If you ever had any doubts about things being back in full swing following the Covid-19 pandemic, you would have to just take a look at what is happening around Xtreme Kickboxing Technologies (XKT).
There has been so much activity around the club that sensei Raymond Phillips has hardly had a chance to take time off.
Recently the club’s Darius Becker competed in the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) World Youth Championships in Dubai.
“He just a had a little technical problem,” said Phillips.
“He made one little mistake that cost him one of the fights. But he was winning all his fights up to that point.”
Young Becker made the error of trying to fix one of his gloves during the fight and his opponent took advantage and managed to pin the Brakpan fighter.
Phillips is also the president of Mixed Martial Arts South Africa. He is Africa’s representative for IMMAF.
“South Africa came back with one gold, one silver and one bronze medal from Dubai,” said the sensei.
“This means we finished ninth out of 40 countries at the championships.”
While it has been busy on the mixed martial arts side, the club has also been hard at work with its kickboxing.
“On the kickboxing scene, we’ve had the Great North tournament in Potchefstroom. We had several fighters compete.
“My son Ryan did quite well. There was also a tournament in Nelspruit called Jock of the Bushveld from where Ryan brought back three gold medals,” said Phillips.
Ryan is also a trainer and one of his fighters Matthew Gatting has qualified for international competition. He will compete in the World Kickboxing Championships in Venice, Italy, next month.
Ironically Raymond Phillips will be in the same city at the time as Africa’s representative at the IMMAF European Championships. The events will be at different venues.
“I’ll probably pop into the kickboxing championships that will be happening,” he said.
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Young Gatting (16) has been in good form ahead of his trip to Italy. He recently brought home a gold medal from the African Championships in Benoni.
“We have been busy and I have been running around sorting out visas,” said Phillips.
“I think what is happening now after this Covid is people are hungry for competition,” he said.
“The athletes just want to compete now. I have to be honest, looking at the IMMAF World Youth Championships, the standard was phenomenal. I think some of the youth could beat up some of our pros.”
