Thailand's National Sport Is Being Fought Out in Kosovo for Eleven Days and Vietnam Have Multiple Finalists

The IFMA Senior All Disciplines World Championships run 1 to 11 September at the Ruzhdi Ramosaj Sports Hall in Decan, Kosovo. Quarter-finals were on 7 September, semi-finals on 8 September, and the technical semi-contact competition on 9 September.

The programme covers senior elite and under-24 divisions for men and women, plus disciplines that are not full contact. Muaythai technical semi-contact is fought on a tatami without ropes and preceded by the Wai Kru ceremony, and is scored on precision and control rather than damage.

Turkey, Poland, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia led the quarter-final day on wins. By the semi-finals, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Hungary led the under-24 qualifiers, while Vietnam, Colombia and Kazakhstan had multiple senior elite finalists.

The upset of the tournament came when Saudi Arabia's Amer Alanazi knocked out the Kosovan home favourite Elton Shyti with a spinning back elbow. He meets Kazakhstan's Bakhitiyar Narimanov for gold.

Other results: Poland's Tomasz Kawa stopped a UAE opponent in round two at under-24 -63.5kg, and Finland's Vanessa Leppanen stopped Bulgaria's Emi Danova in round two at under-24 -54kg.

IFMA held its June 2026 senior world championships in Kuala Lumpur, feeding qualification toward the 2027 World Combat Games.