The Taliban government has banned mixed martial arts in Afghanistan after saying the sport is incompatible with Islamic law and too violent to be allowed.

An official from the Taliban’s sports authority told local broadcaster TOLOnews that MMA posed a risk of death. The order was issued by the morality police in the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, following what officials described as an investigation into the sport’s compliance with Sharia.

The announcement marks another step in the tightening squeeze on combat sports under Taliban rule. According to the evidence provided, MMA competitions were already effectively outlawed after the Taliban introduced legislation in 2021 prohibiting “face-punching.” The latest ban formalises pressure on a sport that had gained a large audience in the two decades before the Taliban’s return to power.

The BBC report said MMA had become popular among young people in Afghanistan and had developed a passionate local fan base. The Afghan Mixed Martial Arts Federation was founded in 2008, while promotions such as the Afghanistan Fighting Championship and Truly Grand Fighting Championship staged dozens of fights. The report also said some fighters had complained of threats and harassment from Taliban officials.

At the same time, the authorities have shown occasional flexibility. The BBC cited the case of fighter Ahmad Wali Hotak, who was able to hold a press conference in Kabul in 2022 to announce an upcoming fight, later winning in Russia and returning to photographs with government figures. But those episodes did not change the wider direction of policy.

The sport’s critics inside the Taliban framed the issue as both moral and physical. The sports directorate said the sport had “many aspects” contradictory to Islam, while the sports authority official said the danger of death made it unacceptable. The same BBC report noted that MMA has not been recognised by the International Olympic Committee, in part because of safety concerns.

The ban adds another example of how the Taliban are reworking Afghanistan’s public life through religious and moral restrictions. For fighters, coaches and promoters who built the country’s MMA scene after 2008, the decision leaves little room for organised competition inside Afghanistan.

It also closes off a sport that had become a visible outlet for younger athletes. The evidence supplied indicates that a number of Afghan combat-sports athletes competed internationally, including at the Paris Games on national or refugee Olympic teams. The Taliban’s latest move, however, shows that domestic MMA now sits firmly outside the boundaries the authorities are prepared to tolerate.