The United World Wrestling (UWW) has established a single Committee for Grappling, Pankration, and Amateur MMA, Azernews reports.
Namiq Aliyev, Vice-President of the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation (AWF), was elected as the president of the newly established new committee. Adrian Bakos has was appointed as the vice president of the committee.
Recognizing the increasing number of athletes in these disciplines, UWW has decided to manage them under a unified committee. By consolidating these sports under one committee, UWW aims to focus more on and elevate the professional level of these fields. National federations have been urged to support grappling, pankration, and amateur MMA through appropriate channels.
Following the selection of an additional three members by national federations, the committee will be fully formed in accordance with UWW's election regulations. The new committee will receive support from athletes, coaches, and additional commissions.
For the amateur MMA segment of pankration, UWW representatives Onur Şimşək will provide oversight, while Antonina Bosser will supervise the grappling segment.
Grappling and MMA are modern sports. Grappling, a subset of wrestling, features techniques based primarily on submission holds. MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) incorporates both striking and wrestling techniques. Unlike professional MMA, UWW hosts amateur MMA competitions on a wrestling mat rather than in a cage.
It is noteworthy that pankration, one of the hand-to-hand combat sports, was created in ancient Greece and was included in the classical Olympic Games.
