Vuyisile Colossa

Vuyisile Colossa (born 28 June 1982) is a South African professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer, a 5-time world champion in kickboxing and Muay Thai.

In 1999, he won the BIG Five Championships and came second in the Free State Championships.

He then achieved second place in the 2000 SA Championships.

In 2001, Colossa came third in the SA trials in Pretoria and was awarded his national colors.

As a result of this success, he was chosen to represent South Africa in Vienna, Austria.

He has been a professional competitor in kickboxing since 2002 and a professional MMA competitor since 2010.

Originally from the mining town of Welkom, Thabong in South Africa, Colossa was active in sports growing up.

At Leseding Technical School, Colossa competed in baseball, cricket, basketball, and rugby.

Two years later, Colossa moved on to THS Welkom where he also began competing in hockey.

At the age of 15, Colossa began training in kickboxing.

Colossa finished in third place in the Free State Championships and was granted a spot on South Africa's first team.

He then went on to win a bronze medal in the South Africa Fighting Championships.

In 2002, he made his professional kickboxing debut.

Colossa won his first two titles: South African Full-Contact Kickboxing Championship and the Ring Contact Fighting Art International Welterweight Kickboxing Champion Title.

He received the Premier's Youth Award in Bloemfontein.

He was honored by the department of Sport, Arts, Culture, Science and Technology for his exceptional achievement in the field of sport.

In 2003, he was crowned the South African Professional Kickboxing Council Champion, Muay Thai Champion and was also the runner-up for the W.A.K.O. Professional World Championship.

Later that year, he attained his first degree black belt in Ring Contact Fighting Art.

In 2006, he was the runner-up of the King of the Ring World Title, and then went on to make his debut in K-1 Khan Fighting in South Korea.

In 2008, Colossa competed in various major events in Asia.

He faced Naruepol Fairtex at Planet Battle in Hong Kong in June 2008 and Yodsaenklai Fairtex at Planet Battle in November 2008.

In 2009, Colossa competed in I-1 World Grand Slam in Hong Kong in October and I-1 Grand Extreme in Macau in November, coming second in both four-man tournaments.

In January 2010, Colossa took part in his first reality TV show in Enfusion: Test of the Champions in Koh Samui, Thailand.

Later that year he won the Wu Lin Feng Golden Dragon Belt at King of the Ring Eight-man Tournament in Zhengzhou, China.

Colossa made his professional MMA debut in May 2010.

He began his career with a record of 4-1 with his only defeat being a controversial decision loss to URCC Welterweight Champion Eduard Folayang.

In June 2011 he became a contestant on The Challenger Muay Thai, where he won the Muay Thai Against Drugs belt against American Michael Chase Corley, during the series finale.

The show was broadcast worldwide on AXN in September 2011, and continues to show on international networks around the world.

At the end of that year he competed once again in I-1 Grand Slam four-man tournament in Hong Kong, this time emerging victorious with the belt.

In September 2011, it was announced that Colossa had signed a 3 years contract with ONE Fighting Championship.

He fought Ma Xing Yu at ONE Fighting Championship: Champion vs. Champion at the Singapore Indoor Stadium on 3 September, winning via stoppage early in the opening round.

After the fight, Colossa announced that he wanted to fight for the One FC lightweight belt.

On 3 April 2012, Colossa fought against the notable Muay Thai fighter Saiyok Pumpanmuang in the semi-finals of the WMC tournament.

He faced Lowen Tynanes at ONE Fighting Championship: Return of Warriors in February 2013.

He lost the fight via rear-naked choke submission on the dying seconds of the third round.

Colossa rebounded with a series of wins in his two most recent appearances in ONE FC; he defeated Kotetsu Boku by decision in September 2013 and Caros Fodor by decision in December 2013.

Outside the ring, Colossa founded and held several IMPI World Series since 2014 with live coverage from NowTV Sports, gaining the reputation as Hong Kong's Original Caged MMA event.

In June 2014, it was announced that Colossa has signed with the UFC.

He was expected to make his debut for the promotion on 23 August 2014 at UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Le.

However, a bout on that card never materialized and it appeared that he had a contract with ONE Fighting Championship that was due to expire in late September 2014.