Judo

With the Olympic Games coming up next month, wouldn’t it be exciting if MMA was officially adopted into the Olympic sports lineup? The thought itself seems too good to be true.

But does it have to be?

The Olympics already feature other combat sports such as Boxing, Judo, Wrestling, and Taekwando. Isn’t Mixed Martial Arts just a combination of all of these great sports?

It makes much more sense bringing MMA to global competition then it is to have sports like baseball, which is predominantly an American concept, that most other nations outside the Americas have absolutely no interest in.

With baseball being eliminated from Olympic competition in 2012, it frees up some space for new events.

Even Dana White will tell you, that the most amazing thing about MMA is it’s ability to cross over all ethnicities and language barriers. Fighting is something that is understood by every human being, regardless of where they're from.

Bellow I have listed hypothetical Olympic teams based on the fighters given country and weight class. When analyzing these elite athletes and comparing them to the other athletes competing in different Olympic events, you’ll find that the age fluctuation in MMA is really remarkable, and non existent anywhere else.

There are some really young and talented athletes like Georges St. Pierre, Josh Koscheck, and Shinya Aoki, fighting. However at the same time there are some much older fighters like Randy Couture, Kazuyki Fujita, and Dan Henderson fighting, who are also capable of competing at the highest level of competition.

The truth is you’ll never see a 44 year-old man competing in Olympic swimming. The same thing goes with running, boxing, or any track and field event. What that means is that MMA is a very special sport, where an older athlete with a wealth of experience and technique can often overcome a much younger opponent that may be faster and stronger. (e.g Couture vs Gonzaga, Fujita vs Thompson)

We’re talking about a sport, were only the boldest and bravest venture. A sport where a thousand arts and techniques blended into one, formulating something so beautiful and passionate, you can’t help but be drawn to it.

Besides, wouldn’t you rather watch that than badminton?

Here’s what the teams could look like:

Untied States

275- Randy Couture, Josh Barnett

205- Forrest Griffin, Quinton Jackson

185- Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland

170- Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck

155- B.J Penn, Sean Sherk

Japan

275- Kazuyuki Fujita, Hidehiko Yoshida

205- Kazushi Sakuraba, Kazuhiro Nakamura

185- Yushin Okami, Kazuo Misaki

170-  Takanori Gomi, Hayato "Mach" Sakurai

155- Shinya Aoki, Mitsuhiro Ishida

Russia

275- Fedor Emelianenko, Andrei Arlovski

205- Besiki Gerenava

185- Andrei Semenov

170- Amar Suloev

155- Vladimir Zenin

Canada

275- Gary Goodridge

205- Nate Marquardt

185- Dennis Kang, David Lousaeu

170- Georges St. Pierre, Jonathan Goulet

155- Sam Stout, Mark Hominick

Brazil

275- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Gabriel Gonzaga

205- Wanderlei Silva, Loyoto Machida

185- Anderson Silva, Ronaldo Souza

170 – Thiago Alvez,

155- Gesias "JZ" Cavalcante, Vitor "Shaolin" Ribeiro