White wants MMA in the Olympics

The first ancient Olympic Games was held in 776 BC. It began with a single event, the stade, a 200-yard foot race. This was the only event for the first 13 Games.

In the 18th Olympiad, in 708 BC, wrestling (pale) was added.

In 648 BC mixed martial arts (pankration) was added.

With various additions, the Olympics continued for over 1,000 years, until in 394 AD, when it was banned by the Roman emperor Theodosius I, as part of his campaign to impose Christianity in Rome.

When the Olympics were reborn in Athens in 1896, wrestling and foot racing were there, but mixed martial arts had been lost.

120 years later, MMA is the world’s fastest growing sport, and the Olympics are trying to attract a younger audience, so it is a natural fit. For a sport to be accepted, there has to be a international governing body for the amateur side of the sport. In MMA, that is the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF), which has the support of the sport’s dominant league, the UFC.

During a recent appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter, UFC president Dana White was asked if he thinks MMA should be a part of the Olympics.

“We’ve probably been working on that for three, four, five years, but we should be,” said White, as transcribed by Luke Thomas for MMA Fighting. “We absolutely should be. They have judo, which uses submissions and chokeholds. They have boxing, which you can punch to the body and head.

“They have taekwondo, where you can use kicks and punches. Everything we do is already in Olympic sports, so it makes sense.”

A large number of distinguished Olympians have made the transition to the UFC including Henry Cejudo, Daniel Cormier,Matt Lindland, Yoel Romero, Ronda Rousey, Sara McMann, and Kevin Jackson. It is only natural for the sport to come full circle, and enter the Olympic games.