Media Olympians Who Have Competed In MMA

Muhammad Ali has a Sherdog profile?

I don't actually care, just thought Ali was a strange inclusion given the ridiculous ruleset.
No Ali doesn't have a profile I ment Ray Mercer's. In my personal opinion I consider Ali vs Inoki an MMA match. It was the 2nd MMA fight ever, Lebell vs Savage being the first. If it wasn't for matches like that back then we wouldn't have what we do today. It was MMA before MMA had a name.
 
Mahmoud Sebie Fawzy is now 4-2 on his Sherdog profile and Mark O. Madsen is 12-1.
 
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I was scrolling through wondering who the fuck could have competed in the1960 Olympics and also competed in MMA ... I guess we are counting that weird ass exhibition thing with Antonio Inoki vs Muhammad Ali as 'MMA' huh?
 
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Claressa Shields
Jennifer Chieng

Ray Mercer
Carlos Balderas
Vladimir Tchanturia
Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali
Trevor Stewardson

Claressa Shields, USA
Middleweight (≤75 kg)
Olympics
Gold 2012 London
Gold 2016 Rio de Janeiro
MMA
1-1
Boxing
13-0


Jennifer Chieng, Micronesia
Lightweight (≤60 kg)
Olympics
9th 2016 Rio de Janeiro
MMA
1-2
Amateur Boxing
6-8


Ray Mercer, USA
Heavyweight (≤91 kg)
Olympics
Gold 1988 Seoul
MMA
1-0
Boxing
36-7-1


Carlos Balderas, USA
Lightweight (≤60 kg)
Olympics
5th 2016 Rio de Janeiro
Amateur MMA
0-1
Boxing
13-1


Vladimir Tchanturia, Georgia
Heavyweight (≤91 kg)
Olympics
Bronze 2000 Sydney
MMA
0-1
Boxing
13-1


Muhammad Ali, USA
Light-Heavyweight (≤81 kg)
Olympics
Gold 1960 Roma
MMA
0-0-1
Boxing
56-5


Trevor Stewardson, Canada
Light-Heavyweight (≤81 kg)
Olympics
9th 2004 Athens
MMA
5-2
Amateur Boxing
7-7










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Charlotte Craig
Robelis Despaigne

Charlotte Craig, USA
Flyweight (≤49 kg)
Olympics
9th 2008 Beijing
Amateur MMA
2-0


Robelis Despaigne, Cuba
Heavyweight (>80 kg)
Olympics
Bronze 2012 London
MMA
1-0










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May Ooi, Singapore
Olympics
46th 50 metres Freestyle 1992 Barcelona
36th 200 metres Freestyle
32nd 400 metres Freestyle
DNS 800 metres Freestyle
34th 100 metres Butterfly
32nd 200 metres Butterfly
36th 200 metres Individual Medley
30th 400 metres Individual Medley
MMA
4-2










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Szymon Kolecki, Poland
Middle-Heavyweight (≤94 kg)
Olympics
Silver 2000 Sydney
Gold 2008 Beijing
MMA
10-1










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Paulo Cesar Silva, Brazil
Olympics
5th 1988 Seoul
MMA
2-6










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Natasha Kai, USA
Olympics
Gold 2008 Beijing
Amateur MMA
1-0










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Herschel Walker, USA
Olympics
7th 2 Men 1992 Barcelona
MMA
2-0


Todd Hayes, USA
Olympics
2002 Salt Lake City
4th 2 Men
Silver 4 Men
2006 Torino
7th 2 Men
7th 4 Men
MMA
1-0
TL;DR
Just kidding. Amazing research.
Also, lol at bobsleigh.
 
Excellent work on this and fascinating to look through. Thank you for doing this.
 
Are we really calling that weird ass Ali fight MMA?
Yes I'm calling it MMA. That's why I listed it and kept it up when everyone else mentioned it. It was MMA before MMA had a name. What else would you call a pro boxer vs a catch wrestler in match that allowed punches, kicks, and grappling?
 
Yes I'm calling it MMA. That's why I listed it and kept it up when everyone else mentioned it. It was MMA before MMA had a name. What else would you call a pro boxer vs a catch wrestler in match that allowed punches, kicks, and grappling?
That's a mix of martial arts, so we could call it MMA, especially since it has both grappling and striking. I don't know why everyone is so focused on that.

I had no ideas there were this many Olympians in MMA. I guess there are lots of A-level athletes in MMA after all. There certainly are lots of guys from this list that are better fighters than any NFL player that tried MMA.
 
Yes I'm calling it MMA. That's why I listed it and kept it up when everyone else mentioned it. It was MMA before MMA had a name. What else would you call a pro boxer vs a catch wrestler in match that allowed punches, kicks, and grappling?


Hmmm now I think you're trolling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Ali_vs._Antonio_Inoki

In the days leading up to the fight, Ali and Inoki's representatives began to renegotiate the rules. A list of restrictions was imposed on Inoki. He would not be allowed to throw, grapple or tackle Ali and could not land any kicks unless he had one knee on the mat.[4] Ali's camp also demanded that the rules not be made public before the fight. Judo expert and US Marine Donn Draeger noted, "The rules have been so seriously modified that the contest is no longer boxing versus wrestling. Unless this were done there would be no way to choreograph the match and make it look convincing. Ali can grapple or punch the man down; Inoki is not allowed to leg-dive or tackle. That latter restriction is the same as prohibiting Ali from jabbing. What a farce!"[5]
 
Upcoming fights:
February 3, PFL CHALLENGER SERIES 2023 WEEK 2: WOMEN'S FEATHERWEIGHTS
NARANJARGAL TSENDAYUSH vs. Amanda Leve

February 4,
REAL FIGHT ARENA - RFA 8
ISTVAN VEREB vs. Michal Dobias

Belator 290
Ali Isaev vs. Steve Mowry

February 18, Brave CF 69
MAHMOUD SEBIE FAWZY vs. Ognjen Dimic

March 24, One Championship - One on Prime Video 8

ARJAN SINGH BHULLAR vs. Anatoliy Malykhin
 
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My sources are Olympedia and Sherdog

103 total athletes from 15 Olympics

88 Men
15 Women
39 have competed at 2 or more Olympics
77 have winning MMA records
4 have become UFC champion
2 have become Bellator champion


Freestyle Wrestling (39) 37 Men, 2 Women
Greco Roman Wrestling (24) 24 Men
Judo (23) 16 Men, 7 Women
Boxing (8) 6 Men, 2 Women
Taekwondo (3) 1 Man, 2 Women
Bobsleigh (2) 2 Men
Basketball (1) 1 Man
Swimming (1) 1 Woman
Weightlifting (1) 1 Man
Football (1) 1 Woman

Weight limits within weight classes may vary by year.


53 Athletes have won a total of 64 medals in 8 sports (44 Men, 9 Women)

Gold (26) 9Greco 7Judo 4Box 4Free 1Weight 1FBall
Silver (24) 10Greco 7Free 4Judo 1Weight 1Bob 1TKD
Bronze (14) 6Free 4Judo 2Greco 1TKD 1Box


34 Countries Represented

USA (31)
Japan (9)
Cuba (7)
Poland (5)
Georgia (4)
Australia (4)
Hungary (4)
Egypt (4)
Russia (4)
Mongolia (3)
Canada (3)
EUN (3)
Brazil (2)
South Korea (2)
Armenia (2)
Kyrgyzstan (2)
Mexico (1)
ROC (1)
USSR (1)
Micronesia (1)
Morocco (1)
Uzbekistan (1)
Denmark (1)
Greece (1)
Sweden (1)
Singapore (1)
Netherlands (1)
Belarus (1)
Honduras (1)
France (1)
Azerbaijan (1)
Latvia (1)
Colombia (1)
Tonga (1)


15 Host Cities

1960 Rome (1)
1976 Montreal (1)
1980 Moscow (2)
1984 Los Angeles (3)
1988 Seoul (8)
1992 Barcelona (19)
1996 Atlanta (18)
2000 Sydney (25)
2002 Salt Lake City (1)
2004 Athens (23)
2006 Torino (1)
2008 Beijing (20)
2012 London (17)
2016 Rio de Janeiro (18)
2020 Tokyo (4)
You can add Bulgaria to the list if not added yet. My old roommate Boris Novachkov has competed in MMA.
 
There is also Georgian boxer Georgi Kandelaki who competed in RINGS in 1992-1993. Seems like Tapology and Wikipedia considers his 4 bouts there as an mma fights.
 
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