The five-time Olympic champion Mijaín López signed an agreement with the Japanese organization PANCRASE to become the official representative of the project PANCRASE CUBA on the island, an alliance aimed at developing mixed martial arts (MMA) in Cuba with international support.
The agreement was formalized on Friday, August 21, at a press conference held in Tokyo, with the participation of López and Yukikazu Fukui, president of the PANCRASE division of the FEN company. According to the official PANCRASE statement, the alliance aims to use combat sports as a bridge between Japan and Cuba.
López, having retired from active competition after his fifth Olympic gold in Paris 2024 and a staunch defender of the regime, thus takes on a new role outside of wrestling: that of promoter and advocate for a private agency in a discipline that has existed peripherally and without official recognition in Cuba.
During the press conference, the athlete from Pinar del Río outlined a three-stage roadmap: to bring together those who already practice MMA on the island, to assess sending fighters to compete in PANCRASE events, and, in the long term, to establish a training school within the country.
"We must not stop there. We need to evolve. The goal is to train and develop MMA fighters within Cuba," stated the former wrestler turned businessman in this Cuba focused on capitalism.
The project does not start from scratch. Cuba has trainers, gyms, and athletes who have been practicing MMA independently for years, but without a stable platform to connect them with international high performance. Figures like Yoel Romero, Héctor Lombard, Gustavo Balart, and Robelis Despaigne achieved their successes in MMA only after leaving the Cuban sports system.
What PANCRASE CUBA proposes is to attempt that transition from within, with an organized structure and the support of one of the oldest MMA organizations in the world, founded in Japan in 1993 and recognized as a pioneer of modern MMA in Asia.
The weight of López in this project goes beyond his five Olympic gold medals. His ability to legitimize a sport in a society used to associating success with boxing, wrestling, or judo is, according to the analysis of Swing Completo, the most valuable asset he brings to the initiative.
However, López himself acknowledged the main obstacle facing the project: the stance of the Cuban sports authorities.
"MMA is practiced by people who enjoy it. If the country officially recognizes it as a sport, the situation would change," he noted.
The figure of the pinareño carries a political dimension that ensures any initiative associated with his name will be scrutinized beyond the realm of sports. Since 2023, he has been a deputy in the National Assembly of People's Power, and in October of that same year, he was criticized for assaulting a Cuban fan who displayed a flag with the message "Freedom for Cuba" during the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
The first major battle of PANCRASE CUBA will certainly not be fought inside a cage: it will be to achieve official recognition of MMA as a sport by the island's authorities.
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