Will the recognition of MMA reshuffle the cards of comb sports?

• For many years, Mixed Martial Art (MMA) has been seen as the ugly duckling of combat sports in France. If amateur practice was tolerated, the organization of official competitions was prohibited.
• With this announcement, the MMA will finally be able to structure itself in France and catch up on other countries in the world.
• Referent of MMA in France and president of the national commission, Bertrand Amoussou deciphers with us the possible positive repercussions for his sport.

Fans of Mixed Martial Art can blow up the champagne. After years spent in the shadow of other so-called "respectable" combat sports, MMA, black-listed and very badly perceived in our country (France was one of the last countries in the world to ban its official competitions) finally sees the end of the tunnel.

By authorizing his entry into the fold of the French boxing federation, the Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu, opened the door to legalization in good and due form. In the meantime, this partnership will continue until the end of the 2020 Olympics, after which, according to the ministry, a "new delegation campaign will start for the period 2021-2024".

What is your first reaction after the announcement by the Minister of Sports?

One word: finally! It is a struggle that lasted almost 16 years. Meanwhile all the successive ministers have passed the hot potato. It was a long crossing of the desert. Today, it is the culmination of all this thanks to two women, Laura Flessel, who initiated the movement with the creation of the MMA observatory and Roxana Maracineanu who took up the torch. We have been able to explain and convince over the years that MMA was not just two people entering a screened space to fight, but that it was also educational values. I'm glad we were heard. But the process is not finished because the CNOSF has yet to give its opinion. We therefore remain cautious even if we feel that we are there. We will finally be able to work normally.

What has been the hardest part, fighting against the bad image of MMA or the fact that certain people, certain governments or certain federations have put you in the way?

The two are linked. What was hard was to feel a deep injustice. When you are in the midst of MMA, you see the efforts made by all the actors, by the combatants, their dedication to go and represent France in the four corners of the world in order to be more recognized elsewhere than at home us, it's hard to live. We will finally gain a little respectability. Regarding the undermining work of lobbies, some who spoke of our sport in rather deplorable terms, all this in order to defend their meadow square, they did us a lot of damage because in the eyes of people we had already lost all credibility. Behind it was complicated to come up with structured files and to say that we had a real educational project for MMA.

Antigang, low blows and lack of courage ... Before (perhaps) legalizing MMA, the State did everything to put it K.-O. https://t.co/12IypKfEEw pic.twitter.com/aYAGAsjIOf

Was this reluctance in good faith or the fear of a leak of licensees to your sport?

Both. But I am not revengeful. I would like to believe that it was in good faith but that does not justify everything. What annoyed me at one time was that these people had never really learned, that they were stuck on preconceptions, on prejudices. Which does not prevent me from having a humble victory despite everything.

What will it change very concretely for MMA in the days or weeks to come?

Structuring, quite simply. The establishment of licenses, training for coaches who can finally have their diplomas recognized. Because even if this type of training was already provided and the content was consistent, the paper that was delivered to them at the end had no value. Besides that, there is competition: we will finally be able to organize competitions, set up French championships and organize professional galas such as those of the UFC or Bellator [the two biggest promoters of fights of MMA to the world].

MMA legalized, soon huge galas 😍

Is it a good thing to end up with boxing? We know that MMA is also very close to the fight.

These two federations indeed seemed to stand out. The fight seemed closer to MMA if we are talking about pure technique but the most important for the ministry, it was not so much the technical similarity side but the capacity of a federation to direct and encompass all aspects of MMA. Boxing must have been preferred because its federation is the only one to integrate the professional side of the practice.

They are also the rare federations to have supported you in the past.

To be honest, for a very long time we were alone. You have to understand that when you represent a sport like MMA, the ultimate goal is to become an Olympic sport. When we are there we fight to stay there and when we are not there, we fight to enter it. Consequently, the MMA is not necessarily welcomed with open arms because it becomes in fact a direct competitor for all the other federations. But the federations realized that the normalization of this sport was inevitable, they understood that it was better to open the door rather than fight us. The goal now is to move forward together, to build a win-win contract between the MMA and the federation that will welcome us.

Has France fatally lagged far behind other countries?

Yes and no. We have lagged behind everything that is professional competition, on the other hand, the fact of having had to fight to exist means that we have taken a lot ahead of everything that is training, technical development. We are the country which proposed the most adjustments to take into account all that is educational MMA. The other countries never focused on this, they were focused on the competitive aspect. We, to exist, to gain the right to recognition, had to rethink a new form of MMA. On this we are ahead. It is evil for good, therefore.

Cyril Diabaté told us "the day it will be legalized, a market will be created and there will be an extraordinary boom". Do you agree with that?

It's a big market that will open up, but I wouldn't go so far as to speak of a boom. That is going to take time. We exist, we are recognized, ok, but it will be done quietly. It will start with the organization of UFC type galas in order to popularize our sport with the general public. But behind it we speak of necessary structuring. Because what makes the bulk of the licensees are young amateur practitioners who do not want to compete. It represents about 95 to 98% of the MMA community. It is above all to them that we must propose something, they are the ones who will make the federation important. If we stay on a federation of competitors, we will be 2000 and we will eventually disappear. But if we manage to convince parents through the educational work that we put in place, there it can work. The challenge is there. Parents bring children to judo, MMA is the opposite, it is children who bring parents. It's up to us to change that.

Between exile and the D system ... The galley of French fighters pros of MMA https://t.co/TO5OWZt2Ce

We are talking about 30 to 50,000 practitioners today in France, correct?

We are probably on this even if it is impossible to really count. What is certain is that there is great potential. I think we can become the first combat sport in front of judo [around 500,000 graduates at the moment] within five to ten years.

How is the UFC positioned vis-à-vis France?

They understood that the development of MMA in France went through this educational side and they helped us, especially financially, to work on these aspects. They show an open mind, the goal is not to push for competition. They tell themselves that whatever will happen to get an elite out of it.

Nor should we overlook the competitive aspect. The UFC is a retransmission in more than 120 countries, it weighs four billion dollars.

Yes it is consistent. When the UFC arrives in Paris, we will realize that the machine may be high-level MMA.

One year collaboration only. What is next?

Our position is to say: we draw up both a marriage contract with a federation but also a divorce contract. After, the calendar will depend on our ability to structure and grow and then stand on our own two feet. Everything is clear on this. But on paper, a year seems a little short to me.

Is there a risk of being lugged from federated to federated every year?

It seems unlikely to me.

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• Ministry of Sports
• Laura Flessel
• Sport
• fight
• Boxing
• Roxana Maracineanu