UFC President Dana White is confident that mixed martial arts (MMA) will one day become an Olympic event, according to an interview with The Oregonian.
Here’s a snip from White:
“That’s always been my goal, and it will happen. It will be awesome. I know there have been talks, but no one has approached me.”
The article mentions that “speculation is increasing about the possibility of [MMA] as an Olympic event.”
I’m not sure if that account comes from firsthand knowledge of this situation or it’s merely hearsay, but either way it’s an incredibly tantalizing prospect.
Japan vs. USA. Brazil vs. Canada. Britain vs. South Korea — all the possible machinations and international showdowns would be downright insane.
These fighters already fight for pride, but imagine the passion and pitched battles on the world stage fighting for their national colors? I can’t … to be honest.
It’s the IFL on serious steroids. Even that analogy doesn’t do it much justice.
With wrestling, Judo and other mixed martial arts already an integral part of Olympic competition, adding MMA seems like a logical next step. One that would more than likely do wonders to debunk the widespread misconception of “human cockfighting.”
The next summer Olympics are in 2008 in Beijing, China. There’s no way MMA will be on display in these games, but maybe 2012 in London, England, isn’t so far-fetched.
Bisping fans rejoice.
(Note: Read this entire article if you can — it has some solid information about PRIDE FC, Fedor Emelianenko and the feud between Sherdog and White.)
42 Comments »
unfortunately even if this does happen, pro mma fighters wont be able to compete, only amateurs like in boxing
That’s not true, NBA players play in the Olympics as well as NHL players
Tim Sylvia would be representing the USA lol we cant win at every sporting event I guess.
Screw Tim Sylvia, Randy Couture, or Gabriel Gonzaga(is a U.S. citizen) would be the best bet in the olympics for the USA.
That’s nutz..I would love to see the team jersey’s..and what will it it be a ring or a cage?? or both..This will only do wonders for our great sport..Imagine USA vs. BRASIL
HW-The Natural..what of be great if it was happening now.
LHW-Rampage
MW-Rich Franklin
WW-Diego Sanhcez
LW-BJ Penn
HW-Rolles Gracie jr. or Pe de Pano/ Minotauro
LHW-SHOGUN
MW-Anderson Silva
WW-Paulo Filho
LW- Marcio Feitosa
[quote comment="93312"]unfortunately even if this does happen, pro mma fighters wont be able to compete, only amateurs like in boxing[/quote]
How do you figure? Do you know something that no one else does? Pro basketball, tennis and hockey players compete in the Olympics. Why can’t pro MMA fighters? That’s an uninformed opinion. Have a little fun with it.
And for the record if curling and baton twirling are Olympic “sports,” there’s no reason MMA shouldn’t be either.
Makes too much sense and should happen. Hope so.
[quote comment="93312"]unfortunately even if this does happen, pro mma fighters wont be able to compete, only amateurs like in boxing[/quote]
Exactly..it would be ametuers only….not very many mma fighters will stay on the ametuer status for that long to compete in the olympics if they are good enough to be in the ufc..
[quote comment="93331"]That’s nutz..I would love to see the team jersey’s..and what will it it be a ring or a cage?? or both..This will only do wonders for our great sport..Imagine USA vs. BRASIL
HW-The Natural..what of be great if it was happening now.
LHW-Rampage
MW-Rich Franklin
WW-Diego Sanhcez
LW-BJ Penn
HW-Rolles Gracie jr. or Pe de Pano/ Minotauro
LHW-SHOGUN
MW-Anderson Silva
WW-Paulo Filho
LW- Marcio Feitosa[/quote]
How about Fitch or Kos at WW…not fucking Sanchez. Just blowing you some shit…but who is a Sanchez fan anyways??
I agree with the amateur statement, but of course I’d prefer to see pro’s. But I wonder how much footage of the MMA fights that abc or nbc would even show. In the past, I’ve only seen a couple, at most, olympic boxing fights. They just don’t tend to show it. But then again, when ever the Olympics are on, I really don’t watch it on tv very often.
They have UFC on….cw or somthing….the olympics are on lots of different channels…..I think USA and or TNT might have some events on. I know ESPN would cover it. I know NBC or whatever is where it’s shown but they don’t show every event I don’t think I can remember seeing judo on there cuz not enough people watch it.
[quote comment="93312"]unfortunately even if this does happen, pro mma fighters wont be able to compete, only amateurs like in boxing[/quote]
That rule was pulled over 10 years ago…
I cant see it happening for this reason. The Glympics take what? 8 weeks? You cant have any fighter fight 3 times in 8 weeks unless its a quick 2 min match. That kind of abuse just cant go on like early UFC days in a social enviroment. So can it happen? Yeah!! But the big question is, how would the councel organize the events..?
Brazil would own all with just Chute Box alone…
[quote comment="93340"][quote comment="93312"]unfortunately even if this does happen, pro mma fighters wont be able to compete, only amateurs like in boxing[/quote]
How do you figure? Do you know something that no one else does? Pro basketball, tennis and hockey players compete in the Olympics. Why can’t pro MMA fighters? That’s an uninformed opinion. Have a little fun with it.[/quote]
Interesting point, are the only amateurs in the olympics baseball and boxing. How come those sports only allow amateurs. Every other sport allows pros, including ice skating.
*and baseball is not going to be around in the 2012 olympics so that will just leave boxing.
[quote comment="93377"][quote comment="93312"]unfortunately even if this does happen, pro mma fighters wont be able to compete, only amateurs like in boxing[/quote]
That rule was pulled over 10 years ago…
I cant see it happening for this reason. The Glympics take what? 8 weeks? You cant have any fighter fight 3 times in 8 weeks unless its a quick 2 min match. That kind of abuse just cant go on like early UFC days in a social enviroment. So can it happen? Yeah!! But the big question is, how would the councel organize the events..?
Brazil would own all with just Chute Box alone…[/quote]
Yeah, I was going to say that Brazil would be a powerhouse and the country to beat, if MMA were part of the Olympics now. If we have to wait until 2012, that might not be the case, because the intervening 4 years would see a lot of countries catch up to the Brazilians, USA, Canada, UK included.
[quote comment="93360"][quote comment="93331"]That’s nutz..I would love to see the team jersey’s..and what will it it be a ring or a cage?? or both..This will only do wonders for our great sport..Imagine USA vs. BRASIL
How about Fitch or Kos at WW…not fucking Sanchez. Just blowing you some shit…but who is a Sanchez fan anyways??
…to each their own..pick ur team.
Opening sentence of the article:
“Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, recently discussed issues affecting his company and mixed martial arts in an interview with The Oregonian.”
Do you think Dana is the president of the UFC…?
[quote comment="93360"][quote comment="93331"]That’s nutz..I would love to see the team jersey’s..and what will it it be a ring or a cage?? or both..This will only do wonders for our great sport..Imagine USA vs. BRASIL
HW-The Natural..what of be great if it was happening now.
LHW-Rampage
MW-Rich Franklin
WW-Diego Sanhcez
LW-BJ Penn
HW-Rolles Gracie jr. or Pe de Pano/ Minotauro
LHW-SHOGUN
MW-Anderson Silva
WW-Paulo Filho
LW- Marcio Feitosa[/quote]
How about Fitch or Kos at WW…not fucking Sanchez. Just blowing you some shit…but who is a Sanchez fan anyways??[/quote]
i’m a huge sanchez fan, he’s a killer…and these match ups would be sick, this needs to happen, i think u.s.a. would do really well…
This isn’t IFL on steroids, this is the IFL taking truth serum and figuring out what it is really all about.
Competing for national pride and accomplishing a complete display of everything the sport is comprised of for the entire world to see.
[quote comment="93378"][quote comment="93340"][quote comment="93312"]unfortunately even if this does happen, pro mma fighters wont be able to compete, only amateurs like in boxing[/quote]
How do you figure? Do you know something that no one else does? Pro basketball, tennis and hockey players compete in the Olympics. Why can’t pro MMA fighters? That’s an uninformed opinion. Have a little fun with it.[/quote]
Interesting point, are the only amateurs in the olympics baseball and boxing. How come those sports only allow amateurs. Every other sport allows pros, including ice skating.[/quote]
Actually, pros are allowed to play in olympic baseball, but opt not to. As to ice skating, they dont allow pros either,amateurs only. Same goes for tennis,amateurs only.
It is a very difficult thing to introduce new sports to the Olympics,but MMA certainly has the ‘global’ appeal. Baseball was scratched off the 2012 games because it lacked the ‘global’ appeal. I mean c’mon, all european basebal/softball teams were using some american players who had some ancesteral connection to the respective nation.
But MMA is different. MMA is truly a ‘global’ sport. Every continent is represented (exception,Antartica) in MMA. N.America, S.America, Europe, Africa, Asia, & Australia. The olympics cannot go wrong at all with MMA. The Olympic committee has nothing to lose and everything to gain by adding MMA. Its not like the Olympics have been a great success over the last 2 summer games. They were giving free tickets in Athens just so ppl would go to events and even w/free tickets ppl werent going. If MMA does join the olympic circuit people would be very interested to attend. and as for big names fighting who cares if the big names are not there. Look at all the great amateur boxers turned pro that have come up through the Olympics. Lets just hope that at least by 2016 MMA will be an exihibition sport.
I would assume there would be some sort of MMA in future Olympics. It could be a big revenue generator which is always appealing. It could possibly take the form of pankriton (sp?) which was in the original Greek Olympics. I would also assume that the combatants would wear some protective gear much like the boxers already do.
[quote comment="93360"][quote comment="93331"]That’s nutz..I would love to see the team jersey’s..and what will it it be a ring or a cage?? or both..This will only do wonders for our great sport..Imagine USA vs. BRASIL
HW-The Natural..what of be great if it was happening now.
LHW-Rampage
MW-Rich Franklin
WW-Diego Sanhcez
LW-BJ Penn
HW-Rolles Gracie jr. or Pe de Pano/ Minotauro
LHW-SHOGUN
MW-Anderson Silva
WW-Paulo Filho
LW- Marcio Feitosa[/quote]
How about Fitch or Kos at WW…not fucking Sanchez. Just blowing you some shit…but who is a Sanchez fan anyways??[/quote]
I love Sanchez. Kos is a tool, or he would be if blankets were considered tools.
185 Franklin and Marquardt
170 Sanchez, KOS, Hughes, Serra of even Fitch
155 Penn and Sherk
Serra, are you kidding me?? he is a whiney bitch who is a bad image for mma.
Would love to see this day come. So many options out there
Isn’t that the core of Olympic eventing; nations beating the cr*p out of each other. Now it would be for real – RATINGS.
this wouldn’t be a new sport in the olypics only a modified version of pankration which was an amcient olympic sport
[quote comment="93359"][quote comment="93312"]unfortunately even if this does happen, pro mma fighters wont be able to compete, only amateurs like in boxing[/quote]
Exactly..it would be ametuers only….not very many mma fighters will stay on the ametuer status for that long to compete in the olympics if they are good enough to be in the ufc..[/quote]
I agree, they would be fighting the same people as they already do in the UFC. Should be ametuers only.
If MMA ever becomes an Olympic sport, submission grapplers would dominate. Submit someone… walk into the next fight nearly unscaved. Strikers would have a hard time winning 3-4-5-6 fights in a 30-90 day period of time. Prelims would have to start 9monthes ahead of time…
I just really dont see how UFC style MMA could be a competitive Olympic sport due to the time constraints, but then again… boxxers pulls it off.
[quote comment="93551"][quote comment="93360"][quote comment="93331"]That’s nutz..I would love to see the team jersey’s..and what will it it be a ring or a cage?? or both..This will only do wonders for our great sport..Imagine USA vs. BRASIL
HW-The Natural..what of be great if it was happening now.
LHW-Rampage
MW-Rich Franklin
WW-Diego Sanhcez
LW-BJ Penn
HW-Rolles Gracie jr. or Pe de Pano/ Minotauro
LHW-SHOGUN
MW-Anderson Silva
WW-Paulo Filho
LW- Marcio Feitosa[/quote]
How about Fitch or Kos at WW…not fucking Sanchez. Just blowing you some shit…but who is a Sanchez fan anyways??[/quote]
I love Sanchez. Kos is a tool, or he would be if blankets were considered tools.[/quote]
USA VS BRAZIL Should be like this
USA HW Randy Couture
LHW Chuck Liddell
MW Dan Henderson
WW Matt Hughes
LW Sean Sherk
Brazil HW Minotauro
LHW Shogun
MW Anderson Silva
WW Paul Filho
LW Hermes Franca
USA, Brazil and Japan would probably do the best.
USA team in my opinion should be:
HW: Couture or Sylvia
LHW: Liddell or Rampage
MW: Henderson, Franklin, or Lindland
WW: Hughes, Serra, or Koscheck
LW: Sherk, Penn, or Nick Diaz
USA
HW: Couture, Sylvia, Vera, Monson
LHW: Liddell, Rampage, Tito
MW: Henderson, Franklin, Lindland
WW: Hughes, Serra, Koscheck, Sanchez
LW: BJ Penn, Sherk
Brazil
HW: Minotauro, Gonzaga, Werdum
LHW: Shogun, Wanderlei
MW: Anderson Silva
WW: ? Possibly Roan Carneiro?
LW: Hermes Franca, Thiago Tavares
[quote comment="93376"]I agree with the amateur statement, but of course I’d prefer to see pro’s. But I wonder how much footage of the MMA fights that abc or nbc would even show. In the past, I’ve only seen a couple, at most, olympic boxing fights. They just don’t tend to show it. But then again, when ever the Olympics are on, I really don’t watch it on tv very often.[/quote]
are you kidding me ..the only reason boxing is amateurs in the olympics is hey different scoring and oh yea pros dont wear headgear….
basketball and that sort of thing pros compete in…so hate to say doubt itd be amateur fighters in the olympics…
[quote post="2589"]USA
HW: Couture, Sylvia, Vera, Monson
LHW: Liddell, Rampage, Tito
MW: Henderson, Franklin, Lindland
WW: Hughes, Serra, Koscheck, Sanchez
LW: BJ Penn, Sherk
Brazil
HW: Minotauro, Gonzaga, Werdum
LHW: Shogun, Wanderlei
MW: Anderson Silva
WW: ? Possibly Roan Carneiro?
LW: Hermes Franca, Thiago Tavares[/quote]
i kept wondering why gsp wasn’t listed on your guys’ list of welterweights:) and i wouldn’t recommend sherk on lightweight with the steroids testing positive
gsp is canadian
I would make Brazil vs Japan:
Japan:
HW: Fuijta
LHW: Machida, Yoshida or Nakamura
MW: Okami or Misaki
WW: Sakurai
LW: Gomi
Brasil:
HW: Minotauro
LHW: Shogun
MW: Anderson Silva
WW: Filho
LW: Cavalcanti
For America vs France, it would look like:
USA:
HW: Couture
LHW: Liddell
MW: Henderson
WW: Koscheck
LW: BJ.Penn
France:
HW: Kongo
LHW: Diabaté
MW: Foupa-Pokam
WW: Liaudin
LW: Schiavo
USA
HW: Brock Lesnar or Frank Mir
LHW: Chuck liddell or Rampage.
MW: Rich franklin
WW: Jonhn fitch
LW:BJ penn
whater is lower have faber do that.
We would definitly own in the LHW and HW divishion.
MMA should become an olympic sport and it would be easy to pick the fighters.. they would all come from the UFC theres a reason why they are in the UFC its because they are the best.. fighters from other leagues dont fight in the UFC because they cant perform at the level as the guys who do fight for the UFC and as far as Medals go thats easy also you have a fight bracket with a random drawing at the begining to select who will fight in the first matches and each fighter who whens his fight will move up the bracket and so on until the semi finals which determine the bronze and the finals which determine the gold and silver…the ONLY problem still is the wieght class’s you cant have a 225 fight a 155 so that needs to be worked out
Dont you think promoters like UFC would loose money if its main fighters were fighting for the olympics and not them?
No way! What the UFC needs right now is exposure. The olympics would bring tons of exposure to MMA and the UFC would profit off of that.
Other Sports in the Olympics have weight classes, such as boxing, power lifting, etc. So that should not be a problem. The main concern would be fitting a tournament format in eight weeks and give the fighters enough time to rest between fights. They could use the Ultimate Fight format of two 5 min round with a third if it necessary, perhaps shorten to 4 min.