Could UFC stop MMA from being an Olympic sport?

The form of mixed martial arts (MMA) making its debut at the Asian Games looks almost completely distinct from the visceral brawls of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which have come to define combat sports in recent years.

In order to get a version of the sport into the Games, currently taking place in Nagoya in Japan, adaptations had to be made. The fights take place without the familiar cage, on an open mat and with small boxing-style gloves. While MMA’s presence in the Asian Games is significant in itself, it’s also a clear effort to get close to Olympic recognition.

“We think without the cage we will have a better alignment with the Olympic values and hopefully recognition from the IOC,” Galastein Tan, the director general of  Federation of International Mixed Martial Arts (FIMMA), told press agency AP. “It takes time to change a perception. We hope to be able to share that there is a new form of MMA, and this form is more aligned with the Olympics.”

FIMMA is not the only body purporting to represent the sport, with the International Mixed Martial Arts (IMMAF) also staking a claim. But Tan, a Chinese billionaire property mogul, is a vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia. This could potentially open doors in a movement which has so far kept MMA at arm’s length, with violence levels among its concerns. DW contacted both FIMMA and the IMMAF for comment but received no response.

UFC has outstripped MMA

In the past the UFC, a lucrative MMA-based competition, has also pushed for Olympic recognition. But the growth of that arm of the sport, highlighted by it staging an event on the South Lawn of the White House at the 250th anniversary celebrations of US independence earlier this year, has meant that the aims of a sport that was marginal two decades ago have shifted according to Karim Zidan.

“I don’t necessarily think it’s that important to MMA. The sport has already found its success on a professional level, which is what the fan base demanded of it,” said Zidan, who has written an upcoming book ‘The Ultimate Strongmen: MMA and the Rise of the New Authoritarian Right’ on the subject. 

“The UFC is bigger than it’s ever been in terms of the amount of money it’s making” added Zidan. “The UFC’s growth mainstreamed MMA as a sport, but it also cannibalized it. So there’s really not much remaining. Olympic recognition might seem like a badge of honor, but it doesn’t amount to much else.”

With events for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles already set, the earliest MMA could make its bow would be 2032 in Brisbane. But the IOC told AP that “mixed martial arts does not meet … eligibility criteria” at this point. DW has sought clarification from the IOC on this.

Does MMA have enough appeal for Olympics?

Tan appears to be trying to find a way to change that, citing the sport’s popularity. “MMA is popular globally, able to engage fans at a gut level and attract fans at a youth level,” he said.

But Zidan argues that its popularity is through the UFC, rather than any grassroots popularity.

“There isn’t much of an MMA ecosystem outside of the UFC for me to say there’s an entirely different worldview existing in the sport that’s demanding this. There are pockets within the sport that enjoy amateur MMA and are operating within it, but I don’t think it’s a significant part of the fan base at all,” Zidan said.

“I’m not particularly convinced that this is a turning point or a significant moment for mixed martial arts, honestly. I think the sport has suffered tremendously under the burden and the weight of the UFC over the past decade.”

UFC’s links with the Trump administration are deep and clear, with UFC president Dana White also speaking at the Republican convention in 2024.

But Zidan also pointed to the IMMAF’s link up with Brave Combat Federation, a Bahraini organization headed by Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, a son of King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. A 2025 Amnesty International Report said Bahrain continued to “to suppress the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, including through arbitrary detention and prosecutions.”

Authoritarian links remain for MMA

Such links with authoritarian governments have become, Zidan added, fairly commonplace in the sport.

“They’ve already had associations with authoritarian regimes in the past and it’s very likely that relationship will build. If this [the Asian Games and potential Olympic acceptance] means that we will now have more amateur MMA events being hosted around the world in youth championships, it’s very likely that authoritarian regimes will jump on that.”

The challenge for FIMMA, who appear to want to take MMA in the Olympic direction and away from UFC and its associations, is to make the sport more “normal” and less about spectacle, FIMMA’s vice president Alex Engelhardt told AP.

“It’s very challenging in the sense that the whole mindset in the sport is so focused on promotions,” he said.

Even if that can change, and sport’s debut at the Asian Games adds some legitimacy, the Olympics still seem some way off.

Edited by: Jonathan Harding