“It will enable our MMA athletes to gain wealth and honor more quickly than any other sport.”
Recently, mixed martial arts became a hot topic as it was adopted as a sport in the Asian Games. With the national team of mixed martial arts from South Korea participating in the Asian Games for the first time, interest in the selection of national representatives has also increased.
On the 26th, Jeong Moon-hong, the chairman who attended the press conference for the Gubne ROAD FC 072 held at the Swiss Grand Hotel in Hong Eun-dong, was asked questions about the Asian Games by reporters on site.
As the president of the Korea Mixed Martial Arts Federation, Jeong Moon-hong has selected national team athletes and dispatched international judges to tournaments. Currently, he is leading the Korea Mixed Martial Arts Association, which was separated from the Korea Mixed Martial Arts Federation since January.
Chairman Jeong said, “The organization overseeing the Asian Games is the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA). MMA has been adopted by the OCA. While we had been working together with other organizations, we separated for several reasons and will now operate anew as the Korea Mixed Martial Arts Association.”
The Korea Mixed Martial Arts Association, led by Chairman Jeong, is a member organization of the Asian Mixed Martial Arts Association (AMMA). All national team athletes and international judges who had been active within the previous federation have signed transfer agreements and completed their transition to the Korea Mixed Martial Arts Association. In the future, the Korea Mixed Martial Arts Association will select the national team athletes from South Korea and also dispatch international judges.
Chairman Jeong noted, “The chairman of the Asian Mixed Martial Arts Association, Gordon Tang, is in Singapore. He directly contacted me and sent an email inviting the Korea Mixed Martial Arts Association to participate in official events as a member organization of AMMA. The Korea Mixed Martial Arts Association will handle the selection of national team athletes, who will compete in the Asian Games.”
Athletes selected for the national team are expected to gain both wealth and honor if they achieve good results. This is because Chairman Jeong has conveyed his intention to award monetary rewards to athletes who win gold medals.
Chairman Jeong promised, “Just as Hyundai Motor Company Chairman Chung Euisun offers large monetary rewards when medals are won in archery, if gold medals are won in the Asian Games, ROAD FC will also provide monetary rewards, and Gubne Chicken Chairman Hong Kyung-ho will do the same. I will even take money from the chaebols to offer substantial rewards. Therefore, it will enable our MMA athletes to gain wealth and honor more quickly than any other sport.”
The Korea Mixed Martial Arts Association plans to select national team athletes and prepare for the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
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