In the morning of 3/6 at the Cau Giay District Stadium, the Vietnam General Martial Arts Federation (VMMAF) held a press conference to launch Lion Championship, the first MMA championship of Vietnam. In the first tournament, VMMAF will play qualifying in 3 areas of North – Central – South, then organize semi -finals and finals.
Revealing more about the organization of Lion Championship in the future, MC Thanh Trung, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Vietnam General Martial Arts Joint Stock Company (Vimma) shared: “We have planned to organize Lion Championship events in the next 3 years. The next year will take place in different formats with the first year.”
More specifically, Vimma and VMMAF have planned to organize the Lion Championship 2023 and the following years with the same format as the national championship, basketball and volleyball. After the first qualifying round ends, the semi-finals will not be organized in the knockout format that 8-10 boxers in each weight class will play a circle.
From the perspective of the Organizing Committee, MC Thanh Trung shared Lion Championship may be the event that takes place weekly or 2-3 weeks to appear once. This helps martial arts to become a common food for martial arts enthusiasts, not just the events that take place at a few times of the year as before.
The trailer of Lion Championship
“We planned to organize Lion Championship events every Friday of the next year,” MC Thanh Trung added. “Because Saturday and Sunday often have football matches, Lion Championship's organization on Friday can attract more audiences. The matches taking place with high quality will also attract audiences to watch.”
According to information from VMMAF, Lion Championship 2022 has a total of 9 weight classes, including 3 classes of women (52kg, 56kg, 60kg) and 6 male classes (56kg, 60kg, 65kg, 70kg, 77kg and 84kg). The first qualifier began on June 11 in Hanoi and closed on 24/7 in Can Tho. By September and October are the quarterfinals and semi -finals in Hanoi.
The final round is scheduled to take place in December in Phu Quoc. In addition to the fascinating matches, Lion Championship is expected to serve the audience watching with special music and art shows on the sidelines of the event.