Now more than a week in, the 30th Olympiad taking place in London this year has been an unprecedented success, showcasing over 26 sports ranging from the popular to the obscure.
And obscure is putting it lightly.
When else will the eyes of over a billion people around the world be transfixed to sports such as trampolining, dressage or handball.
It’s a far cry from the grueling brutality of the Ancient Olympics where men often competed to the death.
Sports such as boxing, wrestling and pankration—the progenitor of modern mixed martial arts—have a much deeper pedigree in the Olympic games than such tame affairs as synchronised swimming or badminton. But it’ll be a cold day for Hades before you see the likes of pankration back in the Olympics.
A sport which involves the bloody brutalisation of an opponent has no place in the sedate games of today where even the boxers wear padded helmets to protect their heads from blows.
Olympic boxing is the perfect example of why modern mixed martial arts would never work at these events. The sport has been so neutered in its Olympic version that it’s barely recognisable from its professional counterpart.
Matches are awarded not to the better fighter, but to the better point scorer. Negative, defensive fighting is rewarded whereas aggression and heart could cost you the match.
That’s one of the reasons why Muay Thai, despite intense lobbying from the Thais, has still failed to make it as an Olympic event.
To be considered for the games, Muay Thai fighters would have to be fully padded, much like their Taekwondo counterparts. Moves designed to inflict physical damage, such as cutting an opponent with an elbow will have to be taken out. Knees would have to be padded to prevent any serious injury. Attacking an opponent with his back turned will be taken out and you would rarely see any knockouts.
But most of the ingredients of MMA are already present at the Olympics. There are submissions which are widely seen in the sport of judo. We have all the most important grappling arts present, including Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling. Minus the elbows and knees, the striking arts are also well represented with the aforementioned boxing and taekwondo.
An Olympic MMA sport would simply put these disciplines together, much like the ancient pankration event.
However, there would be a price. Fighters would be heavily padded and rounds would be scored based on metrics such as number of strikes landed and takedowns completed rather than on the judgement of human officials. And ground and pound? It’s hard to imagine the International Olympic Committee ever having the stomach for that aspect of the sport.
Combat sports are about defeating the will of your opponent. The champion is the one with the biggest heart. By sanitizing the more extreme aspects of the sport, the Olympics would take all that away.
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