Interest in mixed martial arts continues to grow, but should it be added to the Olympics?

Simply put, yes it should be. The Olympics currently feature 16 different “combat” sports, including things such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai and wrestling, just to name a few. All of these sports are key components of mixed martial arts competitions.

With fighters more often than not cross-training in several of these disciplines, it would open up the field for athletes across the sport to get a shot at making it onto a professional circuit like Bellator, or the big name in the game, the UFC, for which they may not even have been considered for due to lack of visibility.

However, safety is something that would have to be taken into consideration. There will most likely be a vast difference in skill level amongst the field, but even something as simple as headgear, shin-pads and slightly heavier gloves are all things that could be discussed and addressed fairly easily.

Many fighters would most definitely have concerns with having that many fights in that short of time and of course as with any combat sport, the risk of career-ending injuries are always going to be a factor. I believe that if held in a team scoring format rather than an individual format, the concerns about the number of fights each fighter would have to compete in could be addressed and would be an option in alleviating some of these concerns.

As for allowing amateurs, the Olympics were originally intended to be a platform for amateurs and not professionals to begin with. It was not until 1982 that the permission was given by the International Federation to allow professional athletes to compete.

I believe that going back to those early roots and restricting professionals but allowing for different categories as we see with Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle category would be simple enough to do.

The biggest concern I personally would have would be age eligibility. Outside of that, if you treat it like wrestling and keep weight classes in place, I would view it as almost an audition for the amateurs in the sport to showcase their talent and potentially catch the eye of the larger fighting circuits. That also gives the amateur fighters the opportunity to further advance their careers.

The world of sports is changing and even the Olympics have made adjustments with the additions of freestyle skateboarding, climbing and surfing, which were added in the last set of Olympics held in 2020.

I believe that just like among the major fighting leagues, the rules and regulations could be adjusted to quell that concern. It would also bring in a massive amount of viewership with the UFC pay-per-views averaging 1.5-2.6 million views. I think a further conversation should be had.