Several officials from IMMAF have resigned after reports suggest that funding from UFC have exhausted and the organisation is now under significant debt. The news was reported by MyMMANews on twitter.
According to August Wallen, who is the honorary president of IMMAF, the organisation has already burned through the entirety of the 2023 budget which is in the range of $1 Million and is funded by the UFC.
“The federation is in substantial debt. Moreover many key staff have chosen to resign. In other words we have a financial as well as a staff crisis on our hands,” August Wallen wrote in a leaked letter.
Is IMMAF about to go bust?
Here’s what August Wallen had to say about the whole situation in the leaked letter.
BREAKING: Receiving word that several top International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) officials have resigned after the organization is now in significant debt and funding from the UFC has been rescinded.
— MyMMANews (@MyMMANews) March 9, 2023
“I’m Writing to you by reason of the current state of IMMAF. As you might know the UFC
support of one million USD for 2023 is already exhausted and in addition to that the
federation is in substantial debt. Moreover many key staff have chosen to resign. In other
words we have a financial as well as a staff crisis on our hands. For that reason an unanimous board, during the world championship in Serbia, gave me the mandate to make an inquiry.
The purpose was to find out what has happened, what mistakes that has been done and to come with recommendations on improvements to the board. A couple of weeks later my mandate was revoked and the assignment was given to a voting board member. This is a clear conflict of interest as the voting board members are responsible for the governance of the federation. This shows me that we have a serious democratic crisis on our hands as well.
My primary loyalty will always be with the members and our athletes. I will go through with
the inquiry regardless. The difference now is that I’m no longer obligated to deliver my
findings to the board. IMMAF consists of the national federations which through the AGM
have the final power in the federation. I will deliver my findings to you and then you at the
AGM can decide if you want to give the current leadership discharge or not and elect who
you find most suited to govern IMMAF ahead.
If you have any concerns about the governance and management of IMMAF please send
those to me together with feedback and suggestions. I’m looking for structural and
organizational problems to be able to find solutions and recommendations to the AGM.
Please use [email protected] since I’m not sure about the integrity of my
official federation e-mail. Thank you for your time!”
IMMAF is scheduled to organise the IMMAF Youth World championship in Abu Dhabi in August later this year and it’s unclear if the organisation will be able to host the event. IMMAF also offers the platform to Indian fighters and numerous Indian fighters have competed in IMMAF sanctioned events and some of the big names include Surbala Devi and Mahboob Khan.
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