Dakar (AFP)

"Reug-Reug" overflows with confidence before his first fight of mixed martial arts. The promoters of this ultra-violent discipline count on champions like him who came from the traditional struggle to launch their lucrative industry in Senegal and Africa.

"You're not going to last a minute," says Reug-Reug, biceps swollen under his green tracksuit, to his future opponent, the Moroccan Sofiane Boukichou, during a press presentation before their fight. The Senegalese almost kept his word and defeated the Moroccan, "El Torro", by knockout on the second resume on Saturday.

The colossus Reug-Reug, alias Oumar Kâne, 27, is one of a number of cracks in the Senegalese struggle to give in to the new attraction of Mixed Martial Arts (Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA, in English) pugilism and hand-to-hand combat. The industry brews billions of dollars pledged by audiences of millions of viewers around the world.

The Ares Fighting Championship company, founded by veterans of the discipline, organized on Saturday a dozen fights in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, on the forecourt of the Museum of Black Civilizations. On the bill: Reug-Reug therefore, but also Moussa Togola, among specialists in the discipline.

Reug-Reug and Moussa Togola made themselves known in the traditional Senegalese wrestling, national sport with football, plunging its roots in the exercises of preparation for the war.

Traditional Senegalese wrestlers compete with bare hands and torsos, in loincloths, in full stadiums and in front of the cameras broadcasting live. Fighting in the sand is imbued with mystical practices. The wrestlers wear grigris and are coated with liquids presented as magic. The blows are authorized ("fight with strike") or not.

The winners can win hundreds of thousands of euros in a country where 40% of the inhabitants are poor according to the World Bank.

- A mine -

But wrestling fights with strikes are becoming scarce, high fees and stadium violence dissuading promoters, experts say.

Fighting in the cages of different MMA promoters can be a boon. For the organizers in return, this is the way to develop their sport in Africa and find future stars.

"There is a lot of potential in Africa," said promoter and coach Fernand Lopez to AFP.

Senegal is a mine with under-exploited capacities, adds French Ghislain Brick, talent and contract detector. "You only have to see the beaches in the evening," he said, referring to the spectacle of dozens of wrestlers training daily on the Atlantic shore in Dakar.

Americans, Brazilians, Russians and Irish dominate MMA. But Africans are becoming more and more visible.

Francis Ngannou, born in Cameroon and trained by Fernand Lopez, is the second challenger in the heavyweight category of the "Ultimate Fighting Championship", the most important promotion company in the United States. Israel Adesanya from Nigeria is also being talked about.

"Senegal has the capacity to produce real champions," says Lea Buet, a French judokate who organized MMA fights for Senegalese wrestlers.

- Concerns -

The Senegalese champion Serigne Dia, known as "Bombardier", has already tried the experiment.

The attraction of mixed martial arts raises concerns for the future of wrestling. Senegalese wrestlers can make a good living. But their earnings suffer from the comparison to the millions of dollars that an MMA champion can touch.

Fernand Lopez wants to be reassuring: the popularity of mixed martial arts will reflect on the fight by "providing jobs and more visibility", he said.

Mixed martial arts are still little known in Senegal. But they interest more and more young people, confirms Moustapha Diop, director in West Africa of Lionheart, an organization involved in MMA.

Gaspire Diatta, 28, a local champion, a real estate agent in the city, says he has been wrestling since the age of 5. He turned to MMA a year ago and said that he had been approached by detectors.

"I see myself champion in two or three years," he promises.

Saturday's tournament was to be broadcast via streaming, a first for Senegal. "Millions of people will discover Senegal," says Fernand Lopez.

© 2019 AFP