These Portraits of One Handed Dambe Fight Club Fighters Are Unreal

Last Updated on 08/19/2016 by Chris Gampat

All images by August Udoh. Used Under Creative Commons License. 

If you are looking for Brad Pitt or Edward Norton you have come to the wrong place, but stick around, because these portraits of Dambe Fight Club fighters are unreal.

Dambe fighting is a type of boxing that originated with the Hausa people of West Africa. It was traditionally fought between butchers, and is uniquely fought with just one hand. August Udoh is a photographer out of Lagos, Nigeria and his series Dambe features some incredible photojournalistic portraits of fighters in a local Dambe fight club.

“…traditional boxing fought by butchers, fought with one hand though…lovely sport.” Udoh says of the events. The single hand, as seen in the images, is usually the right hand – though left handers fight as well. The fighting hand is protected by being bound with rope or string/twine, creating the iconic look of a Dambe fighter.

The black and white portraits that Udoh created feature a very dark, contrasty look with beautiful tone. It gives a look and a feel to these portraits that goes wonderfully with the subject matter. You can find a selection of the images below, but make sure to check out Udoh’s full gallery over on Behance for the rest of these amazing documentary portraits of his local Dambe fight club.