GAMMA Director General Peter Stafford, at a meeting in Lausanne dubbed the 'Host and Federations Summit' of the Major Event, invited bids for the hosting rights and publicly opened the bidding process.

It was at the Olympic Museum that Peter Stafford, GAMMA's Director General, launched the bidding process for the hosting rights of the GAMMA International MMA Championships. On the 20th of June, he publicly launched the Association's open bidding process for national organisations, host cities and commercial entities wishing to partner with GAMMA events in 2025 - 2026.

The Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts has extensive experience in such events and has a track record of delivering three-day MMA championships around the world. The championship programme is diverse. It ranges from smaller 20-team continental championships to the annual World Championships, which attract nearly 80 member nations. 

The 2023 World Championships in Thailand were an organisational success. Inclusion in the 2023 African Games was achieved and it is noteworthy that Indonesia is ready to host a high-profile World Championship in 2024 under its National Olympic Committee. In a fast-growing sport with tremendous youth appeal, GAMMA has demonstrated its adaptability in organising high-profile events.

GAMMA's flexible model includes events that are logistically simple and cost-effective to organise, using low-cost equipment and technology with a lean, international organising team. In addition to commercial rights and benefits, GAMMA championships create opportunities for training and development of volunteers, as they have a strong appeal to young people. Their approach is 'local and global'.

The upcoming championships still open for bidding are:

2026 World Cup

2025 Continental Championships (Africa; Asia / Asia Pacific; Europe; Pan America)

GAMMA is also interested in cross-sport collaboration and participation in multi-sport events.

Stafford said, "I would like to thank MEI for the opportunity to speak to representatives from a number of cities and other organisations about the appeal of MMA and our portfolio of events. It is an extremely competitive market for rights holders. The opportunity to meet many of them face-to-face over the three days of the summit was extremely beneficial. We look forward to continuing the discussions over the coming months and taking our events to new cities in the future.