Ready for more – Hinda
World Champs await
The 2022 African featherweight champion Veja Hinda is ready to add more medals to his case.
Born and raised in Windhoek, mixed martial arts fighter Veja Hinda says he is looking forward to the World Championship now that he has won a gold medal in the featherweight division. Hinda won the medal at the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation recently, defeating South Africa’s Nicolaas Vermaak.
The Namibian said he has been training for almost two-and-a-half years. He said this accolade means that people will start noticing Namibia.
Hinda, who is studying law, was in an all-boys school and went searching for a sport that could help him defend himself when he came across MMA. When interviewed by international media he said: “I am not the biggest of guys out there, so everybody was much bigger, much heavier. And at an all-boys school, everybody wants to be the alpha male, so I felt like I had to do some sport or something to learn self-defence. So, if anything ever comes my way, I’ll be able to defend myself."
Irishman Conor McGregor was on the rise when Hinda was researching the sport and it made him an instant fan.
“I started doing some research, and at that time, Conor [McGregor] started peaking. That’s when I started following him. I was thinking, who is this guy? he’s winning all his fights and talking so much, and he was a featherweight at the time too.”
He reminisced how he was inspired by watching McGregor fight.
“I was like, “man, I’m more or less the same weight as this guy. I feel like I’m gonna do this. I can do this.”
He further added that before the World Championships next year, he will be competing in the Desert Storm competition in July, as well as the King and Queen of the Mat competition from 2 to 4 September.
-Additional information IMMAF.ORG