PERSONAL INFORMATION
Born: Nkosi Ndebele, South Africa
Nickname: The Future
Date of Birth: October 19, 1990
Weight: 135lb
Division: Bantamweight
Pro-MMA Record: [9-3-0]
EARLY LIFE
Nkosi “The Future” Ndebele was born and raised in Germiston, South Africa. During his childhood, his family moved to Diepsloot, an overcrowded township plagued by poverty and violence . His father passed away when Nkosi was young, and he later lost a sister in 2012 . Despite the hardships, he remained grounded by his church upbringing and found refuge in karate, training to defend himself after experiencing a brutal beating at school.
MMA CAREER
He joined Nova MMA in Johannesburg under coach J.D. du Plessis, transitioning from karate to mixed martial arts. Nkosi quickly excelled at the amateur level, winning national tournaments and gold at the 2017 IMMAF African Championships. He then debuted internationally at the 2017 IMMAF World Championships in Bahrain.
Nkosi signed with BRAVE Combat Federation in 2017 and made his pro debut in December 2018 at BRAVE CF 19 in South Africa. He defeated Ahmed Faress (14–2) by first-round TKO. He then moved up to featherweight and suffered his sole early-career loss to a jiu-jitsu black belt.
Luckily, he had a winning streak from 2019 to 2022 in five straight bouts—four by knockout, one by decision. He soon featured on BRAVE CF 73 where he dropped a split-decision to Jose “Shorty” Torres, losing the vacant bantamweight title. He came stronger at BRAVE CF 80 to avenge his loss by defeating Torres via third-round TKO to claim the Bantamweight World Championship.
At BRAVE CF 82, he successfully defended his title against Torres via unanimous decision. Later in, he faced Nicholas Hwende but lost via unanimous decision following a five-round brawl.
MMA RECORD
| W/L/D [NC] | RECORD AFTER FIGHT | OPPONENT | FIGHT LIBRARY |
| W | 9-3-0 | Mahmoud Atef | |
| L | 8-3-0 | Nicholas Hwende | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4CEWLh4Hro |
| W | 8-2-0 | Jose Torres | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_8aYPhpHZk |
| W | 7-2-0 | Jose Torres | |
| L | 6-2-0 | Jose Torres | |
| W | 6-1-0 | Fajar | |
| W | 5-1-0 | Eduardo Mora | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgxEEZJyI_M |
| W | 4-1-0 | Abdelmoumen | |
| W | 3-1-0 | Zia Mashwani | |
| W | 2-1-0 | Ian Cleary | |
| L | 1-1-0 | Caio Gregorio | |
| W | 1-0-0 | Ahmed Faress |
