New Poll Suggests American Support for MMA as an Olympic Sport

[VCURamFan]

From MMAFighting.com:

Jul 26, 2012 - A new survey commissioned by Yahoo! Sports suggests there is fairly significant support for mixed martial arts being contested as an Olympic sport. According to the survey, 25% of Americans think MMA should be included in the Olympics. Other sports people want to see in the Olympics are: baseball (32%), softball (24%), lacrosse (19%), and field hockey (15%).

Yahoo! partnered with Ipsos MediaCT to conduct the study in May of 2012. 2,000 U.S. adults ages 18 to 64, 'who are representative of the U.S. online adult population', were polled, according to a press release.

In addition to those polled, count another influential name among those supportive of mixed martial arts being contested in the Olympics: UFC President Dana White.

White has been an outspoken critic of amateur mixed martial arts. He's suggested both domestic sanctioning bodies and international governing organizations like the U.S. Olympic committee are necessary to properly regulate that side of the sport.

"First and foremost mixed martial arts is a combination of most of the sports that are already Olympic sports," White said in April of this year. "But I don't believe in amateur mixed martial arts. There's no such thing, it's BS. What it is, is a way for a promoter to not pay a fighter. That's what amateur means. It means I don't have to pay you because I consider you an amateur and I believe there is no real amateur mixed martial arts in this sport, until the Olympic committee gets behind it like they did with USA boxing and boxing in other countries. I would love for that to happen."

Like boxing, White has argued for a tiered amateur MMA system that is tightly regulated domestically and culminates in the highest level of achievement in the form of an Olympic gold medal. "The goal was to go into the amateurs, you fight your way up to the top, you win an Olympic gold medal and then you go right into the pros and the whole world wants to see you fight. That's the way it always worked in boxing and that's the way it should work in MMA, too."

[kevint13]

I would love for MMA to be an olympic sport, but it is not practical. It would have to be an extremely watered down version to even make it possible. There is too much risk of injury and cuts to fighters that they would never get medically cleared to fight again in the same day or with a day or two off.

[Bonnie]

I think they do have field hockey in the Olympics; I thought I just saw it listed today showing on one of the channels covering the Olympics.

Kevin makes a good point about the mma.

[kevint13]

Originally Posted by Bonnie

I think they do have field hockey in the Olympics; I thought I just saw it listed today showing on one of the channels covering the Olympics.

Kevin makes a good point about the mma.

I believe field hockey is only a women's sport in the olympics, but I don't think I have ever seen men's field hockey anywhere.

Baseball and softball were both in the olympics before, they just got removed.

I don't remember how it all works, but for a sport to be considered it has to be played in a large percentage of the world. That may also factor against MMA at the moment.

[J.B.]

This topic comes up every four years, and every four years people come to same the conclusion that MMA would suck as an Olympic sport.

The Olympics already have Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, and Taekwondo. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing Jiu-Jitsu added to that list, and that is something that is being talked about quite a bit with the 2016 Olympics going to Rio de Janerio. The biggest problem I see with MMA being added to the Olympics, besides the obvious fact that the rules would be watered down, is the very problem that already plagues both professional MMA and Boxing but also Olympic Boxing as well. Judging.

Here is something else to think about...(a brief history lesson)

MMA stands for "Mixed Martial Arts". We all know the original concept for the "UFC" was a Trojan Horse for introducing people to Gracie BJJ, but what really peaked peoples interests was the idea of idea of who will win when you match up one discipline or skill-set against another. That aspect is still a huge part of the sport to this day.

Obviously, the highest levels of MMA has evolved from the days when Tank Abbott could walk into the cage straight from the bar-stool, and it's important for these guys to be well trained in all aspects of the fight game. However, I do wonder if the sport is growing to a point where we start to see a lot of fighters who are "a jack of all trades, but master of none". If MMA were an Olympic sport that would likely hurt the other Olympic sports already in the mix. What incentive would a young athlete have to focus on winning a gold medal in Boxing, Wrestling, Judo, or Taekwondo if they know that the real recognition comes from winning gold in MMA? Granted, Boxing still has the draw to make you a millionaire after the Olympics, but you gotta be REALLY good, and know how to market yourself. MMA fans have bashed Boxing for years for it's problems but, ironically, it seems like every 4 years (or every 4 minutes, depending on how often you check fight forums online) they are upset that they don't share in the same company as Boxing.

A lot of hardcore and some casual MMA fans feel the need to validate the sport to others. A lot of times, that "validation" comes in the form of online rants about how Boxing is dead and MMA is the best sport ever because it is "real" fighting with "all" the martial arts. A lot of those same fans boo and scream like babies when a fight is "boring". They cry; "I fell asleep during that fight". How many NFL games do you think people have fallen asleep to? Seriously, most of those idiots complaining about falling asleep on a Saturday night fell asleep because they stuffed themselves full of chicken wings and booze. A classic combination of drunk and the itis.

[adamt]

how ironic that one of the few original olympic sports was pankration, which of course is the original mma, and here we are saying mma isn't a viable olympic sport

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by adamt

how ironic that one of the few original olympic sports was pankration, which of course is the original mma, and here we are saying mma isn't a viable olympic sport

Pankration is not a sport in the modern Olympics. It's mostly lulz. Kinda like how I mentioned Taekwondo. Yeah, its there....and?

[adamt]

Originally Posted by J.B.

Pankration is not a sport in the modern Olympics. It's mostly lulz. Kinda like how I mentioned Taekwondo. Yeah, its there....and?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankration

my point is that mma was a sport in the olympics a long time ago.....why not now

[J.B.]

Originally Posted by adamt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankration

my point is that mma was a sport in the olympics a long time ago.....why not now

Because there was a lot of things we did BC? LOL, believe me, if this was a fight that could be won somebody would have done it by now.

[VCURamFan]

The other point that Ariel pointed out Monday (this was a listener question on MMA Hour, as well) was that there is no amateur MMA circuit to pull from. And once you go pro, you're locked up by the UFC if you're truly world class. It'd be, at best, like watching basketball: "O, yeah the Gasols make Spain passable & there's goofy lookin' Dirk rocking it for Germany, but USA just crushes of course."

I really like the idea of BJJ becoming an Olympic sport. That would be friggin' phenomenal!!