{"id":4463,"date":"2026-10-12T09:16:05","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=4463"},"modified":"2026-10-12T09:16:05","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T09:16:05","slug":"rwanda-makes-african-mma-championship-debut-with-two-fighters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/12\/rwanda-makes-african-mma-championship-debut-with-two-fighters\/sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwanda makes African MMA Championship debut with two fighters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda has sent two fighters to the inaugural African Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Championship in Abidjan, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, marking the country\u2019s first participation in the continental competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Binego Abdoul Karim and Binego Djibril, both members of GAMMA Rwanda, travelled to C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire on Sunday, October 11, accompanied by coach Sinzi Tharcisse. The championship is scheduled for October 12\u201316, with bouts beginning on Tuesday, October 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event is organised by the Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts (GAMMA) in collaboration with C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire\u2019s national MMA federation. Fifteen national federations had registered by late September, including Rwanda, according to GAMMA. (GAMMA<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mwizerwa Dieudonn\u00e9, president of GAMMA Rwanda, told IGIHE that taking part in the first continental championship was an important step for the sport in Rwanda, where the association began its activities in late 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is historic for us because it is the first African MMA Championship, and we have managed to take part. I am confident we can return with victories. The fighters have trained well, and we have been preparing for this for some time,\u201d Mwizerwa said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that the team\u2019s participation was part of plans to expose Rwandan fighters to more international competition. GAMMA Rwanda is also looking towards the world championships scheduled for T\u00fcrkiye in December.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to expand the sport in the country,\u201d Mwizerwa said, encouraging people interested in MMA to join the association. He said GAMMA Rwanda planned to continue training fighters and helping them compete internationally, while preparations for a domestic championship were also under way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the competition schedule reported by IGIHE, youth categories will compete first, while the senior fighters, including Rwanda\u2019s representatives, are expected to compete on October 14 and 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rwanda\u2019s participation follows an earlier international outing in April, when Rwandan fighters competed at ANZA MMA Amateur Fight Night 008 in Nairobi, Kenya, alongside athletes from other East African countries. The event included fighters affiliated with GAMMA Rwanda. (Business News Kenya<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GAMMA Rwanda began operating in late 2025 with the aim of developing mixed martial arts in the country and training local fighters for competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rwanda has sent two fighters to the inaugural African Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Championship in Abidjan, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, marking the country\u2019s first participation in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,43,35,27,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa-news","category-current_affairs","category-regional","category-sports","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4466,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4463\/revisions\/4466"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}