{"id":24753,"date":"2025-10-17T09:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T09:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kick442.com\/?p=24753"},"modified":"2025-10-17T09:21:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T09:21:56","slug":"emilios-dassi-keeps-calm-ahead-of-pfl-africa-semifinals-in-kigali","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kick442.com\/fr\/emilios-dassi-keeps-calm-ahead-of-pfl-africa-semifinals-in-kigali\/","title":{"rendered":"Emilios Dassi keeps calm ahead of PFL Africa semifinals in Kigali"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Angu Lesley Ngwa Akonwi<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>Football Writer,kick442.com-Cameroon<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Cameroonian featherweight Emilios Dassi is preparing for the biggest fight of his young MMA career, but he is taking a markedly different approach from many of his peers \u2014 one grounded in calm and focus rather than emotion or strategy against his opponent.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 22-year-old will compete in the <strong>PFL Africa semifinals<\/strong>, which take place in Kigali, Rwanda, featuring 22 fighters from across the continent. Among them are five Cameroonians: Maxwell Djantou, Octave Ayinda, Emilios Dassi, Alain Majorique, and Emmanuel Mukam \u2014 all part of the new generation of African mixed martial arts talent. Winners of the semifinals will advance to the finals in Benin this December, where the <strong>first-ever PFL Africa champions<\/strong> will be crowned.<\/p>\n<p>For Dassi, the key to success is composure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI haven\u2019t spent time studying my opponent,\u201d he says. \u201cI focused on myself \u2014 watching my past fights, identifying mistakes, improving. That\u2019s what will show in the cage.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The fighter views pressure as weakness. \u201cIf you\u2019re under pressure in the cage, that\u2019s weakness. You have to keep your calm,\u201d he explains. Every move, from punches to takedowns, is executed deliberately \u2014 controlled, efficient, and focused.<\/p>\n<p>Adding to the high stakes, Dassi will fight <strong>in front of his mentor and idol, Francis Ngannou<\/strong>, the former UFC heavyweight champion and a key figure behind PFL Africa. But for Dassi, the presence of Ngannou is not intimidating \u2014 it is motivating.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFighting in front of my mentor is not pressure but motivation,\u201d he says. \u201cKnowing that he\u2019s watching gives me confidence and joy. I can\u2019t afford to make mistakes, so I stay really, really focused.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unlike fighters who thrive on emotion or trash talk, Dassi treats the cage as a mirror. \u201cKeep calm. Stay focused. That\u2019s how I fight,\u201d he adds. His approach underscores a growing professionalism among African MMA athletes, many of whom are beginning to make their mark on global stages.<\/p>\n<p><strong>PFL Africa: A platform for African MMA<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>PFL Africa is part of the <strong>Professional Fighters League<\/strong>, a global MMA organization known for its unique \u201cwin and advance\u201d tournament format. The league, which broadcasts to 190 countries through 20 media partners, has rapidly grown into a major international sports platform, backed by high-profile investors and team owners across major leagues.<\/p>\n<p>For Ngannou, the league represents more than business: it is a homegrown opportunity for African talent to showcase itself on African soil. \u201cSeeing fighters like Emilios Dassi grow and compete at this level is exactly why we started PFL Africa,\u201d Ngannou has said.<\/p>\n<p>As the Kigali crowd prepares for the semifinals, all eyes will be on fighters like Dassi, whose calm under pressure could prove to be their most potent weapon.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Copyright\u00a92025 kick442.com-Cameroon<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>All rights reserved. This material and any other digital content on this platform may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, written, or distributed in full or in part, without written permission from our management.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>This site is not responsible for the content displayed by external sites<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Angu Lesley Ngwa Akonwi Football Writer,kick442.com-Cameroon Cameroonian featherweight Emilios Dassi is preparing for the&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":24754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,38,224],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-lions","category-mma"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.1.1 - 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