Following Samoa's performance at a mixed martial arts competition in June this year, the Team Samoa president and his management have returned home to bolster local talent in Samoa.

Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts (GAMMA) and Oceania Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Championship in New Zealand from 9-11 June 2023 saw Samoan martial artists return with a 15-medal haul. 

Coach Felise “The Fob Father” Leniu and his wife Inna Leniu, a gold medalist of the 2022 GAMMA worldwide tournament, have returned to Samoa to establish a first-of-its-kind MMA workshop for aspiring young fighters.

He said that MMA is the fastest-growing sport in the world and it is no secret that Polynesians and Samoans have naturally dominated the sport.

“We have a history of great fighters of Samoan heritage in boxing, K1 and now we have Samoans making noise in the MMA scene on a global platform,” said Mr. Leniu. “Recently Samoa has been represented in MMA on a global stage where we had our very first gold medal in MMA won at the GAMMA tournaments in Amsterdam. 

"We also had a team represent Samoa at the GAMMA Oceania where our team won Samoa a total of 15 medals.” 

The coaching couple hope to ride on this momentum and provide a platform for local fighters to learn and experience the training they provide overseas.

Mr. Leniu is a veteran of MMA with over 20 years of experience in combat sports and MMA, holding the WKBF heavyweight in K1, King of the Door HW champion MMA, Brace HW champion MMA, WKA South Pacific MMA HW champion with over 70 fights ring and cage experience, along with his wife Inna Leniu who is Samoa’s gold medalist in GAMMA 2022.

With all the success that has come to their team, they have decided to give back to their homeland. Together with team members of Team Samoa MMA who made their way to Samoa, they hosted a free MMA seminar last Saturday. The Seminar was designed to accommodate beginners right through to experienced fighters, where they were able to polish and improve the skills of the participants from stand-up striking to ground grappling and wrestling.

They have seen the local talent already growing with the help of local fighter Asomua Saili who holds MMA classes for those interested. They say that they will be back and hopefully for longer to help the local talent grow even more.