We are just over two weeks away from the IMMAF World Championships taking place as part of International Fight Week in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The city will be invaded by Irish for the week as Conor McGregor fights Jose Aldo for the featherweight title at UFC 189, Neil Seery and Gunnar Nelson will also be on that card, Catherine Costigan makes her Invicta debut, and both Irish Teams (North & South) have fighters competing in the world championships.
The Northern team was announced a number of weeks ago and we were waiting for an official announcement regarding who would be representing the Republic of Ireland team and here we have it:
Sinead Kavanagh (Women’s FW)
Frans Mlambo (FW)
James Gallagher (LW)
Kiefer Crosbie (MW)
Each fighter hail from the SBG club in Dublin, undoubtedly the best pro team and arguably one of the best amateur team in all of Ireland. The head coach of the team is John Kavanagh, who is also the head coach of SBG.
Amateur Irish MMA in the Republic of Ireland is governed by the IAPA (Irish Amateur Pankration Association), an organisation formed in the tail end of 2014. You can read more about them on their official facebook page.
(Title Image: John Kavanagh with James Gallagher, photo via Dolly Clew/Cage Warriors)