[1] The CABMMA supervised its first event with "UFC on FX 7" on January 19, 2013, at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in São Paulo.
[2][3][4] The CABMMA first hit international sports headlines when it suspended fighter Rousimar Palhares for prolonging a submission on opponent Mike Pierce, despite him tapping several times, during UFC Fight Night 29 in Barueri, Brazil on October 9, 2013.
[5][6] The CABMMA was called to preside over another controversial situation involving a Brazilian competitor, when Vitor Belfort's use of Testosterone Replacement Therapy came to light over UFC on FX 8 (May 18, 2013)[7] For many years, professional MMA competitions were illegal in Canada.
Section 83(2) of the Canadian Criminal Code deemed that only boxing matches where only fists are used are considered legal.
[12][13] Professional MMA competitions remain illegal in the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan, Yukon, and Nunavut because it is not regulated by an athletic commission.
The bill formally gives provinces the power to create athletic commissions to regulate and sanction professional mixed martial arts bouts.
The Federation of Mixed Martial Arts Equity and Fair Play, or Federación de Artes Marciales Mixtas Equidad y Juego Limpio (FAMM-EJL), was elected as the governing body representing Mexico under the International Federation, also being recognized by CONADE in March 2017.
[23] Bahrain will be hosting World MMA Amateurs Championship 2017 supported by International Mixed Martial Arts Federation.
There exist multiple bodies of association and federations which offer services to organize Mixed martial Arts events across India.
Additionally, many martial arts schools and gyms in Taiwan provide professional level MMA training.
[48] SAT Deputy Governor Sakol Wannapong has said "Organizing a MMA event here would hurt the image of Muay Thai, if you want to do this kind of business, you should do it in another country.
[51] On February 20, 2020, deputy minister of Internal Affairs, Tran Anh Tuan signed the legalisation of the MMA sport in Vietnam.
Registered as a federation in Belgium in 2006, the former Belgian Shooto and MMA Federation organized more than 1500 MMA bouts (Amateur, B class and A class), and built a structure for the sport nationally that included insurance, rules and regulation, and experience levels for fighters and technical seminars.
On November 11, 2012, the voluntary Danish Mixed Martial Arts Federation held its first official general assembly in Odense, Denmark.
The Federation was publicly launched on Friday November 24, inviting Danish MMA organizations, gyms and academies to sign up as members.
[60][61][62] All bouts on French soil recorded as Mixed Martial Arts were in fact held under Pancrase rules and other variants (pankration, pempo, pankido).
The Commission nationale de Mixed Martial Arts (CNMMA) was founded as a non-profit organization for the development of MMA in 2009.
[65] Comprising 11 regional leagues working under regional technical advisers and teams,[65] the CNMMA joined the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) in March 2013 as the Commission française de Mixed Martial Arts (CFMMA).
[citation needed] On June 24, 2019, Roxana Maracineanu, France's minister of sport announced the legalization of mixed martial arts as of January 1, 2020.
[68] On October 8, 2020, the country's first officially regulated MMA event, dubbed the Mixed Martial Arts Grand Prix, went ahead in Vitry-sur-Seine.
[80] The FMMAP is recognized by the Portuguese government as a non-profit sports federation and oversees Amateur MMA competition and coaching nationally.
This is in line with government requirements for all sport federations in Portugal which stipulates that they consist of at least three associated, non-profit groups.
Based in Bucharest, Romania AGON club was founded in its present legal form in June 2012, following a long period of time of acting under different other organisations, with Gheorghe Stanciu elected as its president.
[91] In 2009 the SMMAF was accepted into the Association of Swedish Budo and Martial Arts Federation,[91] thus granting MMA "national sport" status and making its approved clubs eligible for partial government subsidization.
[91] On April 30, 2011, the SMMAF sanctioned the first event under its purview to utilize the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts.