NEWS

Nkosi Ndebele has returned to his former school to a hero’s welcome as the BRAVE CF Bantamweight world champion was invited to give a speech to students following his triumphant return to action last month. Ndebele became the first South-African world champion in MMA when he beat Jose Torres at BRAVE CF 80, and he is now enjoying the fruits of his labor and looking to give back to his community.

Ndebele visited Diepsloot Secondary No 3 and was welcomed by nearly 300 students who keenly listened as Nkosi spoke about his road towards the top of the mixed martial arts world coming from the same background as them. He inspired the students by speaking on how he was able to rise above his own circumstances and spoke on how the youth mentality should change.

''The results you produce here are top! Am I lying? So the mindset must change. Please focus. You have yourselves a world champion coming from  this ground, standing in front of you!''.

Nkosi made sure to bring along his first coach, a Kyokushin Karate master, Sensei Byoka, whom he credits with being the first man to teach him the discipline of martial arts and making him focused to become a future champion of the world.

Ndebele spoke about the impact of Sensei Byoka in his life and encouraged students to sign up for martial arts classes as a way of keeping off the streets and bringing themselves towards a better future.

‘’I went there to motivate the students to believe in whatever dream they have and work towards it. They couldn’t believe I came from the same ground they were standing on and that I went to the same school. I brought one of my sponsors in, as they’re always keen on giving away bursaries to top students and I’m happy to be able to give these opportunities to the students at my school, which is something I didn’t have growing up’’, said an ecstatic Ndebele.

While Nkosi gets back to training and awaits for his first world title defense, the Bantamweight division continues to grow, with the additions of Velimurad Alkhasov and Khurshed Nazarov, with the 135-pound weight-class also containing the likes of former champion Jose ‘’Shorty’’ Torres, Hamza Kooheji, and Nicholas Hwende.