Costa was born on July 1, 1985. Costa went to Saheti School in Linksfield, where he matriculated.
At a young age he started out his MMA career with Karate, and slowly moved into Wushu Kung Fu. He trained for 5 years, but his passion for boxing grew strong and slowly became involved in MMA.
Having several years of training Ioannou’s two preferred method of offense in the MMA competition is commonly referred to as “Clinch or Dirty” Boxing or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. These techniques involve close-quarter Boxing including elbows and knees or ground work techniques to establish a dominant position on the mat. Although this method was Costa’s strength he also demonstrated a variety of skills in both Muay Thai and Ground and Pound.
Ioannou has a non-competitive corporate gym in Linksfield, where he teaches MMA. He lives in Bedfordview, Johannesburg and he fights under the banners of Fight fit Militia and Crazy Monkey Defence.
In 2010, at the age of 25, Costa made his debut into the EFC Africa (Extreme fighting Championship) where he defeated Brendon Katz in the Lightweight division. The fight was awarded best fight on African soil to date.
Costa then scored a submission victory against William Bentley, where he earned his first Lightweight title fight in April, 2011 after his match against William Bentley. On April 14th, 2011 Costa took the Lightweight title from Wentzel “the Animal” Nel.
|