Diani Fight & Fitness Club keen to tap into sports

The last few months have seen a new found love for boxing and combat sports in the country. Thanks to the exploits of Tanzania’s Karim Mandonga, the Kenyan combat sports scene is once again attracting the attention of fans and corporate sponsors.

Globally, combat sports have remained a very lucrative industry. The global combat sports market is one of the biggest industries in the world. It is predicted to be worth a staggering 150 billion shillings by 2025. Entire cities are significantly sustained by combat sports events.

Combat sports enterprise essentially focuses on entrepreneurial principles that identify existing opportunities, and produce initiatives focused on combat sports that exploit these opportunities and generate revenue.

The Diani Fight & Fitness Club in Ukunda, Kwale County, is creating a blueprint on how to tap into sports as a revenue generating business. What started off as a gymnasium and a self-help youth group in 2015 has evolved into a centre of fitness, combat sports training, fight promotion, and has produced fighters that have represented the country in different fighting events.

The club has have set out to build an environment where combat sports can be used as a social and economic resource. It runs programs that work with at-risk youths to stop them from being entrapped by vices like crime and drug abuse by turning them into disciplined fighters.

The club also has a nutrition program for its fighters and clients which focuses on locally available and affordable indigenous foods with the aim of improving athletic performance and promoting healthy living. On top of all this, the club intends to use combat sports as a tool for gender equality and women’s empowerment by having female fighters in its programs.

At April’s African Fighting Championship event held in Nairobi, Diani Fight Club produced four fighters who represented the country in what had been billed as a Kenya versus Uganda card. With the increasing popularity of combat sports, the Diani Fight Club has also organized events in the resort town of Diani, in the hope of unseating Nairobi as the combat sports centre in the country.

Kevin Agolla who is the founder, explains how the need to draw attention to combat sports after years of struggling with mediocrity, and a plummeting fan base, has sparked a new found love for combat sports in Kwale.

“Our fighters are youth from Kwale who are keen to make something out of themselves. Beyond training them in different combat sports like mixed martial arts and boxing, we also help instil discipline and good character so that they can be useful members of society.”

Some of the fighters who represent Diani Fight Club also work as trainers at the gym and are able to make a living out of it.

According to Agolla, the resort town of Diani offers a new home for combat sports in the country, and can help give a new lease of life to a sport that has battled declining fan interest in Nairobi.

“We have organized a couple of fights in recent times that have attracted significant attention. With support from the County Government of Kwale, we are sure that future events will become bigger and attract more fans,” Agolla explains.

The club is banking on Diani’s picturesque setting and it’s tourist appeal to bring in crowds for future events. Just like Las Vegas in Nevada, U.S.A, Diani in Kwale County has the potential to become the seat of major combat sports events in the country.

With proper planning, promotion, and sponsorship, Diani Fight Club is banking on the increasing popularity of combat sports, to bring more attention to the work they have been doing over the years.