FILA moves on from MMA, IMMAF pledges to continue sport's development

The International Wrestling Federation, FILA, recently announced it has removed its claim to be the governing body for MMA on a worldwide level, opening the door for the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation to become the official oversight organization for the sport.

FILA elected to remove MMA as a sport from its federation – though a statement from the IMMAF said FILA will continue to back MMA competition it already has announced oversight of. But once those are complete, FILA essentially will be out of the MMA business altogether.

The IMMAF in a statement said it has offered its cooperation to FILA so organizations operating under FILA will be able to have a smooth transition.

“This was the best decision possible that FILA could make regarding MMA,” stated IMMAF President August Wallen. “Now we can start to heal the fragmentation within the MMA community and secure strong and unified international representation for MMA everywhere. We hope FILA takes our offer of cooperation, as well as accepts our sincere support in their important task to save one of the oldest sports in the world on the Olympic program. As representatives of MMA, we fully support the continued opportunity for wrestlers around the world to compete in the Olympics.”

FILA presumably will be hard at work trying to keep the sport of wrestling in the Olympics, rather than the announced plan of it potentially being phased out of the games starting in 2020.

The IMMAF said one of the reasons it backs FILA removing itself from the MMA governance game is that “MMA is unique and cannot be governed by (any) of the numerous sports which each represents a fraction of the techniques that together make MMA a distinct sport.”

Started in 2012, the IMMAF was created to “further the development and recognition of the sport of MMA, enabling international competition through the organization of national federations around the world.”

Recently, athletic commissions in France and Brazil joined the IMMAF, which also has received support from the UFC, the world’s largest MMA promotion.