Rad-ical modifications: MMA Union of Russia boss needs finish to ‘freak fights’ that ‘discredit the game’, regulation of combating leagues

The boss of Russia’s MMA Union has revealed plans to reform the game, aiming for official Ministry of Sports activities standing and criticizing farce fights just like the showbiz scrap held between an actor and a politician earlier this month.

Flamboyant thespian Nikita Dzhigurda stalked State Duma deputy Vitaly Milonov round a cage in Moscow two weeks in the past, staging a weird contest wherein the principles have been unclear and controversial Milonov was getting into with little preparation, his coach confirmed afterwards.

The stunt continued a much-maligned development in fight sports activities for contests with little sporting benefit, together with a draw between Russian MMA nice Alexander Emelianenko and blogger Artem Tarasov and, on a extra high-profile stage, YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul’s batterings of ex-NBA star Nate Robinson and former UFC fighter Jake Askren in rings.

Social media sensations Logan Paul and KSI have twice been concerned in huge-selling fights regardless of being boxing rookies, and there have been considerations after former heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, 58, suffered a first-round clobbering by the hands of ex-UFC fighter Vitor Belfort final month.

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Radmir Gabdullin, the President of the MMA Union of Russia, doesn’t need to see extra mismatches in MMA.

“I imagine that freak fights and so-called ‘pop MMA’ don’t develop however dishonor MMA, introducing the flawed values ​​into our sport,” he instructed RBC, talking at a time when the loss of life of a bare-knuckle fighter following a brutal early knockout as a part of a protracted shedding streak has additionally heightened the controversy round matchmaking and security.

“That is an undesirable expertise, and we within the MMA Union of Russia don’t help initiatives that actually discredit our sport.”

As a part of his plans, Gabdullin needs legal guidelines to be made that forestall tournaments from being thought-about MMA or sporting occasions if they don’t seem to be a part of a acknowledged schedule following official guidelines.

“Sadly, the present laws doesn’t present us with the total alternative to affect the holding of main tournaments in Russia by skilled leagues,” he defined, including that any involvement from bookmakers must also be scrutinized.

“For our half, we are going to name on the prosecutor’s workplace and the FAS [Federal Antimonopoly Service] to concentrate to this. Legislation-respecting bookmakers are legally prohibited from displaying their brand and accepting bets on such occasions.

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“Initially, a regulation will likely be developed in order that the judges of the MMA Union of Russia wouldn’t have the chance to serve illegitimate tournaments, risking shedding their accreditation.

“This additionally applies to fist fights, which shortly ‘modified their sneakers’ in MMA in an effort to obtain funding from bookmakers.”

UFC icon Khabib Nurmagomedov is amongst these working to make MMA an Olympic sport, and Gabdullin hopes the skilled self-discipline will obtain official recognition in Russia.

His ambitions embody regulating the actions leagues, new doping management measures and a broadening of age teams.

“We’ll perform work on the inclusion MMA within the system of the Ministry of Sports activities and assign sports activities titles to professionals,” mentioned Gabdullin.

“As well as, paperwork have been despatched for inclusion… of latest ages [12-to-15]. Ranks can even be assigned right here and official tournaments will likely be held, which we are going to broadcast on our MMA multimedia platform.”

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