There are a lot of reasons why MMA is probably not destined to be an Olympic sport. The first is that no fighter you’ve ever heard of would probably ever receive clearance to participate. The second is that there’s no amateur MMA infrastructure to speak of. Not exactly two great tastes that go great together.
Luckily, it works pretty well when you throw it into reverse; fighters who made their bones in the Olympic games and then crossed into the cage.
Here are seven former Olympians still active in MMA today. As you’ll see, some are pretty doggone successful.