MMA Gym Dojo Stormed by Five Men Armed with Machetes

taskesrb · #1 ● 06-19-2017, 06:30 PM

German MMA site GNP1.de has reported that a horrific dojo storm took place in Hamburg on May 18, 2016.

Most of the students had left the Nexus Fighter Academy run by 4-3 MMA fighter Abeku Afful. Only a handful of students were left to witness the vile, cowardly, criminal act that was to follow.

At least five masked men armed with knives, clubs and a machete entered the gym and went to a room where Afful was training alone for a fight scheduled in Bremen, Germany, on Saturday. They attacked Afful, leaving him with life-threatening injuries so severe that looking at images of it is cautioned.

Witnesses identified the attacker via voice and stature as Ismail Cetinkaya, 34, a 7-4 MMA fighter, who runs the MMA Hamburg gym. Cetinkaya and two accomplices were reportedly arrested.

The motive is bizarre, despicable, and pathetic.

The red light district in Hamburg has seen battles for control that involved martial artists, boxers, and biker gangs, but that does not appear to be the cause.

Cetinkaya is known in the MMA community for his opposition to ISIL and radicalism generally and for his MMA victory over Deso Dogg the former German rapper who now fights for ISIL in Syria. However, this incident doesn’t seem to have any connection to political radicalism.

According to people familiar with the local scene, it was over gym rivalry.

Afful was apparently a former student of Cetinkaya’s, who broke away to form his own successful team. A female coach at Cetinkaya’s team was reportedly training at Afful’s gym. Both the female coach and Afful had reportedly been threatened via text message. Please note, none of this has been confirmed definitively.

Afful then reportedly asked a promoter to set up an MMA fight with his former coach Cetinkaya. That is never going to happen.

Afful underwent emergency surgery for a severed artery and tendon from the machete attack, and his condition is no longer life-threatening, but he remains in the ICU.

The UFC is holding an event in Hamburg on September 9. Mixed martial arts has faced significant opposition in Germany, and the UFC has for years worked hard to educate the public, business leaders, and politicians about the sport. This disgusting incident will hopefully not undo all that work.

First picture Ismail Cetinkaya (attacker)
Second picture Abeku Afful (victim)