Governing Body For Amateur MMA Reveals Dates For World Championships Week

Mixed martial arts (MMA) has become an increasingly popular sport over the years and it is far from the beleaguered sport that broke onto the scene in the early 2000s.

In an effort to continue growing the sport at the grassroots level, the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) is set to close out its 2022 amateur MMA season with the IMMAF World Championships Week from February 10-18 in Belgrade, Serbia.

The International Business Times acquired a copy of the official press release from the IMMAF, and the start of the World Championships is set for February 12 with the Bracket of 32 and Bracket of 16 happening the following day.

On February 14 and 15 respectively, the quarterfinals and semifinals for both divisions will take place while the IMMAF Amateur MMA Awards will also take place on the 15th.

February 16 will play host to the finals of the Juniors division and its medal ceremonies while the following day will have the finals of the Seniors division its own medal ceremony

Bahrain-based MMA promotion BRAVE CF will have the honor of closing out World Championships Week with BRAVE CF 6, which has interim champ Abdisalam Kubanychbek taking on Kamil Magomedov for the undisputed light heavyweight title in the main event.

BRAVE CF 69 will be co-headlined by the heavyweight bout between Darko Stosic and Shamil Gaziev.

The events taking place on February 12 to 18 is set for the Stark Arena which has a capacity of 19,394–save for the IMMAF Amateur MMA Awards on February 15 which has no confirmed location as of yet.

According to their press release, the IMMAF is expecting 550 athletes from 63 countries to compete in the tournament with returning champions throughout the 2022 season returning for the massive event including Sabrina de Sousa and Ramazan Gitinov of Bahrain, Poland's Magdalena Czaban, New Zealander Fergus Jenkins, Taijikisan's Otabek Rabjabov, and Veja Hinda of Namibia.

Much like their previous events, the World Championships will be contested under special IMMAF Amateur rules and will have six weight divisions for female athletes (atomweight to lightweight) and ten for the male fighters (from strawweight to super heavyweight).

Aside from the showcase of amateur talent taking place at the event, the IMMAF will have certification courses for aspiring youth MMA coaches and cutmen-in-training which will take place on February 10 and 11.

The amateur bouts on February 12 to 15 are set to take place at 11:00 AM local time (5:00 AM ET) and the finals on February 16 and 17 at 5:00 PM local time (11:00 AM ET)—all streaming live on IMMAF.TV.