News MMA officially included in 2026 Asian Games program

[David R]

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) has officially been included in the Asian Games program, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) .

 

[EndlessCritic]

I've never understood why people are so eager to have MMA as part of the Olympics.

 

[David R]

I've never understood why people are so eager to have MMA as part of the Olympics.

All the protection they use makes it look silly. But it does get more people interested in doing the sport. That said maybe this should be moved to "So you want to be a fighter discussion ".

 

[EndlessCritic]

All the protection they use makes it look silly. But it does get more people interested in doing the sport. That said maybe this should be moved to "So you want to be a fighter discussion ".

Ah yes, this is why the bobsled and discus are so popular.

MMA doesn't need the olympics. The olympics are so shady they put don king to shame.

 

[David R]

Ah yes, this is why the bobsled and discus are so popular.

MMA doesn't need the olympics. The olympics are so shady they put don king to shame.

What shady? Trump is in charge of the next one so all clean.

Or not.. still more people learning mma the better.

 

[Ara tech]

It will give more audience and benefit the sport so why not.

Just hoping that PRO won't be allowed to compete in it, and only amateurs.

MMA could be a very suitable choice, but what with what ruleset ? 3x3, yes or no elbows, of course no knee to a grounded opponent, no soccer kicks, no head butts ?

Competing in a cage would have been more interesting though.

Not a bad idea. It have to get pushed worldwide. MMA needs to be in the olympics.

 

[Xuh]

This could mark the beginning of the North Korean takeover of MMA

 

[STAY GOLD]

The best thing that could happen is having IMMAF help organize it.

 

[leto1776]

MMA needs to be in the olympics.

Do you actually watch the Olympics? It ruins combat sports. One example: boxing. Most pro world champs don’t have a deep amateur pedigree. Why? What it takes to be a great amateur boxer doesn’t work in the pro ranks. Judo? Can’t even look at an opponent’s legs without getting a penalty. Taekwondo? Watered down to two guys bouncing on their toes, hands at their sides, waiting for a perfect opening for a kick that rarely comes.

MMA in the Olympics? No thanks

 

[Ara tech]

Do you actually watch the Olympics? It ruins combat sports. One example: boxing. Most pro world champs don’t have a deep amateur pedigree. Why? What it takes to be a great amateur boxer doesn’t work in the pro ranks. Judo? Can’t even look at an opponent’s legs without getting a penalty. Taekwondo? Watered down to two guys bouncing on their toes, hands at their sides, waiting for a perfect opening for a kick that rarely comes.

MMA in the Olympics? No thanks

Without the olympics freestyle wrestling who is very important and greco who is also but less important would had never been developed well and would had been divided split into regional local traditional ruleset instead of an unified international rulesets. They wanted to remove wrestling from the olympics, thanks god they didn't.

Most MMA fighters dominant fighters champions have a wrestling background, that gave wrestling a good popularity. The new generation of bjj is thriving due to wrestling and leglocks but that is just a detail.

For boxing, yes and no. Trying to be an olympic champion before 22-26 and then moving pro is not a bad idea, in some countries having sponsored state program can give opportunities to fighter. But I understand the con, not being able to have one foot in each world and juggling between an amateur or pro career is a problem but cons and pros come together as a same coin.

About Judo, the problem with Judo is the new ruleset, they banned lower body attacks, low single, double legs, etc. The people who made these new rules who were disliked by the judokas themselves were not even athletes. They claimed that freestyle and greco wrestling are enough and that they wanted diversity to make the sport "better".

I can quote "Leg Grabs still exist as a part of the martial art of Judo, but as far as international competition they have been eliminated from play. Some techniques and strategies have been diminished as a result."

Old School Judo # Modern Judo

Takekwondo is not really interesting, I agree with that.

I think my friend leto, talking about the Olympics is a bit complex. I believe that it will make the sport of MMA more popular, and more athletes will invest in it to claim gold, it will create bigger audience. If governments sponsor directly a national MMA team, selecting people since their youth, like in China/Japan. This could benefit certain asian countries.

Olympics because of nationalism draw more crowd than any PPV, even a Khabib Connor fight will draw far less than an Olympic. So many nationatilites, so many athletes, so many supporters, if an athlete gets a medal he will be crowned and considered as a hero in his own home country.

"The IOC said around five billion people followed Paris 2024, which is more than half of the world's population"

I doubt these numbers though, 5 billions, but even, just like 1 to 3 billions views is attractive. Ask me I don't care much about the olympics, some will say that sports are being directed by the elite to entertain the masses to distract them from real perspectives, but to me it's more just softpower.

If an athlete X let's say from Y country gets cold, he put his country on the map, he gives advertisement to his country indirectly, the more a country is know, the more it's economy is going to go up, mostly with tourism.

For example Khabib, made Dagestan famous. And thousands of tourists traveled there for at least a week to a whole one month, thus increasing the economy. This is a positive externality

With that national pride, according to some, it's another good effect, of bringing happiness to the common people.

I don't think that MMA amateurs for the olympics will be a bad idea, but it will all depend on the ruleset. Headgear on ? Headgear off ? No elbows allowed standing & grounded or just no elbow grounded ? 3x3 or 3x5 ? Scoring system ?

To be honest, I would just say that it has potential. Nothing more.

Do the olympics support Wrestling ? Absolutely. Wrestling is divided by so many locals wrestling traditionals wrestling styles, an international ruleset is key.

Do the olympics support Judo ? Yes, to a certain extent. But the new rules were not favorable, they undermined the quality of it.

Taekwondo is a joke somehow I won't count it.

And then you have Boxing. Does the olympics support Boxing ? A bit yes. Boxing in trouble to be removed ?

I can quote "For many boxers, the Olympics serve as the ultimate career goal, a stepping stone to professional boxing, or even as a career in itself. Winning an Olympic medal, particularly a gold medal, can be a life-changing experience for athletes, providing them with sponsorship opportunities, endorsements, and international fame."

PRO Boxing is united, IBF, WBO, WBA,WBC, same rulset. MMA is not, PFL was no including eblows, now it does. One allows knee to a grounded opponents but allow often bouts in a ring instead of a cage.

An Olympic MMA will divide MMA more with different rulesets, that would be a bad effect, but popularity will be a good effect.

 

[Doctor Grudge]

Do you actually watch the Olympics? It ruins combat sports. One example: boxing. Most pro world champs don’t have a deep amateur pedigree. Why? What it takes to be a great amateur boxer doesn’t work in the pro ranks. Judo? Can’t even look at an opponent’s legs without getting a penalty. Taekwondo? Watered down to two guys bouncing on their toes, hands at their sides, waiting for a perfect opening for a kick that rarely comes.

MMA in the Olympics? No thanks

Yes, they do. Not sure where you got this idea.

List of current world boxing champions - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Flower2dPeople]

This would only benefit the wrestlers of the 'stans who didn't make it to the wrestling team. And I'm all for it.

 

[STAY GOLD]

Do you actually watch the Olympics? It ruins combat sports. One example: boxing. Most pro world champs don’t have a deep amateur pedigree. Why? What it takes to be a great amateur boxer doesn’t work in the pro ranks. Judo? Can’t even look at an opponent’s legs without getting a penalty. Taekwondo? Watered down to two guys bouncing on their toes, hands at their sides, waiting for a perfect opening for a kick that rarely comes.

MMA in the Olympics? No thanks

If it's organized anything like the IMMAF tournaments, it will be great.

 

[thatdude21601]

The AMMA seems to be the sanctioning body, which is kind of goofy compared to IMMAF. There's been a gi category that is essentially Sambo/Asian Jiu Jitsu in the events so far. I don't think there's going to be a cage or ring; just a big open mat.

Both the first events had some random pros mixed in too, so I'm not even sure fighter requirements are.

 

[europe1]

I've never understood why people are so eager to have MMA as part of the Olympics.

Journalist Zane Simon mentioned
This is being driven mainly by ex-Soviet actors.
Olympic MMA would mean lots of medals for them.
Their amature system is basically designed for winning in it.
Which is partly why they're spending so much money on MMA.