Ballito’s Amanda scoops international award

Greatly humbled and honoured Amanda Lino accepted the hotly contested Women’s Mixed Martial Arts (WMMA) Press Amateur Fighter of the Year Award on Monday January 12.

Amanda made history by becoming the first person outside of the United States to win this award. The award is not voted for by fans but rather by the WMMA Press committee, based on performance during the year.

“I did not even know I had been nominated,” said Amanda.

The fierce fighter, who turned professional at the end of last year, went 6-0 in 2014, and this includes winning the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) World Featherweight title in Las Vegas. Finishing all of her wins, Amanada never let her opponents see the third round.

“With women’s MMA still being small in South Africa, I pushed a lot of boundaries to get here,” she said.

With the Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) now being an international body and having announced a women’s division late last year, women are now able to stay in SA and fight professionally.

“Travelling or moving abroad and leaving your camp behind makes fighting professionally very hard and this announcement means South African women in MMA have a professional future.

“I think we are going to see a lot of talent coming from SA,” said Amanda.

She said going to the world championships and being granted an opportunity to test her skills overseas made her realise that even though she came from a country where MMA is still small, she had the skills to beat women from big MMA countries.

“It woke me up to the fact that I had the talent and skills and that now I have just got to work hard to achieve my goals,” said Amanda.

Her coach Guy Sheenan is impressed with her attitude.

“Amanda is right up there with the top Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) girls but she remains humble”, he said.

United States based Wombat (women in combat sports) sports reporter Marq Piocos said in a radio interview on Monday, January 12 with Amanda that she would not be surprised if Amanda got signed to a major promotion soon.

“Right now I want to make it professionally in South Africa because, for a fighter, travelling is very tough,” said Amanda.

But she said she would be happy to travel if she got signed to an overseas contract first.

A career in combat sports is mentally and emotionally tough and Amanda said a fighter needs a supportive camp to make it in the cage.

“I am grateful to Guy Sheenan and Wendy Stuart without whom I could not be where I am today,” said Amanda.

Amanda continues to train with Guy and IMF gym, while working towards dropping some weight and migrating down to the fly weight category.