A new world champion was crowned on Saturday in France as Bampara Kouyate defeated Jakub Rajewski from Poland with a unanimous points decision. The bout was contested in the middleweight division (72.5KG) and was held at the Palais Des Sports Robert Charpentier as the grand finale of the FFKMDA IFMA National Championships.
Bampara paved his way to his world title opportunity as French national champion, IFMA medalist, and WMC European champion before finally getting the chance to face ranked opponent, IFMA gold medalist and 6x national champion Jakub Rajewski from Poland in a world championship bout.
The fight started with both athletes exchanging well blow for blow. In round 2 Bampara stepped it up landing some clear blows and low kicks which began to show on the Polish fighter’s leg. Although Bampara was ahead on the scorecards due to strong body kicks and evasive counter striking it did not deter Jakub who kept moving forward continuously throughout the match.
At the end of the five rounds, the bout went to the judge’s scorecards in favour of Bampara much to the delight of his many friends and family members who had turned up to represent him in the audience.