City Kickboxing head coach Eugene Bareman has helped to guide the rise of several of the country’s top combat athletes, including UFC stars Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker and Kai Kara-France and over the past few years, he has been immersed in the continually growing popularity of the sports.
But what has stood out to Bareman is the age at which athletes are beginning to commit to combat sports, and he said that bodes well for the years ahead.
“I have a lot of guys coming through this gym, and it’s not just this gym – I’ve seen a lot of talent coming through New Zealand, who, if those guys in their 30s now had started when these guys are starting now – you’re talking about guys who are starting around 17, 18, 19 and are already very experienced, these guys who are 30 would’ve wished they’d started that early,” Bareman said.
“The sport is at such a place now that you’re able to start at 16, 17, 18 and you’re seeing the benefit of that because these guys of such a young age are already very experienced and very good at fighting and very calm under pressure.
“The future rests on how these young guys are nurtured through to the upper echelons of the sport.”
At the top level, there are several Kiwi athletes who have reached the pinnacle; Adesanya is a two-time UFC champion, Mea Motu and Lani Daniels hold world boxing titles, Joseph Parker held the WBO heavyweight championship, David Light fought for a world title earlier this year, Kai Kara-France fought for a UFC title in 2022, while several local Kiwi athletes are highly ranked in their divisions in top promotions in mixed martial arts and boxing. That follows on from the previous generation which saw the likes of David Tua, Shane Cameron, Ray Sefo and Mark Hunt compete at the top.
Mea Motu holds the IBO super bantamweight world title and is set to defend it in Whangārei in December. Photo / Photosport
Locally, shows are being filled with talented young athletes who are proving themselves as the future of the sport, from boxing and kickboxing to mixed martial arts. That was on show last week in the Arsenal-X fight night – a hybrid event from the mind of King in the Ring promoter Jason Suttie with fights consisting of a different discipline each round.
“What Jason set out to do was rather than fighters having such a hard time finding opportunities like he did in his career, he set out to provide a platform where those fighters can be seen on TV at a national level and then seek a higher level of competition internationally. Without him there would be a massive hole in the infrastructure of the New Zealand fight community.
“With Arsenal-X you can see the way the world of combat sports is moving. it’s definitely dominated by the MMA market at the moment and he’s trying to provide a product that sits between both communities; the stand-up and boxing community and the MMA community, and I think this product has the potential to do that.”
In the main event, rising MMA fighter Aaron Tau beat former King in the Ring kickboxing finalist Dominic Reed via first-round TKO.
“Aaron, at the development stage, is such that he’s ready for the highest level. He hasn’t been there previously in the past, but right now we’ve got him to the point where if he jumps into the bantamweight division in the UFC he can compete with the best guys in the world,” Bareman said of Tau.
“He has some pretty unique gifts in his skillset and now it’s just about managing his career properly and finding him the right opportunity to take that step to the next level, and that’s going to be in one of the bigger promotions in the world. I know he’s got his eyes set on the UFC in particular, so it’s just about managing that and getting him the right opportunity.”
