Africa’s Next MMA Big name? Reug Reug Prepared to Assemble His Tag at ONE on TNT

Senegal’s Oumar Kane—better known by the nickname “Reug Reug”—may maybe per chance be the next colossal thing in mixed martial arts. 

The 29-year-earlier heavyweight will peek to purchase one more colossal step in direction of that quit within the opening bout of Wednesday’s ONE on TNT 1 card, when he takes on Iran’s Mehdi Barghi. It is surely the absolute best wrestle of his wrestle sports occupation so some distance—but indubitably no longer the principal mission he’s confronted. 

Reug Reug used to be born in Thiaroye-sur-Mer—a suburb of Dakar that subsists totally on the fishing alternate. While many of his neighbors made their livings off the postcard-noteworthy Senegalese wing, he selected a certain path.

At 16, he started practising “mbapatte”—a grappling-essentially essentially essentially based martial artwork created by Senegal’s Seereer of us heaps of of years ago. He swiftly parlayed these talents into a occupation in “lutte avec frappe,” a create of wrestling that enables punches—and Senegal’s national sport.   

“In Senegalese wrestling, I had about 15 fights, and I received them all,” Reug Reug informed Bleacher Document, speaking in Wolof thru his supervisor and translator, Laity Sene o Mbellonguithie.

No subject his success as a wrestler, Reug Reug continuously began to feel the pull of one more sport: mixed martial arts. While an MMA occupation equipped opportunities for bigger paydays, he says his main motivation to swap sports used to be a straightforward admire for wrestle. 

“I am somebody who loves wrestle sports, so I made up my mind to shift from Senegalese wrestling to MMA,” he said.

Once he’d committed to transferring to MMA, Reug Reug got to work discovering out the unfamiliar system of the sport—submissions, kicks, knees, et cetera. He admits it used to be a tough transition.  

“There may maybe be heaps of variations between MMA and Senegalese wrestling,” he explained. “In Senegalese wrestling, as soon as your opponent is on the sand, it is the quit of the wrestle. Here in MMA, it’s fully various. You proceed punching, going for the submission or the TKO.”

Earlier than prolonged, Reug Reug used to be scheduled for his first fee MMA debut. That debut occurred under the Ares FC banner, within the Senegalese capital of Dakar, where he took on the greatly extra skilled Sofiane Boukichou.

No subject his expertise deficit, Reug Reug made his debut peek easy, reducing his foe to fracture inside of two minutes.

“I am extremely chuffed with my pro MMA debut in Senegal,” he recounted. “We worked very tough to take that wrestle.

“I was chuffed to wrestle in my home nation. I did not feel any stress, although it used to be in my nation. I was already earlier to representing the nation [as a wrestler].”

Reug Reug’s pro debut used to be spectacular ample that it resulted in a life-altering phone name from Singaporean martial arts promotion ONE Championship. There used to be minute hesitation on his fragment: He signed on the dotted line, joining belief to be likely the most absolute best promotions in wrestle sports. 

“I was very contented and extremely chuffed to sign with ONE Championship,” he said. “It is miles a extensive organization. I am constantly thanking them for giving me the opportunity to wrestle for them.”

Reug Reug made his debut with ONE Championship in boring January. He used to be welcomed to the promotion by Hong Kong-essentially essentially essentially based Cameroonian Alain Ngalani, a ancient muay thai champion with hundreds of expertise in MMA. 

The first minutes of that wrestle were tense, because the two giants circled one one more, attempting to attach their distance and timing. Because the spherical neared its conclusion, alternatively, Reug Reug exploded into motion, bulldozing his foe to the bottom, and finishing him off with a meteor bathe of ground strikes. At the four-minute, 32-2d tag, the referee determined he’d viewed ample.

That victory over Ngalani space Reug Reug up for a honest bigger space—his impending showdown with Barghi. It is miles never a likelihood he’s taking lightly. 

“Practising is my job,” he said. “Each day I am coaching.

“I am praying for God to offer Mehdi Barghi properly being till the day of the wrestle,” he added. “Then every person will ogle how tough I’ve been working.”

The expectation is that if Reug Reug wins his wrestle with Barghi—in particular on a platform take care of TNT—he’ll purchase one more step in direction of MMA superstardom. Genuinely, comparisons to Nigeria’s Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman, and Cameroon’s Francis Ngannou—all UFC champions—already feel inevitable.

Reug Reug admits he attracts inspiration from these men, alternatively it’s no longer his draw to apply of their footsteps. As a replace, he intends to surpass them altogether.

“I take care of them,” he said. “I take care of how they wrestle, and your complete effort they’re hanging into the sport, but I must enact extra. I must enact bigger than they’re doing. I am staunch at wrestling—every person knows that. I must become as staunch at MMA as I am at wrestling.

“I may maybe per chance be the ONE heavyweight world champion, and I will reduction the title for bigger than 10 years. No one will beat me.”

These are lofty aspirations from a fighter who’s level-headed staunch 2-0 in MMA, but a colossal take on TNT will spin a prolonged map to proving they’re achievable. 

That’s exactly his unbiased.

“The day of the wrestle, every thing that Mehdi comes with, I will beat,” he said. “I will earn the beget, and it couldn’t purchase a actually prolonged time.”