Via The Parisien online, Monday 21 Sept. 2015, 13h10.
Translation of French article: http://bit.ly/1KuCcZI
How was it that an evening of MMA (mixed martial arts), a prohibited combat sport in France, was held on Saturday night in downtown Paris? An administrative investigation was launched on Monday by the Secretary of State for Sport, Thierry Braillard, to understand the reasons. “One thing is certain, these fights should not have happened” said a member AFP firm, Mr. Bawler on Monday, “and it is impossible that they had been declared (at the point of the application for authorization – ed) as being MMA bouts.” Besides the administrative investigation which “should go very quickly”, the Secretary of State for Sports also announced upcoming tighter regulation of combat sports shows. It should in particular be more complicated for private organizers to obtain permits to mount combat sports competitions without the support of sport federation delegates. MMA is a discipline that combines the techniques from all martial and combat sports ( judo moves, various boxing strikes, submission wrestling and jujitsu). Unlike “mixed fight” bouts, MMA is illegal in France. The Sports Ministry refuses indeed its authorization to any applicant under a section of the Sports Code which prohibits sporting events “affecting the physical and moral integrity of the participants.” An MMA competition was held on Saturday evening at the Cirque d’Hiver in Paris. It included ground strikes, which are prohibited by this article of the Sports Code and featured fighters in a cage which is also forbidden. [/spb_text_block]]]>
