By Caoilte de Barra
Upon the conclusion of the 2022 IMMAF pan American Championships, FAMM (Federacion de Artes Marciales Mixtas Equidad y Juego Limpio) hosted their national championships at the Gimnasio Nuevo León Independiente in Monterrey from June 24-26. Tournaments for youth categories A, B and C were contested as well as a competition for junior and senior participants.
There was plenty of positive energy around the arena after Mexico topped the medal table at the Pan American Championships. They collected twenty-three medals in total, six of which were gold. Some of the athletes that competed at the continental championships also competed at the national event.
Isabel Sierra Martinez and Itzel Tamara Alfaro Martinez were amongst the crowd of Pan American medalists to compete in the national event. Isabel Sierra Matinez added a national flyweight gold medal to her list of accolades, defeating Lupita Soto Miranda in the final. The win rounded off a major few days in her amateur career.
Itzel Tamara Alfaro Martinez impressed immensely at the Pan American Championships, bringing eventual winner Josiane Oliveira to a split decision in the final. For the national championships, she entered the junior bantamweight bracket and overcame Obdulio Yuliana Garcia in the final to take gold.
Returning to action for the first time since the MMA SuperCup, Jorge Cobos Marin was the best in the bantamweight division, taking gold. After failing to advance at the Worlds in January, Marin was one of the standouts in the tough team that Mexico sent to Bahrain for the MMA SuperCup.
In the youth categories, athletes from Nuevo Leon took home three medals, two gold and one bronze. Orlando de la Cruz and Cristian de la Cruz were the two gold medalists. Orlando topped the under 57kg division in youth B while Cristian was the best welterweight in youth A. A full list of medalists from the National Championships can be found here.
Mexico has been riding a wave of momentum throughout this year and has just successfully hosted two competitions back to back. They now turn their attention to the Youth World Championships in August and hope to send a large team to the event.
