Bertrand Amoussou-Guenou (born May 29, 1966) is a retired

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

and

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

ka. He is a trainer for his younger brother

Karl Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austria ...

of ''Team Amoussou'' and, following official recognition of mixed martial arts in France, became the president of the national sanctioning body, the Commission National de Mixed Martial Arts, in January 2008. On 1 October 2013, Amoussou assumed the position of president of the

International Mixed Martial Arts Federation The International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) was founded on 29 February 2012 as the international governing body for amateur Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Registered as a non-profit organisation under Swedish law, IMMAF serves as a democra ...

(IMMAF).

Life and career

Amoussou was born in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

to a

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

ese instructor of judo and

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

.Le Jujitsu
/ref>Interview de Bertrand Amoussou
at Noomba SPORT At the age of four he moved to France and began his training in judo in January 1977.Pre-Pride Bushido 3 Interview
/ref> Amoussou was a national champion in judo and, as a member of the French national team for ten years, became the bronze medalist (78 kg) at the

1990 European Judo Championships The 1990 European Judo Championships were held in Frankfurt, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most ...

. Amoussou became three-time world champion in ''Ju-Jitsu Combat'' (practically an amalgamation of judo and karate) and also trained

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

with French

full contact karate Full contact karate is any format of karate where competitors Sparring, spar (also called Kumite) full-contact and allow a knockout as winning criterion. History Full contact karate competition comes in several different formats developed for th ...

ka Dominique Valera. In 2004, Amoussou became the first Frenchman to win a

Pride Fighting Championship PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...

bout. He also served as an ambassador for ju-jitsu at the 2010 SportAccord Combat Games in Beijing. In 2008 Amoussou became the president of the national sanctioning body, the Commission National de Mixed Martial Arts, which was later to change its name to the Commission Française de Mixed Martial Arts. In October 2013, he ascended to the role of president of the

(IMMAF) and oversaw the first IMMAF World Championships of Amateur MMA in Las Vegas (USA) in June - July 2014.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 1-0-1 , Rao Rao , TKO (punches) ,

Pride Bushido 3 The year 2004 is the 8th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2004 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride 27 - Inferno''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The followi ...

, , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:29 ,

Yokohama, Kanagawa is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 0-0-1 , Mushtaq Abdullah , Submission (rear naked choke) , Brazil Open - '95 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:33 , Brazil ,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amoussou-Guenou, Bertrand 1966 births Living people French mixed martial artists of Black African descent Mixed martial artists utilizing judo French male judoka Mixed martial arts trainers French sportspeople of Beninese descent Senegalese emigrants to France Sportspeople from Dakar Black French sportspeople