“Federazione Italiana Grappling MMA” (FIGMMA) is working hard to create a new breed of champions; men and women who also seek victories at the arena, but using their hands and feet instead of swords and shields. In its five active years, the Italian MMA federation, FIGMMA (Federazione Italiana Grappling Mixed Martial Arts) has travelled a long way and can boast a long list of goals achieved so far. They have brought sponsors to the sport, organized numerous competitions and continuously worked to gather teams and athletes around the country. After earning medals at the 2014 IMMAF World Championships, Italy now seeks to reap even greater rewards at the next Worlds. As the quest for improvement goes on, FIGMMA also has to break different barriers in order to excel. Soon, their new “gladiatori” will be entertaining the public once again, but this time on a worldwide scale. IMMAF journalist Caio Lemos interviews Vito Paolilo, Vice-President of FIGMMA. How would you rate 2014 for FIGMMA? 2014 was a positive year for FIGMMA. We received official recognition from IMMAF as the member representative for Italy; continued to grow in our number of affiliated teams and athletes; and sent a National Team to the World Championships in Las Vegas to achieve one gold and three bronze medals. Can you list some of the main achievements of FIGMMA since its foundation? Since its foundation in 2009 the achievements of FIGMMA are a few. During 2014, for Italian MMA FIGMMA has: – Continued to organise instructor and referee courses; – Renewed the contract with its technical sponsor Everlast and Under Armour; – Renewed its contract with a national TV channel for the broadcasting of FIGMMA events; – Organized the 5th Italian Championship of MMA and 4th Italian Cup of MMA. – Brought its best athletes to the Trials for the IMMAF World Championships that took place in Sassuolo on 6th April. (FIGMMA athletes won 5 out 6 of the spots on the team); – Completely covered the expenses for the National Team to take part in 2014 IMMAF World Championship where Italy won one gold and three bronze medals; – Regulated several Professional MMA shows and organized several Amateur MMA competitions across the country; – Achieved international recognition from IMMAF in October; – Continued to perform random Anti-Doping tests during competitions; – Affiliated 120 teams and 2622 licensed athletes; Which have been the major obstacles the federation had to deal with so far? Initially, IMMAF’s intention in Italy was to try to unite all the different organizations that promote MMA in the country under a newly formed umbrella (ITMMAF). This project eventually failed due to the backing out of all the other organisations when it came to financing the trip for the National Team to compete in the 2014 IMMAF World Championships. In general, the major obstacles for a non-profit National Federation are mainly economic problems. Being able to send the National Team to international competitions with the expense fully covered, and organize a full calendar of events, courses, and so on, is a very difficult task. After participating in the first IMMAF World Championships of Amateur MMA, what are Italy’s expectations this year’s edition? We hope to improve our medal score of last year, bringing more gold back to Italy. What do you feel has been the biggest lesson FIGMMA has learned through its past challenges? During IMMAF’s World Championships, the superiority was clear in the standard of athletes from countries where Amateur MMA regulation was already close to the rule set used by IMMAF. Athletes from the USA or Sweden were more experienced in fighting in the cage with rules closer to the Unified Rules of MMA. After that, we decided to give our athletes the opportunity to gain the required experience by developing a level of qualifiers under IMMAF rules for our team trials. This would make our athletes better prepared to fight under IMMAF rules, having had several such matches in their background. Looking forward, what are the plans for 2015? What’s coming next for Italian MMA? We are currently holding our qualifiers for the final trials for the National MMA Team. Also, we will continue to organize Amateur MMA events and give support to Professional MMA promoters in the regulation of their events. For more about FIGMMA visit: http://www.figmma.it/ Follow @FIGMMA on Twitter]]>
