GUYANA’S Mixed Martial Arts team will depart tomorrow for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital of Abu Dhabi, where they will join athletes from over 50 countries at the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) World Championships.

Corwin D’Anjou, one of the six athletes representing Guyana at the January 24-29 event, believes that though the Land of Many Waters is not known for producing top fighters in the Octagon, the athletes are determined to give a good account of themselves.

Renowned Judoka, Sensei Bruce Fraser will turn to D’Anjou, his most prized fighter at the Championships and who has a number of MMA bouts under his belt.

D’Anjou’s amateur MMA history saw him only lose once in four outings, while winning the other three via submission. However, he admitted that with national pride on the line, Guyana can expect nothing but his best while in Abu Dhabi.

The black belt judoka said the team had worked hard during their preparation with Sensei Fraser and Sensei Troy Bobb, while pointing out that they’ve done almost everything possible to have a positive result when they get into action.

“I wouldn’t go into details in terms of our preparation because the World is watching, so we’ll allow that to be a surprise, but just know that we’re well equipped; we worked very hard and we will not take this opportunity lightly,” D’Anjou said.

D’Anjou will compete in the Men’s Welterweight (77.1kg) division, while Webster McRae will suit-up in the Middleweight (83.9kg) category.

Ijaz Cave and Akeem Fraser will throw-down in the Men’s Light Heavyweight (93kg), Christopher James in the Heavyweight (120.2kg), while John Campayne will measure-up in the Super Heavyweight (300kg) division.

Meanwhile, with Guyana making their debut at an IMMAF World Championship, president of the Guyana Mixed Martial Arts Federation (GYMMAF), Gavin Singh, believes the country’s presence alone in Abu Dhabi, is an accomplishment.

In fact, Guyana will be the only country from the Caribbean present in the UAE, since Singh highlighted that Trinidad and Tobago had to withdraw after their representatives recently tested positive for COVID-19.

Singh revealed that Guyana’s up-coming participation in their first IMMAF World Championships is a manifestation of almost two years of planning, with the GYMMAF using the opportunity presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He pointed to the GYMMAF accreditation to the IMMAF; something Singh labelled as “a lot of hard work and dedication”.

“Because of the accreditation, Guyana now have the opportunity to participate in the World Championships moving forward and in the near future, the Olympics. We’ve been working vigorously with the Guyana Police Force Martial Arts Academy, Phoenix Jujitsu Club to ascertain the quality of athletes we’re sending off to represent our nation,” Singh said.

Several companies came in for praises from the GYMMAF, particularly Banks DIH, Bounty Farm, Akbar Inc, Sandcorp Development, Zoon, Universal Travel, WR Services, Eureka Labs, Acarai Properties and Northwest Securities.

The aforementioned companies, according to Singh, played a major part in helping to make the team’s trip to the UAE a success.

Hosted by the UAE Jiu-Jitsu and MMA Federation, with the support of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and in partnership with Palms Sports, the senior and junior national tournaments are to take place at the Jiu-Jitsu Arena in Zayed Sports City, near UFC Fight Island (Yas Island).

The event will be broadcast live globally on immaf.tv.