFC bouts; three judges score each round and the winner of each receives ten points, the loser nine points or less. If the round is even, both fighters receive ten points.
Some of the rules include:
- Striking to the spine or the back of the head.
- Striking downward using the point of the elbow.
- Spiking an opponent to the canvas on his head or neck.
When a foul is charged, the referee in their discretion may deduct one or more points as a penalty. If a foul incapacitates a fighter, then the match may end in a disqualification if the foul was intentional, or a no contest if unintentional.
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EFC launched a reality TV show on 14 October 2017 called The Fighter. Housed in a villa in Johannesburg, South Africa, 10 male MMA Middleweight prospects from around the world lived and trained together, as well as competed against one another for a multiple fight contract and a guaranteed EFC title fight. They were split into two teams each coached by an experienced EFC athlete. The Fighter was broadcast on global television in 10 one-hour episodes.
Following the success and positive reception to The Fighter: Season 1, EFC launched The Fighter: Season 2 on 26 April 2019. It followed the same format as Season 1 but with 10 female MMA Flyweight athletes from around the world instead. They were housed in Rosebank, South Africa, where they trained together and competed against one another in a quest to win a multiple fight contract and a guaranteed EFC title fight. As with Season 1, the competitors were split into two teams each coached by an experienced EFC athlete. Season 2 was also broadcast on global television in 10 one-hour episodes.
South African Fighters in the UFC
Garreth “Soldierboy” McLellan became one of the first South Africans to sign with the UFC in 2014. While no UFC event has (yet) been hosted in South Africa, the fanbase is massive. The success of Du Plessis, in particular, has elevated UFC’s profile.
Dricus Du Plessis | The Most Effective Trash Talker
Don Madge: A Glimmer of Hope
It was easy to miss if you weren’t paying attention, but there’s at least an intriguing answer to the question now. Don Madge made sure of that. It was at the UFC’s trip to the Canadian city of Moncton last October that the 28-year-old lightweight single-handedly rerouted the conversation about his country’s fighting future with ruthless aplomb, wrapping his foot around the skull of one of Dana White’s hand-picked Contender Series projects.
It was an eye-opening affair - and an outright manhandling. In less than six minutes, Madge twice knocked down heavily hyped prospect Te Edwards, nearly tore off an arm for a souvenir, then flew back to South Africa counting up an extra $50,000 in bonus cash for his handiwork. Ferocious and fast with cold-blooded finishing instincts against a game opponent - it was the kind of UFC debut that forces even the most jaded among us to sit up and take notice.
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The gleeful reception his octagon debut received back home in Johannesburg is a perfect indication of the history Madge is up against. Because the list of South Africans to even reach the UFC, much less achieve success in it, doesn’t exactly make for the most rousing of Mount Rushmores.
Remove Madge from the equation, and four other men with South African roots have competed inside the UFC octagon: Prangley, McLellan, and heavyweights Ruan Potts and Neil Grove. Their combined UFC record speaks for itself: 3-10. It drops to an even more pitiful mark of 1-8 if you exclude Prangley’s exploits from a bygone era of pay-per-views with kitschy subheads like “Payback” and “Boiling Point.” In other words, all of Madge’s countrymen made it to the big show late in their careers, then thoroughly disappointed once they got there.
But every fire needs its kindling, and in South Africa, Madge’s name has long been spoken of in the same sort of bullish whispers that Conor McGregor’s was for Ireland or Weili Zhang’s was for China. “When I first met the kid, he was a baby and had all these huge accolades, and I almost was in disbelief,” said Graeme Cartmell, the longtime matchmaker of South Africa’s biggest MMA promotion, Extreme Fighting Championship, who signed Madge when he was still a teenager.
By the time Madge moved back to Johannesburg at age 21 to begin building the next phase of his life, the fledging sport of MMA that Prangley had pioneered a decade earlier in the country had finally begun to take root in South Africa, spurred on by the rise of local promotion EFC. It was a natural progression to jump aboard an MMA train that had just left the station. And pretty much overnight, Madge’s unique mix of skills and experience made him a different kind of prospect than the region had really seen before - to the point where he even drew the attention of former UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, who recruited him as a training partner for several of her championship camps.
Dricus du Plessis: The Champion
Dricus du Plessis (born 14 January 1994), also known by his initials DDP, is a South African professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the former UFC Middleweight Champion.
In June 2015, du Plessis made his welterweight debut at EFC Africa 40 against Dino Bagattin, winning via a second-round rear-naked choke submission. After going 3-0 in 2015, du Plessis faced veteran striker Martin van Staden at EFC 50 for the vacant EFC Welterweight Championship. Du Plessis won via guillotine choke submission in the third round.
In 2018, du Plessis was slated to challenge Roberto Soldić for the KSW Welterweight Championship at KSW 43: Soldić vs. Du Plessis on 14 April. In an upset, du Plessis dethroned Soldic via TKO, after dropping him with a left hook. The two would later rematch at KSW 45: De Fries vs.
Dricus Du Plessis became the first South African to win a UFC title, but he's the fourth African to do so in the last five years. On the night of Saturday, January 20, mixed martial artist Dricus Du Plessis, aka Stillknocks, became the first South African to win an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title. This monumental win continues an ongoing wave of dominant feats in the UFC by African-born fighters, especially over the past five years.
Of the quartet of champions, there’s a standout element that makes Du Plessis’ title win feel even more gilded: he was totally raised and trained in South Africa. Skimming through their histories, the remaining trio owe much of their rise to developing their skills away from Africa.
Key Achievements and Awards
- Won the UFC Middleweight Championship.
- Performance of the Night (Two times)
- Fight of the Night (Two times)
- 2024: Fan's Choice Submission of the Year Nominee
- 2023: Ranked #9 Upset of the Year
- 2024: Ranked #5 Fighter of the Year
- 2024: Ranked #4 Submission of the Year vs. Israel Adesanya
- Ranked #10 Fight of the Year
Notable Fights
- UFC 297: Strickland vs. du Plessis
- UFC 305: Du Plessis vs. Adesanya
- UFC 312: Du Plessis vs. Strickland 2
- UFC 319: Du Plessis vs. Chimaev
| Fighter | Promotion | Titles Won |
|---|---|---|
| Dricus du Plessis | UFC, EFC, KSW | UFC Middleweight Championship, EFC Middleweight and Welterweight Champion, KSW Welterweight Championship |
| Don Madge | EFC, UFC | EFC Lightweight Champion (2 times) |
| Garreth McLellan | EFC, UFC | EFC Middleweight Champion |
| Ruan Potts | EFC, UFC | EFC Heavyweight Champion |
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