Goriilla Fight Club Launched in SA

In March of this year Darren Till confirmed that the UFC had agreed to release him from his contract, citing the need to take care of his health and to pursue other opportunities.

We now know at least one of those other opportunities because Darren Till made a whistle-stop tour of South Africa to officially launch Goriilla Fight Club, along with business partner and entrepreneur, Duduzane Zuma.

According to the two founders, Goriilla Fight Club is a new global Sports and Entertainment entity that will break the mould of what we have all come to expect from sports and entertainment. The initial focus of the entity will be to host it’s first Boxing event – within the next 3 months – where Till is hoping to make his professional Boxing debut in the main event.

Till, a muaythai and MMA athlete, made it clear that despite the initial focus being on Boxing, there will be opportunity to incorporate other combat sports into the business offering.

Both founders spoke about the importance of Boxing development, with Zuma insisting that this was the opportunity to take the sport to the people and for Africa not to be left behind, which usually is the case!

When asked about the current issue regarding fighter pay, Till insisted that the aim of Goriilla Fight Club was to offer fair pay for fair value – based on fighter name, record and performance.

But here is the rub;

• The specifics as to where this new global entity will be based, are uncertain. Will it be in Africa or will it be in Europe?
• The initial fighter roster was not revealed with both Till and Zuma stating that they are still in conversation and do not want to jeopardise any plans and/or any fighters.
• Their first event will only be in aproximately three month’s time with no clarity on possible date or venue.
• What is the correct spelling of this new entity as the banner wall had it as GORIILLA, while all other communication have it as GORILLA?

The reality of it all is that this is potentially great news for fight sports fans as Till looks to add his well respected name to the ever-growing list of fighters that are forming their own fight promotions – Anthont Pettis and Showtime Fighting Championship; Jorge Masvidal and Gamebred Promotions; Rampage Jackson and United Fighters League to name but a few.

The critical question for SA fight fans is, given the association of the Zuma name with political shenanigans and corruption, will they embrace this move from politics to sports and entertainment by Duduzane Zuma by at least giving him a cxhance to prove that he does in fact hold sports development close to heart?

We will wait and see…