In 2016, a boxing champion turned mixed martial arts (MMA) pioneer made a bold decision that would reshape the Eastern Cape’s sports landscape.
Ivan Strydom, born and raised in Gqeberha, decided to create opportunities that did not exist — launching Chosen, an amateur MMA promotion designed to keep local talent from having to travel to Johannesburg to gain experience.
Nearly a decade later, as Genesis Fight League hosts its historic first professional level main event in the city on Saturday at Centrestage at Baywest Mall, the story of Strydom’s journey reveals much more than just the evolution of one event.
It is also a testament to personal reinvention, regional pride and the power of community investment in sport.
Strydom’s story begins not in the cage, but in the boxing ring.
Born into a family of boxers — his father and brother both competed — Strydom started amateur boxing in 1994 at a young age.
The boxing scene in then-Port Elizabeth was thriving at the time, with clubs such as the Kuma Club hosting regular amateur competitions over weekends.
It was a golden era for combat sports in the city.
By the early 2000s, Strydom had established himself as a formidable heavyweight.
He claimed the Eastern Cape heavyweight professional title and climbed the national rankings, reaching number four in SA, an achievement that put him on track to compete at the highest levels.
However, injury and alleged administrative corruption within boxing proved frustrating.
After suffering ligament damage and watching opportunities become politically compromised, he stepped away from professional boxing in 2012, but his appetite for combat sports remained.
The transition was not smooth, however.
When Strydom signed with Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC), Africa’s biggest MMA promotion, he discovered that boxing alone was not enough.
For a boxer accustomed to technical ring work, the multi-disciplinary demands of MMA represented a steep learning curve.
Despite fighting for EFC for several years, Strydom struggled to adapt to a sport that required not just striking ability, but also wrestling, jiu-jitsu and kickboxing proficiency.
This struggle would become the foundation for everything he would later build.
Understanding first-hand how difficult it was to transition between combat disciplines, Strydom recognised the lack of opportunities for Eastern Cape fighters to develop those skills locally.
He ultimately stepped back from his own fighting career, but not from the sport.
“The Eastern Cape wasn’t always the underdog in South African MMA,” he said.
“There was a period in the mid-2010s when we were feared on the national stage.
“Fighters from Gqeberha would travel to Johannesburg and win, building a reputation that made the Eastern Cape a name to respect.
“I want to bring that standard back in the amateur scene.
“The contrast is stark. Johannesburg boasts approximately 100 MMA gyms. The Eastern Cape, including Gqeberha, has four or five.
“When Eastern Cape fighters compete nationally, they’re not just facing opponents, they’re competing against a disparity in resources and training opportunities.”
In 2016, Strydom opened a gym and fight promotion company named Chosen.
Its mission was to create consistent, affordable opportunities for Eastern Cape fighters to compete without leaving the province.
“I also wanted to create more opportunities for the amateurs to come through,” he said.
The Chosen gym quickly became a haven for fighters as Strydom cultivated an environment where young people, some with no prior combat sports experience, could develop across the disciplines of wrestling, kickboxing, boxing and jiu-jitsu.
When he could not teach a discipline himself, he brought in specialist coaches — and the results were remarkable.
Between 2016 and 2019, Chosen held seven events that built a name for Gqeberha’s amateur scene.
Strydom worked with 16 fighters who earned provincial colours and five who earned national colours.
Most significantly, these achievements happened in a region with one-fifth the gym infrastructure of its nearest competitor.
Strydom later served as the chair of the Eastern Cape regional subcommittee under the executive board of MMA SA.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, Strydom and his team decided to pause Chosen to focus on sustainability, stepping back to reimagine the promotion’s future.
His wife, Chanry, then took the helm, with Strydom ultimately focusing on curating the fighter card line-ups.
By 2023, Chanry realised that creating something entirely new might be more feasible than attempting to resurrect Chosen.
Thus, Genesis Fight League was born.
What started as an experiment — combining white-collar boxing events (amateur boxing for non-professionals) with MMA fights — quickly exploded in popularity.
“At our first event, we were expecting about 150 people,” Strydom said.
“To our shock, when we opened the doors that night, 450 people arrived.”
The hunger for local MMA events was undeniable. The community had missed it, he said.
Genesis Fight League now features amateur fights on the undercard unveiling emerging talent, while the event itself builds momentum towards the larger showcase matches.
The event on Saturday, the 10th since its inception, represents a watershed moment as it is Genesis Fight League’s inaugural professional level main event.
Two established professional fighters will headline the card, bringing years of experience and legitimate MMA credentials to the Eastern Cape.
For young amateurs on the undercard, watching them compete is not just entertainment, it is a visible pathway to their own futures.
“The amateur-to-professional pipeline that Genesis can facilitate is crucial,” Chanry said.
“Fighters need to build records, prove themselves against multiple opponents and accumulate the experience that professional organisations require.
“Every amateur fight is a stepping stone.
“Genesis has become the institution that provides those stepping stones in the Eastern Cape, keeping talented fighters active and engaged while they prepare for the jump to professional competition.
“Now it’s not only Gqeberha competing, it’s also the wider Eastern Cape.
“We even have buses coming in from towns as far as Nxuba. “
Saturday’s amateur preliminary card features 14 fights, including competitors from across the Eastern Cape.
For Strydom, the main event carries particular significance — his return to the cage in more ways than one.
In March 2022, he faced Willem Smith at EFC 92 in Johannesburg in what should have been a competitive heavyweight bout.
Instead, the fight ended abruptly in the opening round when Smith threw a low kick that Strydom checked perfectly by planting his foot firmly to the ground.
The technique resulted in Smith’s leg breaking on impact, snapping in half in one of the most horrific injuries seen in SA MMA that year.
Strydom, showing the discipline and restraint that defines professional fighters, simply stepped back as the referee intervened.
There was no celebration, just the sobering reality that his opponent was seriously injured.
This Saturday, Strydom and Smith will meet again.
For Smith, dubbed “The Viking”, it is an opportunity to prove that his bionic leg (as he jokingly called it during recovery) has made him stronger than before.
For Strydom, it is a chance to test himself against an opponent he never truly got to face in a full contest.
“Neither fighter wanted that outcome,” Chanry said.
“This isn’t about revenge or settling scores — it’s about two professionals getting the chance to actually compete and show what they can do.”
The match represents the perfect headliner for Genesis’s first professional-level main event — two experienced fighters with genuine history bringing legitimacy and stakes to the Eastern Cape cage.
For Genesis, which has operated primarily in the amateur space, this signals a maturation of the promotion itself.
The headliner proves that professional fighters want to compete here, that the production standards can support pro-level bouts, and that the Eastern Cape audience is hungry for world-class MMA action.
The fights start at 4pm.
Tickets are available online via Quicket or at the door.
The Herald
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