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Rumour has it that in Nairobi’s downtown city centre is a highly organized multi-million underground fight club whose fighters are people of short stature. They are a rare breed of hard core fighters having undergone years of intense training from the time they were 5yrs of age. They are sponsored and managed by an elite group of wealthy individuals to take part in similar fight clubs across the globe and have titles to their names.

Little is known about them till now….

Concept / Photography / Osborne Macharia

Props + Costume design + talent scout + Production / Kevin Abraham

MAU + Special Effects / Sheetal Patel

Hair Stylist / Richard Kinyua

Designer / Hannah Wanjiru

Illustrator / Jeffrey Onyango

1st Assistant / Victor Ndalo

2nd Assistant / Sarah Marie

Videographer / Jose Muigai

Videographer’s Assistant / Murage Masolia

Character Story / Morris Owahh

MANGALITOS

Height: 140cm

Weight: 52 kgs

Finishing Move: Spinning Back Ng'oto!

No one knows where Mangalitos came from, but everyone knows he has lived in the ring longer than anyone else in the Mengo underworld. He was among the First Ten, an elite group that founded the Mengo Fight Clubs. Now he strides across the underworld as the only person to have ever held all championship tiles. With his fading eye sight, his precious lantern is what guides him home.

Mangatos' fighting is a mix of moves, including a whipping move with a chain tied to his right ankle. His finishing move is a sudden "spinning back ng’oto.”

DUDUS

Height: 132cm

Weight: 45 kgs

Finishing Move: Rain of Pain!

Dudus is the rain of pain! She is armed with a heat-seeking fare (sling shot) and an insatiable thirst to inflict pain on all her opponents. In the ring, Dudus is incredibly fast and tirelessly focused. By the time she begins the rain of pain, the fight is already over.

First introduced to the ring when she was 10, Dudus is a legend in the Mengo underworld. She is the reigning world champion; her path to victory colored with the screams of her opponents.

MREFU

Height: 141 cm

Weight: 44.23kgs

Finishing Move: Vibare soo!

Mrefu is the immediate former world Mengo champion. He first got into the fight club when he was 5. He spent his entire first decade getting beaten, until he picked a fight with Mende, then the champion of the ring.

Songs are still sung of how Mrefu the Brave finished off Mende the Beast with a blindingly fast volley of slaps delivered by a hand covered with a metal chain. Mende never saw them coming, and he never recovered from this defeat. Actually, to this day, no one has ever recovered from "Vibare soo!", Mrefu's finishing move.

SONKO

Height: 130cm

Weight: 38kgs

Finishing Move: Bladaa!

No one knows where Sonko came from but one day, he sneaked into the Mengo ring and asked for an opponent. Quiet, focused, and fluid in the ring, Sonko moves like the fight is a dance. He has held the world championship three times in his decade in Mengo, and is most famous for his finishing move, "Bladaa!" It is a sneaky club attack that forces the opponent to back away instinctively, giving Sonko the chance to head butt them so hard that they lose consciousness.

SKETCHES

The visual aids that helped us visualise the project.