Vuyisile Colossa may be a relative newcomer to the world of mixed martial arts but with a submission win already under his belt this South African stand up fighter definitely looks well rounded enough to succeed.
Colossa is best known as a Muay Thai fighter and he defeated Contender Asia winner Yodsaenklai Fairtex earlier this year. It is not often that a foreigner is able to beat one of the top Thais at their own game but Colossa did precisely that, winning a decision over Yodsaenklai in Papua New Guinea.
He recently turned his attention to MMA and, despite having only a few months training, came away with a submission win from his MMA debut in May. His opponent, John Vargas, is a decorated grappler and the win has given Colossa confidence that he can succeed as an MMA fighter.
He believes that having a striking, rather than a grappling background, actually gives him an advantage,
‘I think it is easier for a stand up fighter to learn the ground game then for a ground fighter to learn striking. I started MMA six months ago because I felt I needed a few challenge but I have been working on the ground since I was in South Africa and doing a lot of wrestling so I think that has prepared me for MMA,’ he said.
Colossa is no longer based in South Africa and now calls Hong Kong home. He is an extremely active fighter and has fought at least six stand up fights this year under various rules, winning all but one of them. As well as the decision win over Yodsaenklai he beat three Chinese fighters in three months to be crowned WLF World Champion in a Sanda tournament in Henan.
He has always been an extremely versatile athlete and as a youngster excelled at baseball, hockey, cricket and athletics. He turned his attention to kickboxing at 15 and has been fighting regularly ever since. From kickboxing Colossa has progressed to Muay Thai, K-1, Sanda and most recently MMA, picking up a handful of titles in the process.
Colossa believes that there is a huge amount of potential in Africa and hopes that if he can enjoy success as an MMA fighter he will help introduce more Africans to the sport,
‘The whole of Africa is full of fighters in all different shapes and sizes. The opportunity to develop MMA is there, all that is lacking is a strong investment. Africa is still an untapped market,’ he said.
There are a couple of South African MMA fighters to have emerged, including Neil Grove who recently made an unsuccessful UFC appearance, but none of them have really made it into the mainstream. Despite this Colossa claims that MMA remains relatively popular in the country,
‘MMA has been around in South Africa for years since the beginning of the UFC. Due to poor promotion it was dying out but it is now back again with more events and different organizations,’ he said.
Colossa lists UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva as his favourite fighter and is hoping he will be able to utilize his stand up skills inside the cage to the same sort of devastating effect as the Brazilian,
‘I like Anderson Silva because of his style of fighting. I want to show case my striking just like him but I know that balance is important in MMA which is why I am also covering the ground game. I want to take even more MMA fights in the future because I want to be a more well rounded athlete. I also think that you suffer less injuries fighting MMA than fighting Muay Thai,’ he said.
Colossa, who is nicknamed the Cheetah because of his speed, will be looking to make it two MMA wins out of two when he steps into the cage at Martial Combat 7 next month. He will be facing Alex Niu who is supposedly one of the brightest MMA prospects to emerge from China and has been training for this fight with Ole Laursen at the Legacy Gym.
If Colossa can get past the challenge of Niu then the Cheetah he will become the latest in a long line of exciting lightweight prospects to emerge from Martial Combat.
I’ve been to many muay thai camps in Phuket. But after having gone to muay thai camp, I know where I will be returning to now (in a few months time).
John Wayne Parr is fast approaching a century of fights. The 33 year old star of the Contender Asia had his first fight when he was only 14 and his next fight will be his hundredth.
