Bill Scherr's article on the front page

[The_Education 24]

It is absolutely perfect.

 

http://www.themat.com/section.php?secti ... leID=26298

[NJDan 1,075]

I actually have a pet theory that the real reason the IOC may cut wrestling is so that it can then add MMA to the Olympics. If wrestling benefits by being somehow related to MMA, then why wouldn't the Olympics simply bring in MMA and eliminate wrestling thus eliminating, in a sense, the middleman.

[The_Education 24]

I actually have a pet theory that the real reason the IOC may cut wrestling is so that it can then add MMA to the Olympics. If wrestling benefits by being somehow related to MMA, then why wouldn't the Olympics simply bring in MMA and eliminate wrestling thus eliminating, in a sense, the middleman.

 

Don't worry. It would be impossible to have MMA at the Olympics. Of course, what you're saying has nothing to do with what Scherr said.

[deeppurple 0]

Why would it be impossible? White talks about it all the time.

[The_Education 24]

Why would it be impossible? White talks about it all the time.

 

White is not a reliable source of information.

 

After UFC fights, fighters are given a minimum of a 7-day medical suspension. Most of the time the suspensions are a lot longer. The Olympics last two weeks. Given that time frame and the inability to count on the winner not being injured, you could really only have a gold medal fight, and that's it. It wouldn't work.

 

So maybe you can add pads, like boxing and taekwondo have. It would very difficult to provide MMA guys with adequate padding while incorporating grappling. It just wouldn't be feasible.

 

There's also no international governing body for MMA, and there's no reason for people to form one. MMA would need an international governing body in order to be included in the Olympics.

[NJDan 1,075]

Well, professional boxers take MONTHS off between fights and they still have boxing at the Olympics, albeit with some different rules. And forming a governing body strikes me as a fairly simple task.

[deeppurple 0]

NJdan beat me to it. If boxing and judo can make it work, I don't see why MMA couldn't. Wearing headgear would eliminate cuts and the inclusion of submissions doesn't seem to prevent the tournament format from being utilized in judo. Suspensions after knockouts are not an issue, since athletes who are knocked out are already eliminated. Tae Kwon do has some highlight reel knockouts at times, and they are able to maintain a tourney format.

 

I agree White is not a reliable source of info, but I also think he is pushing for MMA inclusion in the olympics more than suggested above. It will give the sport more international exposure (something he loves) while making the semi fringe sport more mainstream (also something he loves the idea of).

[tec87 349]

Grappling has a better chance of getting into the olympics than mma does. MMA will never ever ever be in the Olympics. If they try and keep it as just amateurs, you will end up having guys winning an olympic gold medal that will never do anything on the pro level. The reason I say that is that most guys in mma maybe have 1-2 amateur fights and then they go into pro mma. The Olympics has pretty much thrown out the amateur stance they once had since it's about marketing and money, so you would then have to have pro fighters instead of amateurs compete. Why won't that happen??? MONEY!!!!! The UFC is the largest MMA organization in the world with one of the largest groups fighters signed to them. Dana White would never allow any of his fighters to compete in the Olympics because if his heavyweight champion were to compete and lost to Fedor Emilanenko(back in his prime when he fought), Dana couldn't market and promote the fight and make money off of it, nor could he market his Champion as the best in the world either. So no mma will never be in the Olympics.

[deeppurple 0]

Those points make more sense than the injury aspects Tec, and I had not considered them, although I suspect fighters would take more time in the amateurs if the Olympics were an option (similar to boxing). The rush to jump to professional will always be part of certain sports, but the allure of a gold medal can slow things down somewhat, at least in other countries. I was not suggesting it would happen any time soon, but I don't think it is an impossibility in the future.

[wrestlingnerd 3,003]

There's just not enough global support for MMA as an Olympic sport to make it. In the US, Japan, the UK, etc., MMA has taken over boxing's top status as king of the combat sports, and even in those developed countries, mainly as a spectator sport, but in the rest of the world, participation is practically non-existent.

 

There was a group organized about a decade ago pushing pankration (which, for the purposes of the Olympics, baiscally is MMA) as an Olympic sport and it failed miserably. Mark Schultz was one of the guys involved.

[The_Education 24]

Anyway, Scherr's article was not about MMA. It was about wrestling. And I think it was spot on.

[jolugogar 7]

Fila is the international governing body for amateur MMA, Grappling and Pankration, acording to SportAccord.

[NJDan 1,075]

Doesn't FILA have its hands full with ruining just wrestling?

[The_Education 24]

This article (that someone posted before) says that the UFC is now joining the fight to save Olympic wrestling:

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ufc-joins- ... --mma.html

 

I think this supports the hypothesis that Scherr's article was right on. I think this also supports the idea that the UFC does not want MMA to be an Olympic sport.