An extraordinary sports season has come to a close for Fight for Peace, with our athletes reaching new heights of skill, recognition and success. The 2025–2026 season has been nothing short of action-packed – a year of firsts, thrilling skills and decision bouts, and a growing number of competitors across our combat sports programmes.
With 16 competitive athletes in both boxing and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), 15 in muay thai, four home shows, four Championship and Box Cup titles, more juniors stepping into competition, and the launch of several new women-only sessions, there was plenty to celebrate. We caught up with our Sports Manager, Silvino, to reflect on a remarkable season.
“It’s been a busy season to say the least! We’ve had loads of different young people competing, and on multiple occasions, so they got a fair opportunity to showcase their skill across the season. For a lot of the athletes it was their first time competing, so to have two or three bouts in their first season is great.
Looking back to the beginning of the season, our coaching team wanted to have a good winning percentage – we set a target, but it wasn’t really based on anything, it was mainly due to the fact we thought the number will represent us performing at a level that we’d be happy with, and that number was a 60% win ratio.
We ended up with a 61% win ratio for our boxing team, 77% in MMA, and 100% in muay thai, whereas our win ratio last year was in the low fifties for boxing, and unfortunately we didn’t have any bouts in muay thai, or MMA. The year before that [2024], for boxing was really low around the forties. We’ve progressed in leaps and bounds, and that’s a really proud moment for us.
What makes me happy in regards to boxing is, not only are we progressing, but we’re also entering our competitors into bigger events and harder matches to challenge them more, so to still end up with such a high win ratio is really good considering the level of opposition they’ve been facing.
At the beginning of the season, our goal was simply to get to one Box Cup tournament. Instead, we exceeded every expectation. By January, we’d already won two championship titles, doubling our original target. We then set ourselves a new ambition of winning four titles by the end of the season – and achieved it.
Junior boxer Davene was crowned New Era Box Cup Champion, Hashim claimed the London Intermediate Championship at the Regional Championships, while Ranow and Junior Fight for Peace boxer Kenzo both secured Midlands Box Cup Championship titles, marking a remarkable season of success for the team.
It was great to see our juniors out there winning titles, as we always want to increase the number of our junior competitors. When it comes to long term progression and goals, that’s going to be what determines what the club is going to look like in the next five years. If you have a good contingency of junior boxers and they progress over the years, that’s usually a sign that a club is healthy and progressing in the right direction.
Our coaches have gone above and beyond for us to get to where we are, giving extra time that they were not getting paid for. Sometimes it can be a bit challenging, and competitors may not always see the vision we have for them. Nonetheless, they put their heads down and rolled with it, and by the end of the season, they understood why we did what we did.
We have a very determined group of athletes who are putting in as much effort as I’ve seen anyone put in before. It’s very easy for a young teenager to wake up and decide to skip training. We’ve all been that age, we all understand there’s a lot of distractions, but 99% of the time our young people are here. Some of them are here six days a week to the point where we actually have to send them home.
They don’t just turn up and go through the motions; they actually turn up with the intention of putting it all into the session. Just based on that, I already know that they’re going to be successful because they’re going to get back what they’ve put in. Long may it continue because we have really, really strong hopes for this group, and the young people that come in after them. They’ve already proven to us how much they can achieve.
It’s amazing watching our fighters win, but it’s not just about the titles. I think what trumps that is watching them progress, going from someone who probably lacks the skills, to be able to compete at tournaments, and believing that as long as they perform to the best of their ability, they have as great a chance as anyone to actually win it.
When we came back from the Midlands Box Cup, young people were inspired by what Kenzo and Ranow did coming back with titles because they’ve seen them grind every day. They see how much effort they’re putting in. Hopefully we get a few more, and those inspire the ones that come after. I strongly believe that we will have another good season next year.”
Aside from our competitive successes, we’re proud to have also increased the number of women-only sessions we offer this year – introducing women-only Fighting Fit gym sessions in October 2024, and now our women-only Brazilian jiu jitsu, which started in May. Each session has been jam-packed, especially the women-only strength and conditioning sessions.
We are incredibly proud of the progress made across all of our sports, none of which could have been possible without the tireless efforts of our coaching teams, and the inspiring athletes that keep on showing up every day. Well done, team! We’re looking forward to seeing what the next season brings.
