[London. 7 February 2020] The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) and the Comité Français de Mixed Martial Arts (CFMMA) welcome today’s official announcement by the French Ministry of Sport that MMA is to be legalised in France under the auspices of the French Boxing Federation.
IMMAF President Kerrith Brown commented:
“The official announcement is a crucial step on the path to creating a dynamic MMA structure in France. IMMAF will continue to supply constructive support and advice to all the MMA stakeholders.”
IMMAF Board Director and CFMMA Co-President, Bertrand Amoussou said:
“After many years of commitment and hard work by MMA activists in France, it is a major milestone that the French Sport Ministry has recognised our sport. We are now looking forward to working hard, and in a unified way, to ensure that the structures set up to govern MMA work as well as possible.”
The decision concludes a tender launched by the Ministry of Sports in 2019 to decide under which federation the sport’s governance would be developed to enable the legalisation of MMA in France. In France, by law, all sports must be governed within the structures of a government recognised federation and meet specific administrative criteria over a number of years. The interim housing of MMA within a comparative sport’s structures has allowed the Minister of Sport to fast-track the legalisation and regulation of MMA, while MMA’s stake holding organisations within the country are still in a developmental phase.
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Main image: Antony Fresno Eyssette wins a match for France in the 2019 IMMAF World Championships
