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Aug
22
MMA and the Olympics? Maybe…
August 22, 2008 |
Every 4 years athletes from all over meet to compete on the biggest stage, the Olympics. Everyday MMA fans flood forums discussing the chance of MMA becoming an Olympic sport. Unfortunately while fans can’t always make the decisions we can work together to fight for what we believe in.
Boxing in the Olympics has brought out some of America’s greatest pro’s including Ali, De La Hoya, Jones Jr. In the Olympics boxing has set up its own system based on hits to decide the winner fairly. If MMA became an Olympic event a similar system would probably be set up. This may however take away from the desire to finish in a fight. One more similarity to boxing is than more than likely amateurs would fight. This may mean head gear, feet gear, or some other increase in protective gear required to participate. Ultimately MMA risks becoming like boxing if this was to happen.
As many know injuries are not uncommon in MMA: Broken hands, torn muscles, pulled or torn hamstrings. Essentially the Olympics would be like a week long tournament probably with fighters fighting maybe every 2 days at most. For a fighter to not sustain an injury over the time would be hard considering many boxing matches in the Olympics go to a decision. If a fighter is to go to a decision twice within a four day period that would take a toll on the body.
With the growing popularity of MMA it would be hard to imagine that MMA will not become an Olympic event. If it did MMA would probably become one of the most exciting of all Olympic events. If a person was to win they would be launched almost automatically into top ten of MMA fighters.
In conclusion MMA as an event would mean its coming into mainstream sports, it’s acceptance of amateur athletics. However MMA could lose some appeal if the sport veered away from what is seen in events such as the UFC, WEC, and EliteXC. Rules and schedules would have to be worked out. Health risks in extensive competition would have to be addressed. Amateur MMA would greatly benefit in that fighters would have more reason to remain amateur. Foreign fighters could also see more exposure maybe helping us to find the next “Fedor” that we may never have seen without the Olympics.
