Bahrain to host IMMAF Championships

A press conference has been held for the BRAVE International Combat Week and the World Championships Amateur Mixed Martial Arts.

The conference was attended by Abdulrahman Sadiq Askar, Assistant Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports and Secretary General of the Bahrain Olympic Committee. Kerrith Brown, President of the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF), Denzin White, CEO of the IMMAF, Khaled Al-Khayat, member of the Higher Organizing Committee of the World Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Championship, and CEO of (KHK MMA) Mohammad Shahed spoke at the event.

Kerrith Brown, President of the IMMAF, pointed out that the championship is of great importance because it is the first to be held outside Las Vegas, and especially because it exceeded all previous record numbers achieved in the last three tournaments, he also pointing out the great momentum of the players expected to give the championship a bit of excitement and challenge in the bouts. He expressed his thanks and appreciation to the wise leadership in the Kingdom for the great support that this game had received. He also expressed his thanks and appreciation to His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, stressing that the great cooperation between them will contribute to the success of the championship, spreading the game, and confirming its global standing.

Denzin White, CEO of the IMMAF, expressed his admiration regarding the preparations for the championship in the Kingdom, especially the gym in the Khalifa Sports City Stadium, and the main hall which he assured would help in achieving the success of the tournament. He praised the Kingdom of Bahrain's interest in the championship and live TV broadcast, which has not happened in the last three tournaments, stressing that this will give the championship and the game great momentum, and will contribute to it spread and the formation of a wider following. White added that The International Federation has submitted two requests to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to join them, hoping that MMA will be an addition to the Olympic games in 2028.

Head of the Bahrain Mixed Martial Arts Federation, Khalid Al-Khayat, said that the Bahraini team will participate in the tournament with (16) fighters and (2) female fighters, pointing out that the Bahraini team will be have a strong presence in the championship and is expected to achieve advanced positions. He said that 51 countries will participate in the tournament, the number of male fighters is (214) and (40) females.

Bahrain, Lebanon, Tunisia, Jordan, And Egypt are participating in the competition. Many delegations arrived including British, Australian, Finnish, Irish, Mexican, Northern Irish, Tunisian, American, Colombian, Czech, Swedish, and other delegations, in addition to senior officials of the International Federation.

Source: BNA