- Wednesday 17 – Saturday 20 August 2022
The 2022 Youth World Championships are locked in and ready to go following team check-in. Athletes from the forty-two participating nations registered ahead of the tournament kicking off. Nearly five hundred athletes will compete over the next four days across the multiple divisions.
Many teams visited a UFC Gym Abu Dhabi following registration to get some training done. Two UFC Gyms (UFC Gym MBZ & UFC Maqtaa Mall) have invited all athletes competing in the tournament to train at the facilities throughout the week.
After topping the medal table in 2021, Ukraine returns with the largest team with the hope of topping the medal table once again. The team has fifty-nine entries in total, which includes multiple returning champions and medalists. Since having membership approved earlier this year, Netherlands and Turkmenistan will both feature on the IMMAF platform for the first time.
The finalised list of competing athletes can be found below:
List of Athletes by Weight Division
Youth C action will get the competition underway tomorrow. Three 2021 champions from Ukraine, Polina Kovyrnova, Kira Voliashchenko and Oleksii Bolbochan, will all be looking to add a second consecutive world gold medal. Bahrain’s Saood Salman is also back for a second year after winning bronze last time out. He will be competing in the Youth C 31 kg division.
Rory Barton-Williams will make his IMMAF debut for Wales before his brother, Riley, makes his debut later this week. While Angola’s sole Youth C entry, Mayra Mota Lemos will create history for the nation as she becomes the first athlete to represent Angola at youth level.
Seven athletes will feature for the UAE on opening day. The host nation boasts a squad of twenty-six athletes in total.
Watch the 2022 IMMAF Youth MMA World Championships for 12 to 17-year-olds live from Abu Dhabi from the 17 – 20 August at immaf.tv.
The full schedule for Day 1 of the 2022 Youth World Championships can be found here.
