Will MMA ever be an Olympic Sport? (The Sad Truth)

I was a scrawny young 14-year-kid when I started playing Judo.

Like every naive kid that age, it had more than once crossed my mind that one day, if I just trained hard enough and ate my vegetables, maybe one day I could be a great Judoka… maybe even, if I put my whole heart into it… an Olympic Judo champion.

Truly, the dream of making it to the Olympics has a a certain atmosphere of fairytale-like magic.

To scrawny kids world-wide dragging themselves to the dojo day in and day out, “Olympic champion” is a dream that is all the way up there, with “president,” “rockstar” and “billionaire.”

No doubt, inducting MMA into the austere halls of the Olympics will be a tremendous boon to the sport.

Why all the fuss about being an Olympic Sport?

Once a sport becomes an Olympic sport, almost all countries of the world will start pouring funds and start programs for it.

Universities and governments, to say the least, will put their backs into developing the best athletes they can

Money and talent that will pour into the sport.

Let’s say, MMA makes it to the Olympics.

National sporting agencies from the world’s richest countries to developing nations will all try give serious efforts to field athletes into MMA competitions.

And kids around the world will start their dream of one day standing on the Olympic pedestal through that sport.

That makes MMA becoming an Olympic sport closely watched by its adherents.

Is MMA an Olympic sport?

Over 2,600 plus years ago (648 BC) in the Ancient Greek Olympics, the sport of pankration was introduced.

In this ancient sport, there were only two basic rules – no biting and no eye gouging.

(Just like UFC 1, for all you fight historians out there)

Of course, this isn’t the Olympics we’re talking about.

We’re talking about the modern Olympics Games which was started in 1896 and continue until this day.

Nope. MMA isn’t a sport in the modern Olympics Games.

Why Isn’t MMA in the Olympics?

To be fair, MMA, in its modern incarnation, only gained worldwide viewership and popularity with the first UFC event in 1993 in Denver, Colorado.

MMA was initially banned in many states and countries, even in large, dominant countries Canada and France, for being, to the untrained eye, too “brutal” or some for of “human cockfighting.”

While most of the world has made MMA legal or at least has not banned it, MMA still retains a lot of this initial stigma. More on this later.

Despite, the sport’s global following, the process of becoming an Olympic sport is a long one.

How does a sport become an Olympic sport?

A sport has to first gain recognition from the all-powerful IOC, or International Olympic Committee.

A sport has to be petitioned by an international organization to the IOC to be accepted.

In this case, the cudgels are taken up IMMAF or International Mixed Martial Arts Federation.

The IMMAF has to prove that the sport has an international following and great base of practitioners.

While MMA certainly has global fan base and practitioner base, it won’t end there.

MMA will have to actually be included in one of the Olympic events. This is just as much as a business decision as it is a decision based on the merits of the sport.

For example, even Wrestling, perhaps the most symbolic and fundamental sports of all mankind, was suppose to be dropped in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (err.. 2021 Tokyo Olympics, thanks COVID!) due to low viewership. (Thankfully a global outcry saved Wrestling in the Olympics.)

Where is MMA in the process of becoming an Olympics Sport?

The IMMAF has been working on the process, and thinks that MMA will be recognized as an Olympic sport by the 2024 Paris Olympics. Oui! Oui!

There’s no reason to celebrate yet though. Unfortunately, this is a mere projection.

Even if the IOC has recognized a sport as an Olympic sport, the hosting country will usually be able to heavily influence what sports it will include and which to drop.

Given MMA was banned in France as late as 2016 and legalized only in 2020, we aren’t sure what kind of pushback it will give MMA.

Will Any of MMA’s Rules be Changed to Become an Olympic Sport?

By becoming an Olympics sport, there will have to standardization to amateur MMA rules.

By amateur here, I don’t mean amateur like that newbie white belt who just joined the team two weeks ago.

Amateur here means not earning any prize money from winning in the sport. You can be “amateur” and still world class, such as national team athletes.

In an interview, the IMMAF confirmed that there will be some departures from the more widely-accepted set of rules used in professional MMA. (Read: What are the Rules of MMA)

Due to perception of the brutality of the sport, to make it more palatable to the effete masses, shin pads and and rash guards will probably be required.

The Sad Truth About MMA and the Olympics

The sad truth is that the OIC is a bureaucracy.

And just because MMA is possibly the most encompassing of all combat sports today does not mean that it is assured a spot in the Olympics.

Sadly, the inclusion of a sport in the grandest of world sporting events is not based purely on the pursuit of the Olympic motto, Citius – Altius – Fortius (Latin for Faster – Higher – Stronger).

Some find it questionable that the Olympics should include what might seem as unnatural sports, like Race Walking or Water Polo, but sit on the fence for the most elemental sports of mankind, like Wrestling, which was almost booted out, or MMA, the most unrestrained for combat, which is trying to get in.

Despite this disheartening thought, we can be sure of one thing.

There will be no shortage of scrawny kids trooping into MMA gyms, thinking one day they can reach the top of sport if they just train hard enough and ate their vegetables.