Chile to Host Inaugural WMMAA Pan-American Championship
By PDG Staff
The World Mixed Martial Arts Association (WMMAA), Pan American Division has appointed Chile to host the inaugural Pan American championship October 7-9 in Santiago, Chile.
“We chose Chile for political, economic and social stability,” said Tomas Yu, President of the WMMAA Pan-American Division. “In Latin American, context of things were not going very well, and our decision was to appoint Chile to organize it. We had a tremendous turnout and the WMMAA PANAM was more than well received.”
Yu recently made the official announcement of Chile being the newest WMMAA member, as well as host of the 2016 Pan-American Championship during his visit to Santiago this week.
Seven-time MMA champion Eric “The Tiger” Castaños, who accompanied Yu, was appointed Honorary President of the Chilean MMA Federation. “I have fought for this country,” Castaños remarked, “this country has fought for me”
“It is an honor and a challenge, both having been chosen as the host country and, of course, we will live up to such an important event like the Pan-Am Championships,” WMMAA Chile President Alberto Maturana commented.
WMMAA attorney and vice president of Chile, Christian Parra, also noted, “It is an honor to be able to form the first national MMA team in history of both the sport and Chile. There is no doubt that Chile will place among the best this year.”
In a recent survey, conducted by the auditing firm of Deloitte Touché Tohmatsu Limited (also called Deloitte), indicates that wrestling and martial arts are the fastest growing markets of sport, even beating more traditional sports like soccer.
Companies around the world have started to invest in MMA, rather than investing in traditional sports like soccer. In the last 12 months, the same study indicates that products and retail brands from other sectors related to MMA showed growth of more than 30-percent in sales.
Mixed Martial Arts today are the fastest growing sport in the world, widely shifting to boxing and generating more foreign exchange in the United States than classic sports like the National Basketball Association.
MMA is a strictly regulated sport that combines the most effective techniques of all traditional martial arts and sports of modern combat, including Karate, Boxing, Taekwondo, Capoeira, sanshou, WingChun, WingTsun, Jeet Kune Do, Muay Thai, Judo, Hapkido, Jujitsu, Kickboxing, Wrestling Olympic, San Shou San Da, Jujutsu, shoot-fighting, Sambo and among hybrids are Miletick Fighting Systems combat systems, Russian Vale-tudo, Pit-fighting, Taeki-do, Kenpo, JeetKune do, Karate Gojuryu, and Kajukendo.
WMMAA is the future of MMA! Today it governs with a strict regulation that protects the integrity of the athlete, while ensuring public entertainment.
MMA is fought in a cage in which competitors must have proficiency in three combat disciplines, plus a very full fitness, a specifically balanced diet that allows them to absorb shock, cushion falls, defend Force , flexibility and agility are the essential physical qualities; And, perseverance, courage, a good heart, a lucid mind and spirituality foolproof.
WMMAA judges are highly qualified, internationally recognized and certified, according to WMMAA official regulations, and with an unbiased database of international officials.
