Local MMA fighters, Coach Part of Team Canada’s Best Ever Results in Indonesia
Two local MMA fighters and their coach have returned from the MMA World Championships in Jakarta, Indonesia, having contributed to Team Canada’s best ever results at the event.
Hannah Horner and Brock Pinder represented Team Canada as athletes in the 70kg and 61 kg weight classes, respectively, while Brent Fryia served as head coach for Team Canada at the Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts (GAMMA) World championships in Jakarta from December 10th to 14th. Locally, Horner and Pinder train at Steel City MMA in Sault Ste. Marie, while Fryia is the owner and head coach of Steel City MMA.
Horner opened the tournament with a dominant unanimous decision win over Fadi Omrani of Algeria, before falling to defending champion Kelly Hamming of the Netherlands in the quarter final. Hamming would go on to repeat as champion.
Pinder dropped his opening match via submission to Juan Cruz Ramallo of Argentina.
Team Canada finished 6th overall in the standings, the highest ever for a Canadian team at the event, and came home with three medals, the most ever by a Canadian team at the World Championships.
Danielle Lentini claimed Canada’s first ever world championship gold medal, winning the 52kg division, defeating fighters from the USA, Uzbekistan and Thailand en-route to gold.
Amanda Gans and Willow Morton both secured bronze medals at 61kg and 57kg respectively. Morton, who now lives and trains in Toronto also has a local connection, having grown up and attended high school in Sault Ste. Marie.
“It was a great result,” said Fryia “We wanted to put together a small team that we knew would be competitive for Canada’s return to the World Championships, and it worked out.” Fryia also spoke to the resilience of the team. “Things were not in our favour, having travelled farther than any other team, dealing with jet lag, the extremely hot and humid conditions in Indonesia, having to make weight every day, it was a real grind”.
Despite the obstacles team Canada was able to perform above expectations “We were competitive in every fight, and managed what a few people would consider big upsets, although in our minds they weren’t upsets.” explained Fryia.
Focus for the Canadian team now shifts towards the 2025 World Championships in Sao Paolo, Brazil.
“The goal is definitely to finish in the top five” says, Fryia regarding sending a team to the 2025 Championships.
Source: Steel City MMA
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