The best MMA athletes from fourteen countries across Europe have arrived in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi for the GAMMA European Championships 2022.
In only the second edition of these championships following the inaugural event that took place in Kyiv, Ukraine last year, the stage is set for three days of fantastic competition.
There will be ten weight categories for men and seven for women in MMA and Striking MMA when the qualifying bouts get underway on Monday, with athletes battling it out for a place in Wednesday’s finals.
The event headquarters in Tbilisi have come alive in recent days in the lead up to the start of the competition, with weigh-ins and hydrated testing, which is now standard procedure at GAMMA events, already underway.
With the official tournament draw taking centre stage this afternoon, as well as briefing sessions on the rules for athletes and coaches, and training sessions for the referees and judges, it will be a busy day of final preparations in readiness for the first GAMMA Continental Championships of 2022.
It has been six months since the last GAMMA event, the 2021 World Championships in Amsterdam, and there is plenty of eagerness for the European Athletes to return to the ring. Several World and defending European Champions have made the trip to Tbilisi and will be hoping for a repeat of their success from last year. Some names to watch out for include:
2021 World Champion Giorgi Natobaidze @natobaidze_gio (56.7kg Striking MMA)
2021 World Champion Veronika Smolkova @veronika.smolkova.02 (61.2kg Striking MMA)
2021 World Champion Iwo Baraniewski @i_baraniewski98 (120.2kg MMA)
Roberta Zocco @rob.z_mma (56.7kg MMA)
“I am delighted to welcome our European MMA community to Tbilisi for these Championships. A lot has happened since we were all together in the Ukraine last year and I want to thank all of our members, and of course our organisers here in Georgia, for their ongoing hard work and commitment to stage this event,” said GAMMA President Alexander Engelhardt. “As an organisation we know how important these Championships are for the continued development of our sport and I am looking forward to a highly competitive competition this week.”
The official opening ceremony is set for 15:00 local time (13:00 CET) on Monday, to be followed by the first day of competition beginning from 16:30 (14:30 CET). All the action will be streamed live on GAMMA’s Facebook and YouTube channels.
For more information on the GAMMA European Championships 2022 and to follow the live results, click here.
