Felista Mugo: Kenya’s mixed martial arts pro fighter going places

“But that was before the teargas,” Mugo, now 26 years old, told Nation Sport with a chuckle, referring to the ugly incident in January 2015 when police lobbed teargas at pupils of the school protesting the grabbing of their playground by a private developer.

Being a Girl Scout at Langata Road Primary School had Mugo envisioning a career that would have taken her further up Langata Road to Langata Barracks.

“I dreamed of joining the Kenya Defence Forces then. I thought I would fit there because I was a Girl Scout,” Mugo said. “Even my grandmother used to tell me that I would become a police officer,” she added.

Neither happened. She ended up becoming a mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter.

“I never saw this coming. I did not think this would become my career,” Mugo, who studied baking and pastry in college, said.

After completing KCSE at Kithyululu Secondary School in Kibwezi, Makueni County, Mugo started practising kenpo karate for self-defence. She became so good at it that it had Local Fight Night Entertainment (LFNE) believing that she could be better at something else – mixed martial arts (MMA).

“LFNE is a MMA events promotion company based in Kenya. After noticing how I had dominated Kenpo Karate, they asked me to give MMA a try, and I decided to go for it. That was in 2021,” Mugo said.

By this time, Mugo was also a two-time Tong-IL Moo-Do Mombasa Open champion, and she proved LFNE right by winning her first two amateur contests – both unanimous victories against Peris Githeka. The second of those fights culminated in her being crowned the LFNE bantamweight champion.

Her third fight introduced her to a steep learning curve after she lost her belt following a second-round technical knockout loss to Ugandan Rebecca Amongi.

The switch to MMA demanded Mugo become an all-around fighter. She needed more in her arsenal than just kenpo karate kicks and hand strikes.

“I needed to be adept at boxing, kickboxing, and grappling. I started training on those skills, and I shared some videos of myself training on my Instagram,” Mugo said.

The videos caught the attention of Yadad Moser, who contacted her on Instagram, requesting to become her coach. Moser, alias Yakuza, is a Congolese MMA coach. He is one of the managers of the respected Elite Training Centre, an MMA gym based in Lubumbashi, DR Congo.

“Elite Training Centre is the home of the best MMA fighters from Africa, and it has won several awards. Moser once won the African MMA Manager of the Year Award,” Mugo said.

Yet, before Mugo became aware of the reputation of Moser and Elite Training Centre, she was skeptical of Moser’s interest in training her.

“I took almost one year before I replied to his message and finally agreed to join him and his team in Lubumbashi,” Mugo said.

But even before she set foot in Lubumbashi, DR Congo’s second largest city, Mugo fought with her number one supporter – her mother.

“My mother has never been comfortable with me fighting. Even now, she still fears for me. She was against me going to DR Congo to join Elite Training Centre, but she is now my biggest supporter. She supports me by buying me fighting equipment like gloves, taking care of my medical expenses, checking on me constantly, making sure I am eating well … you know … she is always just being a mother,” Mugo said.

Hopes for growth

Still, Mugo’s hopes for the growth of MMA in Kenya could see more Kenyan girls getting into such conflicts with their mothers.

“I hope we get more female fighters from Kenya in the coming years. The sport is still growing in Kenya, particularly through the efforts done by organisations like Nairobi Jiu-Jitsu Academy who are making it more well-known. I hope the government, through the Ministry of Sports, can get involved.

“I am not even sure if they know about MMA in Kenya,” Mugo said as she ended her statement with a laugh.

“We need more gyms and training facilities in Kenya. We also need more fans at our fights,” Mugo added.

Mugo’s comments on what is needed to spur the growth of MMA in Kenya could easily qualify as the blueprint used by countries that have achieved remarkable success in the sport like Russia, where the nation’s president Vladimir Putin frequently promotes the sport.

Countries like Russia use the success of their fighters in MMA events to project national pride. Similarly, Mugo is aware that as a lone ranger in the field, her success means so much to Kenyans.

“I want to make Kenyan proud and raise the Kenyan flag high. Whenever I am fighting in the ring, that is what I think about. I never want to let Kenyans down. They support me so much, and they are so kind to me,” Mugo, nicknamed “The Young Queen”, said as she reflected on her unanimous decision victory over Ugandan Annet “Rose” Kizza on her Professional Fighters League (PFL) debut in Pretoria, South Africa, on April 10.

The win improved her professional record to six wins, two losses, and one draw.

“I was so happy with the win because I had trained so well. I really wanted to make a statement,” Mugo, who fights in the strawweight category, said. “The PFL is a big platform. It is only second to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). I want to make it to the UFC one day,” she added.

At 52.9 kilogrammes, Mugo fought Kizza while slightly above the contracted weight for the preliminary card fight, 52.2kg.

Her three previous fights – a draw against Congolese Sephora Kiala and wins over Jannet Acquah (Ghana) and Merit Nwaji (Nigeria) – were fought at 56.7kg in the flyweight category. Her two fights before that – victories over Faith Chidimma (Nigeria) and Aneesha Mayman (South Africa) – were fought at 52.2 kilos in the strawweight category.

The win against Mayman was her second as a professional fighter.

It followed up on her victory over Nigerian Precious Okoh in a flyweight bout fought at 56.7 kilos. Mugo’s first two fights – against Kiala in the flyweight and South African Nicola van Wyk in the strawweight – had ended in defeats.

Switching between fights in the flyweight and strawweight divisions demands a lot physically from Mugo.

“Normally, I am 60kg, but getting ready for fights can mean shedding four to eight kilos, and that does not come easy,” Mugo said.

A normal day for Mugo involves four two-hour training sessions, lots of naps, and eating the right food.

“I go for runs in the morning. I have strength and conditioning training in the afternoon, and sparring sessions in the evening. I take a nap to recover in between the sessions,” Mugo said.

When not training, Mugo enjoys hiking or taking nature walks. “It calms me,” she said.

When she is done fighting, Mugo hopes to establish her own training facility in Kenya to support the sport's growth in the country.

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