Last week, news broke that mixed martial arts were completely banned in Afghanistan. The main reason was that it contradicts the norms of Islam.
“As a result of the investigation, it turned out that this sport is problematic from the point of view of Sharia and has many aspects that contradict the teachings of Islam. That is why this decision was taken,” reads an official statement from the General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports of Afghanistan.
Everything was going in that direction, considering that in 2021 a ban on hitting people in the face appeared in the country. There were rumors that fighters were threatened for participating in fights. Now everything is completely banned, despite the fact that there is interest in this sport in Afghanistan. The careers of brothers Javid and Farid Basharat, who compete in the UFC, are actively followed. But in the future, most likely, we will practically not see Afghan fighters in strong leagues. However, surprisingly, Afghanistan is not the only country where MMA is banned.
Javaid Basharat
Photo: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Norway is the only country in Europe that bans professional MMA
The main bastion of the fight against MMA is Norway. It is the only country in Europe that completely bans professional mixed martial arts and has not legalized it. This is the “elimination law” adopted in 1982. According to it, sports in which victories were achieved by means of blows to the head were prohibited. The law was originally conceived to ban professional boxing in the country, and MMA was also affected.
In 2014, boxing was given a boost by Cecilia Braekhus. The Norwegian was an undefeated absolute champion and was not allowed to compete in her home country. This was allowed as an exception and was immediately pointed out that this does not apply to MMA. This did not prevent the Norwegian Mixed Martial Arts Federation from being organized. And then high-level fighters appeared. Jack Hermansson currently competes in the UFC and is among the top 15 middleweights.
Hermansson recently put the brakes on UFC hype:
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The “Knockout Law” includes an interesting clause with restrictions on the force of the blow. For example, there were amateur tournaments where headbutts were allowed with only 30% of the fighter’s maximum force. In addition, the law for boxing has been changed: rounds cannot last more than three minutes. Some officials in Norway consider the ban on MMA to be stupid and a consequence of the fact that people to this day do not fully understand that it is not a fight without rules. So far, only amateur MMA has been legalized (since 2019).
One way or another, the issue of legalizing professional MMA has not yet moved forward in Norway, but they hope that Jack Hermansson’s story will help in this, just as Cecilia Braekhus’ story once did.
Cecilia Braekhus
Photo: Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images
What about other European countries?
Most European countries have fully legalized MMA. But there are also those that do not seem to ban professional mixed martial arts, but do not encourage it either. That is, in their case, MMA remains without government support. These are, for example, Belgium, Denmark, Iceland and, suddenly, Ireland, where even the phenomenon of the name Conor McGregor did not force the country to recognize MMA. Accordingly, in these countries all organizational arrangements are carried out by local MMA federations. They are responsible for the safety of fighters and take responsibility. Most likely, in all these countries in the coming years they will simply recognize mixed martial arts and develop it like other sports.
France stands out. The country banned mixed martial arts in 2016, despite the sport’s growing popularity. Fighters such as Cyril Diabate and Cheick Kongo were unable to fight in their home countries, but actively tried to promote the idea of MMA’s return. Because of the ban on mixed martial arts, the head of the French MMA Commission, Bertrand Amoussou, sued the Ministry of Sports: “The Ministry treats us like idiots. In Europe, all countries except Norway and France have recognized MMA. “I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but we will file a lawsuit to appeal the decision.”
French MMA star Gan has already lost twice in title fights:
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The lawsuit then came to nothing. Moreover, according to unofficial data, the ban on MMA was also due to the fact that in France they wanted to steer young people towards judo. Apparently, the government was afraid of losing its status as one of the strongest powers in this sport. However, in 2020 the ban on MMA was lifted and the French Boxing Federation took over regulation. The UFC intervened: they held a tournament in France in 2022 and hold it there every year. There are already stars such as Cyril Gan, Benoit Saint-Denis and Nassurdin Imavov, who performs under the French flag.
What is the situation in the rest of the world?
Mixed martial arts have also been banned in Iran until 2023. Again, as in the case of Afghanistan, there were religious reasons. However, in January last year the first MMA tournament was held in Tehran. Two years earlier, fighters who participated in a tournament in Azerbaijan were sentenced in Iran: “MMA is among the banned competitions, this type of martial arts does not have a federation in Iran. Those involved in this area operate secretly and illegally.”
Overall, there is a nice trend: countries are gradually opening their doors to mixed martial arts. For example, in 2012, Thailand decided to ban MMA for two reasons: cruelty and competition with Muay Thai. The government did not want to damage the image of its national martial art, but in general it all turned out to be a hoax. No law was passed banning MMA, so mixed martial arts tournaments continued to be held in this country. True, as in the case of Denmark, for example, Thailand does not recognize MMA and leaves all activities in this sport to the care of the local federation. And in Vietnam, for example, mixed martial arts were approved only in 2020.
In Cuba, they do not want to legalize MMA yet, but they do not ban it either. The reason for refusing to legalize it is the reluctance to lose top boxers who want to retrain as mixed martial arts fighters. In India, they do not recognize MMA as a sport either, but they do not oppose holding tournaments there. Alexander Shlemenko once performed there, and the UFC now has two fighters from India: Anshul Jubli and Pooja Tomar.
The situation is interesting with Canada. For a long time, mixed martial arts fights were completely banned there. Moreover, participation in such competitions was punishable by the Criminal Code. In 2013, criminal liability for participation in battles was abolished. MMA was not legalized, but at the same time each province was allowed to make its own decisions on the status of mixed martial arts. This is a common practice: even in the USA (the center of world MMA), fighting is legalized in 49 out of 50 states, with the exception of Alaska, which does not have its own athletic commission.
Georges St-Pierre – Canadian MMA legend
Photo: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
There is also North Korea, but here, in fact, we do not have any information on how things are going with MMA there, but we can assume that this sport is prohibited there.
Mixed martial arts are gaining momentum every year and their popularity is constantly growing. Mainly because of the UFC, but other promotions are trying to keep up with the level. This is one of the fastest growing sports, so in the future, we will most likely reach the point where there will be no countries left where MMA is not legalized.
