Kasib was born in Dunedin May 15, 2001 and has been raised by his mother.

He has two brothers Shem and Damon with Shem being his older brother and also an active combat sports fighter and training partner of Kasib.

Both Kasib and Shem have been supported throughout the fight careers by their mum and Kasib tells me she does this because she knows how important the fight game is to him.

From supporting them in the ring and cage to taking care of them at the family home and being there for them through the tough times that comes with their hard training and being a fighter, no one knows them better and about all the sacrifices and commitment they have put in to achieve their goals than their mum.

While fighters all to often have to make sacrifices and to some degree be somewhat selfish their mum is self-less when it comes to taking care of her boys and is their rock.

The hours of training Kasib and Shem rack up and the related smelly sweaty and sometimes bloody laundry and fight food requirements I would imagine would be a full time undertaking and they are very fortunate to have such a supportive and loving mother .

Kasib started out training in jujitsu at school then progressed onto Olympic style wrestling at our Combat Sports School New Zealand initially under the coaching of Alan Rolton and later under the current head coach Caleb Steven.

Shem made sure his younger brother got to and from training multiple times a week and had all the training gear he needed.

Kasib showed tremendous promise right from the start of his wrestling training and in fact at age 10 years and only two weeks into his wrestling training he competed for the first time at the Otago wrestling championships.

Kasib had hundreds of wrestling matches winning provincial titles as well as secondary school titles and New Zealand titles.

While wrestling at our Combat Sports School, he also begun his training in Muay Thai boxing under the then coach Blake Tomlinson. Around the age of 13 years he started training at HammerHead MMA where he also began his boxing training.

He has also competed in submission grappling winning gold at the mana championship and is currently a puple belt in BJJ training under Benoit Auvray

Matt Toa the head coach at HammerHead MMA was his MMA coach and along with Caleb Steven they both still train him today.

He was trained in boxing by one of our Combat Sports School former boxers and coaches Tony Maitland along with Brian Usher and Andy Gillies.

Kasib was a very handy young boxer and proved himself winning North and South island Golden gloves titles as well as an Australian Golden gloves title.

In his 43 fight amateur boxing career he took a silver medal at the Oceania Championships in Australia and was selected and competed at the youth Olympics Argentina in the under 60 kg class.

After the youth Olympics he took a break from training as he was fatigued to the point of being burned-out. Several months later, feeling revitalised he returned to wrestling under Caleb at the Combat Sports School and MMA under Matt Toa at HammerHead MMA.

Matt and Caleb jointly train and manage Kasib and this has proven very effective and works well.

His first MMA fight was in Auckland for an Australasian title against Liam Forest which he won.

He got to fight in his home town for his second fight against Carlisle Cooksley winning by a unanimous point’s decision.

I asked Kasib about any really memorable fights so far in his MMA fight career and he was quick to say fighting Jason Sun from City Kick boxing Auckland at Hammer head in Mosgiel.

Jason was cornered by CKB head coach Eugene Bareman and UFC middle weight world champion Israel Adesanya. Kasib won by a unanimous points decision against a formidable fighter in Jason.

Kasib kicked off his international fight career as part of a New Zealand MMA team in a team challenge event in Bahrain where he won his fight followed by fighting at the Oceania Championships in Brisbane where he defeated both an Australian (Anthony Pascalis) and a New Zealand fighter (Prashanth Guda) to take out the title.

After a seven fight winning streak he was selected for the New Zealand team to compete at the world amateur IMMAF championships in Serbia in the featherweight division.

He had to fight five fighters over six days starting with the Irish entry who he managed to suplex more than once and defeated by a unanimous points decision. Although the Irish fighter was a seasoned grappler Kasib managed to dominate him by means of superior wrestling skills.

Kasib puts a lot of his MMA success down to his wrestling prowess and especially to his coach Caleb Steven, which he describes as having so much knowledge not only in coaching and training but also in techniques development and often techniques development or variants for individual wrestlers or fighters to fit with their mental and physical make ups.

Kasibs second opponent was from Germany and he defeated him by means of a wrestling head and arm winning by submission.

Fight number three was the number one seed from France and Kasib managed to defeat him by a majority point’s decision.

Fight number four was a unanimous point’s decision over the Belgium fighter achieved by some sound ground and pound even though his opponent was good at fighting off his back and once again it was Kasib’s wrestling that proved the difference.

Fight number five the final was against a crafty Portuguese fighter (Alex Rita) very skilled in grappling but as previous this opponent couldn’t match Kasibs wrestling prowess that he combined with his striking to produce another unanimous points decision win taking his first world amateur MMA title.

Our founder the late Harry Baldock back in the early 70s told me that in my life time wrestling would rise to be a dominating part of combat sports training and this has been evident with some of the former wrestlers that have won world MMA titles.

All that wrestling training Kasib has endured and all the competing on the mat are truly paying rewards with his MMA career.

The plan is now to defend his world amateur featherweight title in November after which he will most likely turn professional.

His brother Shem has not only been a major part of his success by means of supporting him from when he was very young but has cornered him and is one of his sparring partners.

There is major opportunity coming up for Kasib through our connection with Dr Steffan Eriksson and Alexander Volkanovski.

Kasib will fly out for Australia in May to train at Joe Lopez Freestyle MMA gym and will be there for part of the Alexander Volkanovski training camp for his upcoming UFC world feather weight title defence against Yair Rodríguez.

This very special opportunity to train with the UFC’s world feather weight champion and best fighter pound for pound is something Kasib has always wanted and wished for. His ambition is to strive to achieve what Alex has achieved in being a UFC world champion.

At 22 years of age he has taken titles in wrestling boxing grappling and MMA and is a hard trainer dedicated to being the best he possibly can be. He is a quiet lad that lets his actions in the ring cage and on the mat speak for his determination and skills.

Being a feather weight that first competed in wrestling like Alex, he could not be more fortunate in being part of Alex’s training camp and is relishing the chance to learn and assist in any ways he can with Alex’s training camp.

This is like a dream come true for Kasib and it was hard for him to believe that he would be training in camp with Alex as part of his training for his upcoming title defence.

He will get experience in training the professional way and this will give him an indication of where he is at and what he needs to do when he turns professional.

Kasib’s greatest attribute would have to be his desire to win and willingness to train to win no matter how arduous it may be. Combine this with his high level of wrestling capability, boxing and his grappling capabilities and he brings to the sport a wide range of the required skills needed to win.

He is clear in his understanding that wrestling is his favourite combat sport and a big part of his winning in MMA by providing a sound base and rock solid physical capabilities that have also enhanced his tough mind set.

He is fortunate to be trained at both Combat Sports School and HammerHead MMA where he gets the benefits of both Matt Toa and the Hammer Head team as well as Caleb Steven and the Combat Sports School team.

Caleb Steven has gained a reputation not only as a very good competitor and coach but also as a developer of skills that enable fighters to have tools that work best with their individual physical and mental make ups.

Combat Sports School is part of the Todd Group, formerly the Baldock Institue established 1927 which is not only NZs oldest private specialist training provider of our European military elite close quarters combat and self-defence but the global longest such training provider.

The Combat Sports School wrestling and Jiu Jitsu are two of the oldest training providers of these codes in NZ with a 96 year history.

We have produced many champions over more than nine decades in combat sports and look forward to Kasib’s future career.

Members get their training from the HQ source where tactics and skills are developed and Caleb has come up through the ranks and applies the same dedication to developing combat sports skills.

He has taken his previous wrestling experience and unarmed combat experience from being around the headquarters where skills are developed and used some of the principles and practices to develop skills for his fighters.

This has proven a major advantage for Kasib getting skills adapted specifically to fit with his attributes and needs to achieve wins.

Combined this with the training from Matt and the team at Hammerhead MMA including the preparation and fight plan specifics and Kasib really does have the best of both worlds by being jointly trained and managed.

Having Matt and Caleb in his corner has proven very effective with them working well together and both having his best interests at heart.

He also has had the good fortune to train with some of the top fighters at Hammerhead MMA including Brogan Anderson, Taylor Garrett, Mitch Kelly, Jonas Grace and his brother Shem.

At the Combat Sports School Connor Middleton has been a top grappling and wrestling partner for Kasib especially in the grappling division with his high level grappling capabilities and achievements. Kasib is an apprentice carpenter and works for Connor’s family building company and Connor and his father have been very helpful assisting and supporting Kasib.

Working towards his trade as well as being an active fighter is testament to his smarts and willingness and shows sound work ethics.

The world amateur Championships was an event and environment with five MMA cages and fighters from all over the world that did not overwhelm Kasib but has only made him hungrier to achieve even higher accolades.

The upcoming first stint over in Australia as part of Alex’s fight camp is a dream come true as Alex is someone that he has looked up to and admired for some years and he could not have a better role model.

He will get to experience the professional fighter work ethics of Alex who is renowned and respected for his uncompromising physical fitness and mental toughness.

What could be better than training with the professional world’s best and UFC pound for pound best in your weight division?

This will be a unique opportunity for Kasib to get a taste of top line professional MMA training and he intends to give it his very best, learn everything he can accept all the training challenges and assist in the training camp in any and every way he can.

I would like to thank Alex and Joe for making this training opportunity possible as well as Dr Steffan Eriksson for his assistance and all the Todd Group members that have made donations that have made this training trip that much easier for Kasib.