Danish Mixed Martial Arts Association (DMMAF), has achieved the historic goal of seeing that MMA as a sport is fully recognised and regulated by the Danish government. For over a decade a potential ban has loomed over MMA in Denmark, but following a 3 year campaign by DMMAF, mixed martial arts, in addition to all full contact striking sports, will be fully regulated by the Danish government. Going back to December of 2013; a news story hits in Denmark claiming that children and young adults are being allowed to train and fight in mixed martial arts. Before the story could be exposed as misleading it spawned a special committee appointed by the Justice Department to investigate regulation of MMA. In actuality it was a reboot of a subcommittee which existed nearly a decade earlier and came close to recommending a ban on MMA in Denmark. That committee’s work was discontinued in the wake of an election. However, their conclusions formed the basis of the new committee. DMMAF and its president Claus Skjoldborg Larsen successfully lobbied their way to a spot in the new special committee and worked hard to add nuance to the discussions. They invited the members to a show and had the nation’s foremost fighters and trainers explain their profession. After three years DMMAF’s efforts are ultimately successful and a looming ban on MMA is reversed into a national law for regulation of not only MMA shows, but all martial arts contests featuring full contact striking. The law took effect on March 1st 2017. Danny Mathiasen (pictured above, left) represented Denmark at the 2016 IMMAF World Championships of Amateur MMA in Las Vegas, USA. Mathiasen was narrowly defeated by two-time world champion Will Starks after a highly competitive bout was decided by a split-decision of the judge’s scorecards. A full Danish report was published at pov.international. For more information on the Danish MMA Federation visit DMMAF.dk]]>
