I am getting chills as I start typing this blog, watching the opening ceremonies for the 2012 Olympic Games taking place in London, Great Britain. What an honor it is to have the opportunity to represent your country in a sport you have been passionate about since you took your first steps.

The Olympics is truly a special time for many people around the world. The Games can give someone, some amateur (or pro if we are talking about the basketball), the chance to perform in front of millions worldwide and in front of their loved ones.

One of my personal favorite things about watching the Olympics is to see the vast amount of martial arts covered during the Games. From the Westernized styles of Boxing and Folk-style wrestling, to the Japanese inspired art of Judo, martial arts have left their mark in the Olympics for decades. Who is to say that we could, oh I don’t know, possibly merge all of these arts into one form of combat, allowing any athlete to use martial arts best acquitted to their physical stature (see what I did there?). My point is this: why not have MMA be represented in the Olympics?

Now hear me out on this. I am totally aware of the potential dangers of fighting in tournaments with such a condensed amount of time, but skeptics said the same thing about MMA thriving past its infant years. People like Dana White and the Fertitta bros adopted different rules to benefit the safety of the fighters in the UFC, so why not do the same for potential MMA events in the Olympics. The current pro-style formats, for those who are not too familiar with the sport, include 3 separate 5-minute rounds, with a 1-minute rest in between each round for non-title fights (A championship bout would contain 5 five-minute rounds). Instead of these prolonged rounds, it could be reasonable just to have fighters perform in 3 2-minute rounds in a tournament style format.

As far as padding goes, most MMA fights just require fighters to wear 4-ounce, open thumb gloves. MMA in the Olympics could adopt the same protective precautions just as boxing did, where the fighters would wear 8-ounce gloves, along with shin pads and (potentially) head gear. As for the size of the tournament brackets, that would be up for debate. On the one hand, each weight class cannot be represented by a minimal amount of competitors – say, an 8-man bracket.

A lot of intricate planning would have to be devoted to making this event a serious, yet entertaining, spectacle to watch. There would obviously be plenty more skeptics resenting this idea, simply because there is too great a risk for this sport to ever occur in the Olympics. Yes, the Olympics only last for roughly two and a half weeks, and this is definitely a short time to allow a tournament to take place, but if there is a will there is a way. I, for one, would definitely love at least the chance to represent my country in the Olympic Games in a sport I have been passionate about since I was a wee lad.

Classy JP