The first Balkan MMA Championship in the history of this sport was held at the Šumice Sports Center in Belgrade, under the auspices of the “International Mixed Martial Arts Federation” and the MMA Federation of Serbia.
The Balkan Open Championship gathered 13 countries and about 150 competitors from Bulgaria, Slovenia, Romania, Hungary, Montenegro, Albania, Greece, as well as guests from outside the region such as Austria, Switzerland, and Cyprus.
The Serbian MMA national team achieved a historic success at the 2026 IMMAF Balkan Championship, winning a total of 36 medals. Gold medals in the senior competition were won by Aladin Ibrović in the super-welterweight category up to 79.4 kilograms and Marko Ivković in the heavyweight category up to 97 kilograms.
In the final, Ibrović defeated Bulgarian fighter Georgi Nedkov with an attractive “guillotine,” while Ivković reached the gold via technical knockout after dominant “ground and pound” strikes against Patrik Genov, also a representative of Bulgaria.
The junior selection dominated thanks to gold medals won by Pavle Petrović in the featherweight up to 65.8 kg, Vladimir Galetić in the lightweight up to 70.3 kg, Strahinja Galetić in the super-lightweight up to 74.8 kg, Teodor Balać in the middleweight up to 83.9 kg, Dejan Živković in the super-middleweight up to 88.4 kg, and David Magda in the heavyweight category up to 97 kg.
In the youth categories, the champion titles went to Vuk Maksimović (Youth A, 65.8 kg), Aleksandar Nenadović (Youth C, 37 kg), Strahinja Karanović (Youth C, 44 kg), Leo Hopić (Youth C, 62 kg), and Luka Petrović (Youth D, 34 kg).
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Silver medals for Serbia were won by senior Luka Mladenović (70.3 kg), juniors Danijel Grbić (65.8 kg) and David Vračević (74.8 kg), as well as youths Miloš Grulović (Youth A, 52.2 kg), Andrei Geca (Youth A, 56.7 kg), Adam Veselinović (Youth A, 61.2 kg), Mihailo Dimić (Youth A, 65.8 kg), Bogdan Živković (Youth A, 74.8 kg), Veljko Pavić (Youth A, 79.4 kg), Dušan Radojčić (Youth B, 52 kg), Luka Mitrov (Youth B, 67 kg), Teodor Tomić (Youth B, 77.1 kg), and Branivoje Marjanović (Youth C, 40 kg).
Bronze medals were earned by juniors Ognjen Petrović (65.8 kg), Mateja Mitić (70.3 kg), and Aleksandar Gračanin (79.4 kg), while in the youth categories, bronze was taken by Mario Miljković (Youth A, 70.3 kg), Lav Ludvig (Youth B, 57 kg), Ognjen Milinković (Youth B, 57 kg), Marko Rakonjac (Youth B, 62 kg), Andrija Pavlićević (Youth B, 67 kg), Đurađ Đorđević (Youth B, 72 kg), and Viktor Stojanović (Youth C, 62 kg). In addition to the medal winners, notable performances were made by Mateja Vasić and Relja Đukanović (Youth A, 65.8 kg), as well as Neven Radošević (Youth B, 57 kg) and Aleksandar Relić (Youth B, 72 kg).
Following an extremely successful performance at the Balkan Championship, the Serbian MMA national team expects to continue the competitive season through preparations for the upcoming Serbian National Championship, which will also serve as the selection competition for the national team roster for international tournaments.
The focus of the professional staff is already directed toward the world championships following in the third quarter of the year for all age categories, where Serbia will try to confirm its status as one of the most promising MMA nations in the region and Europe.
The Serbian national team was led by members of the professional staff – senior national team coach Stefan Sekulić, youth selection coach Aleksandar Tomić, and sports director Jusuf Hajrović.
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SERBIAN CHEF SHONE ON THE BIG STAGE: Miloš won a silver medal at an international competition!
Source: Sportal, Photo: RSMMAF
