- at 2022 BRAVE International Combat Week
- 7 to 12 March 2022, Bahrain
- Boasts largest prize money for an amateur MMA tournament
- IMMAF President comments
BRAVE International Combat week will be, once again, the stage for a milestone for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. During a press conference held this Monday (10) in the Kingdom of Bahrain, it was announced that the 2022 BRAVE ICW will host the very first edition of the MMA Super Cup.
The MMA Super Cup is a new tournament promoted in association with KHK Sports, BRAVE CF, the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF), and the Bahrain Mixed Martial Arts Federation (BMMAF), with 8 teams competing for the title of best nation in the world and the largest prize money ever paid for an amateur MMA tournament.
The press conference announcing the launch of BICW 2022 took place at the Wyndham Garden Hotel, in Manama, and was held by KHK Sports CEO and BRAVE CF President Mohammed Shahid, IMMAF president Kerrith Brown, and the Bahrain MMA Federation Mohammed Qamber.
The participating teams were selected through the IMMAF Senior Global Rankings, with the spots being awarded to the six best ranked countries: Russia, Ukraine, Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Ireland, and Tajikistan. They will be joined by two wildcards, the Balkan Champions and the Arab Champions, in the knockout tournament bracket.
Each team will be composed of 9 fighters (7 males and 2 females), one per weight class. Three alternates, or substitutes, two male athletes and one female, will also be allowed per team.
After the initial draw determining the quarter-finals, each round will consist of 9 bouts between two teams. Each fight will consist of 3, 3-minute rounds. No draws will be allowed, with extra rounds being added until one fighter is the winner if the match ends in a tie. The team with more wins after all fights will be declared the winner.
The four winners of the first round will meet in the semifinals and, finally, the two semifinal winners will compete in the grand final, for the MMA Super Cup trophy and a US$ 100,000 check. The runner-up team will take US$ 75,000 home and the winner of the third-place match will take US$ 50,000. The prize money will be directed to the investment of the respective national federations.
IMMAF President Kerrith Brown thanked His Highness Shaikh Khaled bin Hamad, BRAVE CF President Mohammed Shahid and the Bahrain MMA Federation for their significant investment in and commitment to amateur MMA and talent development. He highlighted the huge potential of the new platform to inspire and further galvanise IMMAF’s national federations and teams, and the role of the ‘wild card’ spots in aiding elite talent from regions where the sport is less developed or where teams are not placing in the top rankings. He described the launch event as a ground-breaking pilot for a new format in MMA that he looked forward to developing in partnership with BRAVE.
The MMA Super Cup is the next step towards the vision of His Highness Shaikh Khaled bin Hamad al Khalifa of reforming the MMA industry, changing its landscape from an event-business to a sports-business under a new model and global regulation and governance.
BRAVE International Combat Week, and the inaugural MMA Super Cup, will take place in the Kingdom of Bahrain from March 7th (arrivals) to 12th (finals). The week-long festivities will include the first edition of the MMA Super Cup and BRAVE CF 57, the first card of the year for the truly global MMA promotion.
