Ian O'Neill 
On Tuesday, the French Sport Ministry announced that it has tasked the French Boxing Federation with supervising the development of MMA in the country for its first year. The French Boxing Federation was vying for the opportunity along with other existing federations for karate, judo, muay thai and kickboxing.
The Ministry confirmed the news in a quick statement: “Having requested and analysed all relevant information received from a number of combat federations who wear interested in welcoming MMA, we have decided, by an official Ministerial Decision, to delegate the sport of MMA to the French Boxing Federation.
Densign White, IMMAF CEO, spoke about the decision: “This is another significant milestone for the sport of amateur MMA. France is a major sporting nation and host of the Olympic Games in 2024, so partnering with boxing will be a massive boost in the growth of MMA in France.”“This is a major step in the ongoing campaign by IMMAF for international recognition of MMA as a sport with Olympic values.”
Other national federations such as the French Wrestling Federation, French Karate and Associated Disciplines Federation, and the French Sports and Physical Exercise Federation were all considered as candidates to oversee the project. Nevertheless, after gathering input from the French Olympic Committee, FFB is the federation they chose.
President of IMMAF(International Mixed Martial Arts Federation) Kerrith Brown stated, “We are delighted to see that Boxing will now be the partner of MMA in France, where it has extremely well established and respected structures.”
“Above all, we believe that by partnering with boxing, MMA will show that it shares a willingness to create the right culture and values, especially in membership and education programmes for athletes, coaches and officials.”
