UFC, the world’s premier mixed martial arts organisation, today announced their involvement in the 2015 European Judo Championships, which will take place in Glasgow, UK in April, as they continue to support the development of combat sports around the world.
This comes a few months after IJF (International Judo Federation) was reported to be preparing a project deemed “confidential”. The French Judo Federation and Associated Disciplines (FFJDA) is the 4th biggest National Sports Federation in France with over 570,000 licensees, and plans to create a new sport, “Mixed Jujitsu Arts.” In other words, MJA. An acronym that makes you think of MMA (Mixed Martial Arts), the most popular combat sport of the moment, which allows for ground strikes in addition to boxing techniques, wrestling, judo and grappling. This is obviously not a coincidence.
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Through their association with the British Combat Sports Federation, UFC will support the event with branding, marketing and also promotion of the event to their audience of engaged mixed martial artists – of which Judo is a foundation discipline- around the world.
David Allen, the UFC’s senior vice-president and general manager of Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), told Sky Sports:
“We are the hub of combat sports,”
“People practice tae-kwon-do, karate and judo individually but if you want a career to earn a living, and you’re good enough, MMA is the sport where you can become a professional athlete.
“Mixed martial arts is embracing the whole family of martial arts with judo being one of MMA’s core components. People saw the UFC as a niche sport in the past but we promote the world of martial arts.”
“Ronda Rousey won a judo bronze medal at the 2008 Olympic Games, Nick Hein is a two-time European champion Glasgow’s Robert Whiteford is a judo player as well. The marriage between the two sports is something we want to help with.”
Ex Olympic judoka Ronda Rousey and now UFC Champion
Allen says that the UFC’s goal is help the development of Judo and recruit some Judokas:
“We are partners, through British Judo, of the European Judo Championships which take place in Glasgow. It’s part of the legacy of the Commonwealth Games where the British team had such success. Now we’ll have athletes from all over Europe in Glasgow.
“No matter what country you go to, there is a combat sport practiced. With football, martial arts is a truly global sport. We’re embracing these sports, helping people participate, and helping fans understand the training, skills, ethos and ethics of martial arts.”
“We are actively involved in setting up something that will be called the British Combat Sports Federation, we want that recognised by Sport England.”
