| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mixed martial arts promotion |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Headquarters | |
Key people | Marcus Wortmeier |
We Love MMA is a mixed martial arts event series in the German-speaking area organized by together Promotion GmbH. [1] Since 2010, the organization has held 48 events.
We Love MMA was founded by Marcus Wortmeier (organizer) and Frank Burczinsky (matchmaker) [2] [3] The event series started in co-operation with the now-defunct German Free Fight Association (FFA). For that reason Sherdog still lists FFA and We Love MMA together in their fight database, counting 63 events and more than 500 matches. [4] The first six We Love MMA events were all held between 2010 and 2013 in Berlin’s Universal Hall. 2014 saw the first events taking place outside Berlin, in Oberhausen, [5] Hamburg, and Stuttgart. After six meetings in Germany in 2015, the series expanded to Austria (Vienna) and Switzerland (Basel) in 2016. Regular venues include arenas in Ludwigshafen, Dresden, [6] Hanover and Munich. [7] [8] [9] In 2019, We Love MMA premiered at the Castello in Dusseldorf and in the Saarlandhalle in Saarbrücken. There have been 48 events so far, with more planned for 2019 and already for 2020. [10]
We Love MMA events are regulated by the Grappling and Mixed Martial Arts Association e.V. (GAMMA²). The rules are aligned with the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, which are also used by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Fights normally consist of two 5-minute rounds.
The series features both fights between male [11] and female fighters. [12]
The first men's title fight in the middleweight class was between Dustin Stoltzfus and Mario Wittmann, [13] with Dustin Stoltzfus emerging victorious to become the first We Love MMA champion. [14] The current welterweight champion is Adrian Zeitner, [15] while Kam Gairbekov is holding the lightweight title [16]
Since 2017 We Love MMA has provided a live stream with German and English commentators, which is hosted worldwide on various platforms (including German tabloid newspaper Bild's website [17] ) and TV channels as well as the We Love MMA website. The archive now contains over 450 videos.
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