Swedish MMA world champion Nikolija Milosevic switches national team: “Once-in-a-lifetime moment”

Nikolija Milosevic. Photo IMMAF

With gold medals for Sweden at both the latest IMMAF World Championships and European Open, reigning world champion Nikolija Milosevic is nothing less than a force of nature on the international amateur scene.

However, ahead of February’s 2022 IMMAF World Championships in Serbia, the 26-year-old fighter wanted to switch national representation from Sweden to join Serbia’s national team.

As Milosevic’s got dual citizenship and Serbian parents, the Federation has no problems with the switch – and since the Swedish MMA Federation gave the bantamweight full support, she’s all good to go.

“As proud to be Swedish as I am Serbian”

The reigning champ is proud to represent her heritage and determined to do what she can to take the sport to the next level in Serbia.

“First of all, I want to say that I am as proud to be Swedish as I am Serbian. I consider that I have done everything I could for Sweden, and now I feel that it is time to do the same for Serbia. Sweden has been in IMMAF before and has historically had many good fighters, and I have confidence that they will do a good job with or without me in the future,” Milosevic said in a comment to IMMAF.

“MMA is relatively new in Serbia, and by representing them in a championship and hopefully succeeding in winning gold, I will certainly make a difference to the sport in the country. It means a lot to me to know that my contribution can make a difference somewhere.”

Nikolija Milosevic won gold in the 2022 European Open. Photo: IMMAF

“Once-in-a-lifetime moment” for Nikolija Milosevic

Nina Milosevic is the first athlete to benefit from the new IMMAF rules regarding change of nationality, and federation representative Jorden Curran was happy when he commented on the switch.

“I’m really pleased to see Nina as the first example of an IMMAF athlete benefitting from the newly structured ‘change of nationality rules’, which were designed to fairly regulate team switches under approved criteria,” Curran, who’s IMMAF Member Development Consultant, said.

“An athlete would usually be required to wait for the fresh event calendar to begin before an approved change can be completed. However, Nina’s request was wholeheartedly supported by SMMAF president Måns Nilsson, and we couldn’t fail to recognise the special circumstances of this being a once-in-a-lifetime moment for Nina, to fight for Serbia, in Serbia, as the defending world champion.”

The 2022 IMMAF World Championships will take place on 11-18 February in Belgrade, Serbia.

Read more: Champion Nikolija Milosevic interview: Talks triple gold and turning pro!

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