IMMAF board decides to limit continental championships to local athletes at Prague meeting

[Prague. 9 September 2021] Meeting for the first time in person since February 2020, the IMMAF Board of Directors were joined by virtual colleagues at the Hotel International in Prague yesterday.

The Board agreed that with the global amateur MMA scene now booming, IMMAF’s Continental Championships would no longer be open to non-regional competitors starting in 2022.

IMMAF President Kerrith Brown, who chaired the Board Meeting, said: “When we started our continental competition programme almost 10 years ago, we believed that having open competitions would we be the best way to develop technical standards and increase competition opportunities for the best athletes. Today, we believe the sport is mature enough for the continentals to become closed championships, with events such as the World Cup in Prague now offering open opportunities for our best talent.”

With Prague being the third IMMAF competition in 2 months, despite the continuing challenges caused by the Pandemic, the IMMAF Board congratulated the IMMAF staff and contractors for their hard work and set an ambitious target for 2022, where an ambitious programme of events is being finalised.

As well as reviewing the first set of accounts audited by PwC, the Board received a detailed report from the CEO Densign White about the ongoing work on governance. The Board had a progress report on the 2020-2024 IMMAF Strategic Plan, and were also informed that the final compliance application had now been submitted to WADA with a decision expected in the coming weeks.

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