German MMA Fighter Abeku Afful Attacked as 'Gym War' Escalates

Top-ten German middleweight Abeku Afful was left hospitalised after a group of at least five masked men stormed his Hamburg-based MMA gym.

Top-ten German middleweight Abeku Afful was left hospitalised after a group of at least five masked men stormed his Hamburg-based MMA gym and attacked him with knives, a machete and a baton according to an eyewitness' accountrelayed to German MMA website GNP1.de.

I will forewarn you—be careful when clicking on the above link. The pictures of a bloodied Afful are distressing and are most definitely not work safe.

According to the same report, a main artery and a tendon in Afful's leg have been severed in this savage attack. As a result, Afful was rushed to the local hospital where he underwent emergency surgery due to the significant blood loss incurred. The surgery went well and the 35-year-old middleweight is no longer in a critical condition, but will remain in intensive care for the foreseeable future.

Despite losing by way of TKO to Anatolij Baal in his last outing in April, Afful was training in the Nexus Fighter Academy gym ahead of what was due to be his next fight on a small show in Bremen next Saturday. Afful was attacked when he was training on his own after the majority of his students had left the building according to witness testimony.

The German report says a man named Ismail C. has been arrested in relation to the attack and this is believed to be Ismail Cetinkaya— a member of rival gym MMA Hamburg. The witness identified Cetinkaya by his voice and his stature.

This is only the latest story that has emerged from the simmering tensions between Afful, Cetinkaya and their respective gyms. Cetinkaya, who is a relatively big figure in the German MMA scene for his publicised anti-ISIS and anti-extremist views, was formerly Afful's head coach at MMA Hamburg. But, Afful left to join the Nexus Fighter Academy, which has since found success of its own. Tensions had simmered since with accusations made against Afful of poaching gym members and coaching staff from Ceinkaya's gym.

Like with many other western European countries, MMA's growth in Germany has been hampered by negative news stories and government intervention. The UFC's first event in Germany, UFC 99 back in 2009, was met with uproar from the German press—leading to the banning of minors from attendance.

MMA as a whole was soon banned from being broadcast in Germany altogether in early 2010 ahead of the UFC's second visit to the country. The Bavarian state office for new media (BLM) revoked the UFC's broadcast clearance and forbade all live events and any other additional MMA programming from German television. The official reasons cited were as follows: "The committee deems that television formats characterized by this extent of violence shown to be unacceptable and a breach of taboos like punching a downed opponent."

The UFC still held their 2010 event in Germany despite the lack of German broadcaster and they have since returned to the television sets of the country. However, incidents such as these will gain negative traction against MMA in a country whose government has already decried the sport.

Update (May 21,2016): In an earlier version of this story, Nexus Fighter Academy was mistakenly refered to as Hammerbrook Gym. We regret this error and apologize for any confusion this may have caused.