MMA Will Be Legalized In France By January 2020

Francis Ngannou
Francis Ngannou - Image via @francisngannou Instagram

Fight Fans In France Soon Can See A Live Action

The minister of sport Roxana Maracineanu announced on Monday that MMA would be legalized in the nation of France starting from Jan. 1, 2020.

“As of January 1, 2020, MMA will officially exist as a professional and amateur sports practice in France within the framework of defined by [Ministry of Sports] in harmony with the international landscape of this discipline,” Maracineanu wrote.

Currently, the MMA is banned in the country, and it can only be overturned if the responsible party French athletic federations send the proposal by Sept. 27 and the final verdict will be made by December 31.

UFC noted the news and promotion’s senior executive vice president and chief operating officer Lawrence Epstein said they’ll assist France in the process of legalization.

“UFC welcomes today’s announcement by the Ministry of Sports, which is the first step in officially recognizing MMA and integrating the sport into the French sports ecosystem,” Epstein said in a statement (h/t ESPN). “We will closely follow the progress of the consultation period and pay particular attention to the respect of the integrity of MMA and preservation of its rules by the host federation.

“We put our global MMA expertise at the disposal of the authorities to make this process a collective construction.”

There’re notable MMA fighters who hail from France like Bellator, and UFC vet Cheick Kongo and heavyweight Francis Ngannou also started his MMA training in Paris reacted to the news.

Ngannou is currently slated to take on Junior dos Santos at UFC Minneapolis this weekend.

Published on June 26, 2019 at 6:17 am
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