On August 27, 2021, Kerrith Brown, president of the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) which serves as the global governing body for amateur MMA, visited Kyrgyzstan, where he met with the country’s president, Sadyr Japarov, to discuss the potential of growing the sport of MMA in the Central Asian country.
A nationalist who went from prisoner to the presidency less than a year ago, Japarov offered his support to IMMAF initiatives in the Central Asian country, saying “I was a sportsman myself, and I know how important it is to support an athlete at the right time of their journey.