As reported last week a group of MMA clubs from around the country were scheduled to meet last Sunday in the Lucan Spa Hotel outside Dublin. The topic up for discussion was the state of Amateur MMA in the country.
I have confirmed that a group of about 20 clubs attended and unanimously decided at the end of the meeting to form an association – The Irish Amateur Mixed Martial Arts Association or IAMMAA for short.
The new group will be formalizing a committee at their next meeting which will be some time in mid to late January. The committee will be made public on the IAMMAA Social media pages when it is formalised at this meeting as will the date of that meeting.
IAMMAA are keen to use the intervening time to get as many interested clubs as possible to join the new association so that the committee is as broad and democratic as possible.
It was agreed at the meeting that Paul Cowzer of Rush Fight Academy will act as spokesperson for the group until the committee is voted and finalised.
As many regular readers will know, there is actually no governing body for the sport in Ireland. IMMAA is a body that a number of clubs around the country are aligned with but they are not exclusively concerned with amateur MMA as this new body intends to be.
I confirmed with Keith Cooper that the new association has already received the backing of one major promotion namely, Battle Arena UK and Ireland.
An announcement is expected to be made at IAMMAA’s inaugural meeting regarding it’s first set of recommended competitions and events. All Amateurs regardless of affiliation are welcome to participate at these events.
IAMMAA will be working closely with the ISKA as an independent, internationally recognized sanctioning body.
Clubs, coaches or fighters interested in getting involved can contact Keith Cooper at the following email address: coopersmma@gmail.com or register their interest on the IAMMAA facebook page