Union of Mixed Martial Arts "MMA" of Russia (abbreviated as "Russian MMA Union") is an all-Russian public organization, a sports federation engaged in the popularization and development of mixed martial arts as a kind of sport.
[2][4][5] As of 2021, the Russian MMA Union included 80 accredited regional federations in its structure, ensures the holding of the national championships and cups, forms Russian national teams to participate in the World and European championships,[6][7] represents Russia in the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF),[2][8] provides refereeing and organizational support for professional MMA tournaments spent in Russia (both by the Russian and international promoters, including UFC).
The main goals of the Union are to consolidate all the forces associated with the development of the mixed martial arts (MMA) in Russia, to popularize and develop it, to form a united nationwide federation with an extensive network of branches in the regions, to set order to the rules of competitions and the methods of training athletes and referees.
Also, the goals of the Union are streamlining the structure of the tournaments, preparing the national teams of the Russian Federation for participation at the World, European, and other international championships.
[18] The first Russian championship in mixed martial arts was held on September 28–30, 2012 in Chekhov, Moscow Oblast.
[16] On September 30, the Russian MMA Union became a permanent member of the World Mixed Martial Arts Association (WMMAA).
[21][22][4][23] In 2014, the Russian MMA Union was accredited as the All-Russian Sports Federation for Mixed Martial Arts.
[24][4] In 2016, the Russian MMA Union held the European mixed martial arts championship in St. Petersburg according to the WMMAA for the second time.
[26] October 20, 2018, at the presidium, Radmir Gabdullin was elected as the new President of the Russian MMA Union.
[29][30] In November 2018, Bahrain hosted the first World championship after the merger of the two international governing bodies of the MMA.
The Russian national team won both in the junior and adult standings with an almost two-fold superiority in the number of medals.
[49][50][34] The following was written about the tournament on the official IMMAF website: “Perhaps this is the most impressive domestic competition in the field of the amateur MMA”.
Also, the Russian MMA Union regularly holds all-Russian tournaments outside the classification with the participation of adults and youth.
[72][5][23][25] In August 2021, for the first time since the merger of the two main international MMA federations, Russia should host the European championship in that kind of sport.
[36][51] After the merger of the two leading MMA federations, competition in the world's best tournaments in this sport has intensified.
Nevertheless, the multi-stage selection system for the national team, introduced by the Russian MMA Union, gave positive results.
Russian Federation national team became the winner of all three tournaments of the World and European Championship rank that took place after the merge.
[77] The table shows the World champions who were included in these tournaments in the line-up of the Russian national teams that were formed by the Russian MMA Union:[72][23][78][79][80][81][82][39] * — in the 2012-2017 WMMAA World championships, 93+ kg was considered the heaviest weight category.
** — 2012-2017 WMMAA World championships, nb – there were no battles in this weight category, х – gold medal not won The table shows the European champions who were included in these tournaments in the line-up of the Russian national teams that were formed by the Russian MMA Union:[72][20][83][84][25][85][35] * — in the 2012-2018 WMMAA European championships, 93+ kg was considered the heaviest weight category.
** — 2012-2018 WMMAA European championships, nb – there were no battles in this weight category, х – gold medal not won