By MICHAEL MIYOBA
MIXED Martial Arts (MMA) Zambia president Benjamin Bush has described the first ever MMA Zambia Symposium which featured the current Bellator MMA featherweight champion Cris Cyborg Justino as a success.
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Bush said the four-day symposium saw Cyborg, the only MMA fighter in history, male or female, to become a Grand Slam Champion inspire future champions.
Bush said the former UFC Champion who is the current Bellator MMA featherweight champion helped mentor Zambian MMA fighters on how to defy the odds as athlete to reach the top of the sport.
In an interview, Bush hailed the Brazilian–American mixed martial artist for helping to launch the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) affiliated woman’s commission in Zambia.
“The event has been a huge success. We have had a vulnerable and youth programme which has been a huge success and we have had the kids anti-bullying programme which was a lot of fun. We have had a lot of open mats and people had to come in and just try out and we had beginner’s class
“We had Cris Cyborg give her talk. She is such an amazing person and she helped launch our women’s commission. We also had Ray Elbe, a fourth degree black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, coming through.
“We had aquators who gave us a talk on contract laws which was really interesting and we had talks on career development pathways, how athletes can become coaches and how we want to develop the sport, how we want to give athletes the opportunity to compete internationally,” Bush said.
He said vulnerable Youth Pilot Program which empowered vulnerable kids from the Home of Hope and Vision of hope orphanages.
He hailed Monster Energy, Nemchem, Maramba River Lodge, Nsofu Lodge, Aquasavana and all the companies that supported the symposium.
Meanwhile, Zambia’s first EFC fighter Rob Simbowe said he was happy to have been part of the project which was aimed at inspiring future MMA stars in the country. Simbowe said the symposium provided hope for the vulnerable kids who attended the event and were inspired with more knowledge about the sport and life in general.
Simbowe who is a former street kid urged upcoming athletes to be disciplined and work hard to achieve their goals in any field of life.
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