The World Wrestling Union (UWW) has established a single Committee for grappling, pankration and amateur MMA. Since many athletes in these fields are engaged in several sports, it was decided to manage these sports by a single Committee. The Union aims to pay more and more attention to this field at a professional level by combining these sports into a single committee. In this regard, national federations have been appealed to support grappling, pankration and amateur MMA sports.

The Executive Committee elected Namig Aliyev, a member of the UWW Bureau and vice-president of the Azerbaijan Wrestling Federation, as the president of the new Committee, and Adrian Bakos as the vice-president.

In accordance with the UWW selection rules, the Committee will be fully formed after the election of 3 additional members by national federations. The new Committee will be supported by additional commissions such as athletes, coaches and technical commissions.

UWW representatives Onur Shimshak will oversee the Pankration – amateur MMA section, and Antonina Bosser will oversee the Grappling section.

It should be noted that pankration, as one of the hand-to-hand combat sports, was created in Greece and was included in the classical Olympic Games in ancient times.

Grappling and MMA are modern sports. The specialty of grappling, which is one of the wrestling sports, consists of choking techniques. In MMA, which is a mixed sport, both fighting and wrestling techniques are used. Unlike professional MMA, UWW holds amateur MMA competitions on a wrestling mat, not in a cage.