December 13, 2020 - The newly founded Croatian MMA Union was officially presented to the media in Zagreb by Dražen Forgač and Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipović.
Gol.hr reports that after maintaining and improving the world of freestyle wrestling in Croatia for years without formal functions, former fighters Dražen Forgač, Zelg Galešić, and Igor Pokrajac decided to take things to a higher level and founded the Croatian MMA Union.
"The motive for founding the Croatian MMA Union is that the situation on the MMA scene is currently such that the interest is great, the halls are full - especially with young fighters and amateur recreationists, and we want to unite all clubs, and we succeeded," said President Forgač.
The honorary president of the newly founded Union was accepted by the greatest Croatian legend of this sport - Mirko Filipović.
“This is to help young fighters, organize competitions, organize seminars for refs, for coaches, for cutmen, and so on, everything that goes into the spectrum of that job," Cro Cop said.
If you wonder why the umbrella organization that brings together all the important clubs in the country is called the Union, and not the Federation - the answer is because the Federation already exists. But since its founding in 2006, Cro Cop says that the Croatian MMA Federation has been basically inactive.
"After all, to be honest, I don't even know who founded it and on what basis that MMA Federation was founded," he said.
"We did everything ourselves - the organization, care for fighters, amateur championships," said Pokrajac.
The same will continue to work, but under the auspices of the Union and at a higher level. Just how much interest there is in MMA in Croatia is best shown by the numbers.
"At the last amateur competition, there were over 100 fighters despite COVID-19, and the viewership was over 40,000 people live via the Youtube channel. So I think the interest is great - both the audience and the athletes themselves," says Forgač.
Globally, MMA has more than 500 million fans, and its current biggest star, Khabib Nurmagomedov, has taken on the role of the promoter to make mixed martial arts an Olympic sport by the Games in Los Angeles in 2028,
"Khabib is certainly one of the most popular fighters today, and it is certainly a great thing that he got involved and engaged in it. A big thank you to him on behalf of all the fighters. I think it would be a great thing if mixed martial arts, MMA sport, joined the Olympic family," said Cro Cop.
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