Mahio Campanella French MMA national team coaching at the IMMAF World Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia, Digi Mart USA News (Tbilisi, Georgia): Ten years ago, Mahio Campanella discovered the MMA world championships as a competitor. This time, he is experiencing the event from the coaches’ corner.
Selected by the French Mixed Martial Arts Federation (FMMAF) to join the French national team staff, he is currently in Tbilisi, Georgia, where the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) amateur World Championships are taking place.
The appointment recognizes the work he has done in recent years with his club, La Montagne Noire Combat Libre, and the results obtained by his athletes. “The federation called me to ask if I was interested in coaching the French national team.
I said yes right away,” he says. He accepted the offer with enthusiasm, although an arrangement was needed so that he could arrive later and not miss his son’s birthday.
In 2016, Campanella himself took part in the world championships in Las Vegas, followed by the European championships in Bulgaria in 2017. At the time, MMA was not yet legally authorized in France, and the discipline was in its early days in the country.
His American experience was a real revelation, despite being eliminated in the first round. “I had lost to someone more experienced, but it was a revelation because I had really discovered what MMA was.” That experience deeply shaped his approach to coaching.
Ten years later, he is back at this global competition with a different perspective. “For me, the loop is closed.”
In Tbilisi, the mission is far from easy. The French staff supports fighters in a particularly intense competition, with days that sometimes begin as early as 5 a.m.
for weigh-ins. The first bouts are scheduled for 10 a.m.
and can continue until 9 p.m.
Campanella’s role includes preparing fight plans for the athletes. For each opponent, he must study video footage, identify strengths and weaknesses, and define a strategy suited to the qualities of the French fighter.
“You spend hours on video analysis. You evaluate a game plan with athletes you don’t necessarily know well.” The coach must also communicate with the athletes, accompany them during warm-ups, and advise them in the cage.
The organization is precise, and even small mistakes can be costly. He witnessed the elimination of a fighter who had won his bout the day before, after missing the mandatory weigh-in by a few minutes.
For Mahio Campanella, the stakes are twofold: to put his experience at the service of the French team and to return to the Tarn region with new lessons. The finals are scheduled for Saturday, November 7, before the return to France on Sunday.
It is a short but particularly intense week for the Mazamet native, who, ten years after his first world championships, continues to build his experience in MMA.
