MUMBAI: The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation hopes that the sport will get a place as a demonstration sport in the 2028 Olympic Games, to be hosted by Los Angeles.
IMMAF president Kerrith Brown says the selection of Los Angeles as host city is significant “because it has the power to elect non-Olympic disciplines into the Games as demonstration sports, and it is under this banner that we would expect MMA to debut.”
The federation, which is the international governing body for the sport, represents MMA’s stakeholders across 68 nations worldwide.
The federation is optimistic about the sport being included in the 2028 Olympic edition because MMA is a mainstream sport in the US and has a significant media, commercial and political presence. “MMA is recognised under state laws there and in LA it is regulated lawfully under the Californian State Athletic Commission,” adds Brown. MMA competitions, on the other hand, are outlawed in France. “While we will continue lobbying in France and for inclusion in 2024, I am more confident about MMA’s inclusion for 2028,” he says.
Adds IMMAF board director Tom Madsen, “To unveil ‘Olympic’ MMA in the USA would be to present it in the sport’s modern birthplace, from where it grew up and got big, the place with the highest density of MMA fans in the world. Sports fans world over deserve to watch this unique sport, in a well-regulated format, in the Olympic Games.”
