(ATR) International Mixed Martial Arts Federation chief executive officer Densign White tells Around the Rings his sport has what it takes to make the Olympic program.
"I think we’ve got the format for an Olympic event," White tells ATR Editor Ed Hula during an interview with ATRadio at the SportAccord Convention in Denmark. "I think we’ve made the sport very, very safe, and I would argue it’s a safer sport than some of the other combat sports recognized.
"I think the medical coverage that we provide for our athletes is not matched by any other combat sport in the world," White claims in an exclusive interview.
The IMMAF attended its second SportAccord Convention at the beginning of April in hopes of joining the list of International Federations recognized by SportAccord. However, White confesses his federation has faced real difficulty in breaking through barriers to become recognized given the changing requirements.
"Now they’ve added that you must have 40 countries that are recognized by government or National Olympic Committees which is quite difficult because what we found is when our National Federations go to their government or National Olympic Committees, they say we cannot recognize you because you’re International Federation is not recognized by SportAccord – so it’s kind of a chicken and the egg situation."
White also says his sport is one of the fastest growing on the planet and explains how social media and strong marketing have fueled such growth on the latest edition of ATRadio below:
Written by Kevin Nutley
Forgeneral comments or questions, click here.
25 Years at #1: Your best source of news about theOlympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribersonly.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
