President Kerrith Brown attended the WAKO Senior and Master World Championship 2021 at the PalaInvent, Palazzo del Turismo (City Sport Hall), in Jesolo Lido (VE) between 20 and 22 October.
The IMMAF President met with World Association of Kickboxing President Roy Baker, the President of the Italian Federation of Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Shootboxing, Savate, Sambo (F.I.KBMS) Donato Milano and national kickboxing representatives from around the world, including from Turkey, Canada, India and the UK where IMMAF also has a significant presence. He also met with kickboxing’s President Nadir Allouache and Technical Director Eric Lepagnoy from France. MMA was only legalised in 2020 in France under the French boxing Federation, although kickboxing had also put forward a bid for the mandate to govern MMA at the time.
MMA and kickboxing share some of the same roots as part of the combat family. But kickboxing is formally recognised as a sport under WAKO by the Global Association of International Sport Federations and has also recently been officially recognised by the International Olympic Committee. With IMMAF engaged on the same recognition mission, and having faced some political opposition from martial arts federations in the past, WAKO’s gesture of friendship and hospitality is very much welcomed by the IMMAF.
President Brown commented:
“It’s been a great honour to attend the WAKO World Kickboxing Championship in Italy and to experience the amazing atmosphere with 16,000 athletes taking part. I’d like to thank WAKO President Roy Baker for his hospitality and time. It was a pleasure to meet the F.I.KBMS President Donato Milano and national kickboxing representatives from around the world, including President Nadir Allouache and Technical Director Eric Lepagnoy from France. I’d like to congratulate Roy and WAKO for an outstanding event.”
While attending the WAKO Championships President Brown also met with Federacion de Artes Marciales Mixtas (FAMM) president, Professor Ubaldo El Zorro Marroquin. The IMMAF national federation will be hosting IMMAF’s Pan American Championship in Mexico in 2022.
The IMMAF President returned to Moscow on Friday to attend Bellator 269: Fedor vs. Johnson on October 23, 2021 at VTB Arena.
