NAGOYA, Sept 22 \u2014 A sport once banned in much of the United States and famously decried as \u201chuman cockfighting\u201d by a high-profile politician is making an ambitious play for the Olympics.<\/p>\n
Mixed Martial Arts, better known as MMA, is making its Asian Games debut this week in Japan \u2014 a milestone that fighters and organisers hope will one day lead to an even bigger prize.<\/p>\n
Galastein Tan, director general of the Federation of International Mixed Martial Arts, said being at the Asian Games was \u201ca big step\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs for any sport, the inclusion in the continental games is critical,\u201d he told AFP in Nagoya.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously the inclusion means that you already have a good governance structure, you have enough members, athletes to be able to compete, your ruleset, your officials are ready and therefore it is a significant one.\u201d<\/p>\n
At a compact gym akin to a school sports hall, men and women scrap it out in separate categories in front of a modest but enthusiastic crowd.<\/p>\n
Many of the competitors are from countries with proud histories in fighting sports \u2014 Thailand, Kazakhstan, the Philippines and hosts Japan to name a few.<\/p>\n
Inspiring a generation\u00a0<\/p>\n
For fans of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the MMA promoter synonymous with the sport, there is one immediate difference.<\/p>\n
In UFC, which in June held an event on the South Lawn of the White House, the rough and tumble takes place inside a caged octagon.<\/p>\n
At the Asian Games competitors do battle on a white and grey mat, but they are not fenced in.<\/p>\n
For martial artists used to fighting in a cage, this takes some adapting to \u2014 a fence \u201cdoes not really align with Olympic values\u201d, said Tan.<\/p>\n
Getting everyone to agree on the rules of the competition, including what moves are allowed, is one major obstacle to MMA being at the Olympics.<\/p>\n
Singapore\u2019s Teo Hui Hoon, who is guaranteed to win at least a silver medal, said that Asian Games and Olympic recognition will encourage a generation to take up the sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it will grow the talent pool a lot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will encourage more children and teenagers to take up the sport and take it seriously.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause now there\u2019s a clear pathway, right? You can join a national team, the next step you can go to the Olympics.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018We are ready\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
MMA is not the only sport debuting at Asia\u2019s premier sporting event and hoping one day to get into the Olympics.<\/p>\n
So too is teqball \u2014 roughly a crossover between football and table tennis \u2014 and there is also the fast-growing racquet sport of padel.<\/p>\n
It makes for a crowded field, and there are many other sports with Olympic ambitions.<\/p>\n
Plenty of hard work and political lobbying lies ahead if MMA is to make it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been in talks with the IOC and other relevant stakeholders that have influence or decision on the recognition,\u201d said an upbeat Tan.<\/p>\n
The sport does have Dana White in its corner \u2014 the UFC chief is openly supportive of Olympic inclusion.<\/p>\n
Of the other issues on the long path to Olympic recognition there is a perception in the eyes of some that MMA is too violent.<\/p>\n
Still, driven by the phenomenal success of the UFC, MMA is now mainstream \u2014 a far cry from the 1990s when US senator John McCain likened the early version of the sport to cockfighting.<\/p>\n
Getting the whole of MMA to coalesce around one governing body is also essential if an Olympic place is to one day come.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles in 2028 is too soon, and then comes Brisbane four years later.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing is impossible,\u201d said Tan.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that MMA is a sport that the Olympics finds relevance to and the ability to connect with both adults and also the youth.<\/p>\n
\u201c(It is) a sport which has global appeal and a sport that is ready and capable of fitting into a major Games schedule.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo if the IOC or LA28 comes and say, MMA, would you like to be in as a medal sport or demo sport, we are ready.\u201d \u2014 AFP\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NAGOYA, Sept 22 \u2014 A sport once banned in much of the United States and famously decried as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[53572,64,63,786,177586,10280,785,306171,10018,85],"class_list":["post-900743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-asian-games","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-galastein-tan","tag-mixed-martial-arts","tag-mma","tag-nagoya","tag-olympics","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}