As part of the recent policy of revalidation of all referees and judges holding an IMMAF licence, leaders from each continent have been selected to oversee the development of officials in their respective region.
The purpose of the revalidation is to regularly upskill IMMAF officials and also to create transparent pathways for the professional growth of all IMMAF-certified specialists from National level C to Continental level B and International level A.
Bladimir Puga will be the leader for Pan America, and Ferdinand Basson for Africa. Both are long serving officials in the sport with years of experience, and will be instrumental in ensuring the growth for officials in each continent.
Bladimir Puga said:
“The evaluation and development of officials for IMMAF is very important for Pan America. The sport is growing substantially and we can see the results mostly in Latin America. Since the participation of countries like Mexico started competing in IMMAF, we have more interest from young athletes to participate in MMA tournaments, and now we need more certified officials to cope with the demand, but we need to make sure this officials are at the top level to ensure the best competition and continue this positive development of the sport.”
Ferdinand Basson added:
“Africa is a continent of untapped potential, we can see a glimpse of this in the professional arena of the sport, but only through creating a strong accessible amateur division will we be able to reach the full potential.”
