IMMAF board

A historic Ordinary General Assembly of International Mixed Martial Arts Federation concluded with the merger of IMMAF and WMMAA and a new Board of Directors elected unanimously to represent the sport of amateur MMA. Presidents from 48 national federations representing the amateur sport worldwide, meeting in Bahrain on November 15, 2019 elected Kerrith Brown of Great Britain as the IMMAF President.

Former WMMAA President Vadim Finkelchtein of Russia was elected as Honorary President to stand alongside August Wallen of Sweden, who was elected as Honorary President in 2015. George Sallfeldt of Sweden was elected as Vice President and retiring board member Frank Babcock of the United States was elected as an Honorary Board Member.

The new 14 strong board has three women for the first time namely Denitza Batchvarova of the U.S., Tatiana Klimenko of Russia and and Svetlana Odintsova of the Netherlands. Also elected to the IMMAF Board are Bertrand Amoussou of France, Stewart Brain of Australia, Wissam Abi Nader of Lebanon, Viktor Frolov of Russia, Han Jiuli of China, Iskander Karim of Kazakhstan, Raymond Phillips of South Africa, Tom Madsen of Germany and Galimzhan Yessenov of Kazakhstan.

“The schedule over the past year has been extremely grueling as we continue our crusade for recognition,” Brown stated. “More than ever, we will focus on the job at hand and overcome all obstacles in our drive to gain our place amongst other international sport federations.

“The merger with WMMAA will certainly increase our operational efficiency,” Brown continued. “With the two organisations now merged, we have greatly expanded our geographical reach, boosted our membership base and reinforced our credibility as the only legitimate world governing body for MMA.”

Finkelchtein underlined the great progress that has been made over the past 12 months. Aside from approving an increased budget for 2020, the General Assembly also elected the following Committees for a two-year term.

“The representatives from both organisations are now working strongly together,” Finkelchtein stated. “We share the same vision and passion to develop a world governing body for MMA that delivers for our federations and athletes and can be fully integrated into the global sport community.”

Arbitration Committee

Rupert Beloff (Great Britain)
Sean Sullivan Gibbs (Great Britain)
Eusebio Rivera (Panama)
Mathieu Laplante-Goulet (Canada) 

Anti-doping Committee

Michele Verroken (Great Britain)
Max Shephard (Great Britain)
Jack Kreindler (Great Britain)
David Wang (USA)
Veronika Nalbatska (Bulgaria) 

Anti-doping Disciplinary Committee

Max Shephard (Great Britain)
Michele Verroken (Great Britain)
Prem Kumar (Malaysia)
Andrew Smith (Great Britain)

Disciplinary Committee
William Lexton Jones (Great Britain)
Thomas Rudkin (Great Britain)
Stanislav Nedkov (Bulgaria)

Nominations Committee
Jesper Gunnarson (Sweden)
Clements Werner (Germany)
JD Du Plessis (South Africa)

The General Assembly also voted to create new commissions in addition to Coaching, Medical, Ethics and Regulatory Affairs. Athletes, Business Development, Communications and Marketing, Competition Bidding, Women’s and Youth Development Commissions will support the work of the IMMAF Board and administration bringing the total number of expert advisory groups to 15.

The list of members, including chairpersons, and 2020 strategic plans for each committee/commission, are now being finalized. The IMMAF is also setting up new Area Commissions for Africa, Asia, Europe, Pan-America and Oceania to give each area a stronger voice and a structure that can help to accelerate the amateur sport’s development at regional level.