At the present time, Thailand has published a preliminary list of 43 subjects of SEA Games 33. But in fact, this list has been announced for a long time and has not been updated according to the current situation. One of them is information related to MMA that can be added to the 33th SEA Games play program.
Earlier this year, the Organizing Committee of the Indoor Games and International Martial Arts 2023 (AIMAG) decided to put MMA into the competition program. Accordingly, MMA will be calculated as a high -achievement sport in Asia, instead of only professional events as the current.
Another coincidental detail is that AIMAG 2023 will take place in Thailand. This can be seen as the premise for the host country to SEA Games 33 to consider more about putting MMA into the next 2 -year competition program. In fact, Thailand has a solid foundation to develop MMA, and they will not take much time to do this.
Besides professional events, MMA recently has many high -achievement tournaments. These prizes are usually organized and licensed by the International MMA Federation (IMMAF). Therefore, Vietnam, as a member of the Immaf, will have an advantage in developing MMA in the direction of high -performance sports.
In case MMA is included in the SEA Games 33 program, Vietnam and some countries such as Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia will have a great advantage. Because, at the present time, these are 4 rare countries with strong MMA development in Southeast Asia, with many international boxers playing.