Paris (AFP)

A major step forward: the Ministry of Sports on Monday launched the first step towards the legalization of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in France with a call for applications from the federations to take charge of this extreme combat sport.

After years of resistance, France is in the process of recognizing this discipline which has long enjoyed a sulphurous image in the Hexagon because allowing kicks, fists, knees and elbows, as well as ground strikes, throttling and keys inside a closed chamber (the octagon).

But with nearly 40,000 practitioners in hundreds of clubs and global development under the impetus of the powerful US professional league, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), it became difficult for the government not to regulate this growing phenomenon, France being the last great country to ban this sport on its soil.

"It's a reality that exists today with a very diverse audience, women, men, children, adults from all walks of life and we can not deny it," said Sports Minister Roxana Maracineanu at the press conference launching the call for expressions of interest (AMI) from the federations. "We must not remain in hypocrisy, so it was important to encourage the marriage of MMA actors and a federation."

Concretely with the launch of the MAI, the interested federations will be able to hand over by 27 September their files which will be studied by a jury of qualified and independent personalities in charge of giving an opinion to the minister. Between December 2 and 6, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) will also announce its position before a final decision scheduled for December 31.

- "Towards a consensus" -

The chosen federation will thus obtain from 1 January 2020 a full and complete delegation for two years on the amateur and professional components. This will be the end of a decade of battle between MMA actors in France and successive governments.

The middle of the Mixed Martial Arts hexagonal had been particularly scalded by the decision of the former Secretary of State for Sports, Thierry Braillard, who had taken in October 2016 a decree clearly prohibiting any competition, despite a parliamentary report advocating progressive legalization. But after the election of Emmanuel Macron as President of the Republic in May 2017, the former Minister of Sports Laura Flessel had begun the turning point, which includes Roxana Maracineanu, the current Minister.

According to a source familiar with the matter, five delegate federations are candidates to host the MMA: kick boxing and muay thai, karate, wrestling, judo, French boxing, and an affinity federation: the Sports Federation and Gymnastics of Work (FSGT).

"We want marriage to be balanced on both sides, and in this MAI we have set conditions for MMA actors and federations to reach a consensus," the minister said. on the thorny issue of ground shots and the octagon.

- Redistribution -

Roxana Maracineanu also said that in the MAI there was a "reflection around a redistribution of resources from the professional environment to the amateur world, as is done in football, for example".

This decisive step towards the legalization delight in any case the middle of the French MMA.

"We are finally heard and heard," said Zarah Fairn, the only French contracted with the UFC. We are in the process of finding a system to accommodate this discipline. It is very important for the next generation to be able to carry the French flag, to be able to fight in France and to have the status of sportsman of high level. It will also help to reduce prejudices about our discipline. "

"It happened 11 years before that time and we took shots.The minister had political courage, because there is more to lose to accept the MMA than the opposite," said Bertrand Amoussou, President of the French MMA Commission (CFMMA), which is a pioneer of this sport in France.

? 2019 AFP