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≡ MMA GOES OLYMPIC? ≡
Mixed Martial Arts has become a commercial success in a short time, raising to worldwide prominence in the 1990s with the formation of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in 1993 and expanding quickly from there.
Now, with MMA a global business, the inevitable push toward inclusion on the Olympic program has started.
On Thursday. Singapore-based real estate development billionaire Gordon Tang (CAM) held an online news conference to announce the first moves to introducing MMA to the Olympic Movement:
“MMA has hundreds of millions of fans around the world. But despite this global popularity, MMA remains a sport that lacks unified international governance. This is something we want to address today.
“As President of the Asian Mixed Martial Arts Association, I have seen firsthand what can be achieved when everyone works together behind a shared vision. We have seen athletes excel and opportunities open up at major multi-sports events such as the Asian Games.
“But this has just been at a continental level. It is not enough for a global sport.
“That is why today we are announcing that on 1 December in Athens – the birthplace of the Olympic Games – we will host the founding meeting of FIMMA: Federation of International Mixed Martial Arts.
“FIMMA is a response to the numerous calls we have received from athletes and from National Federations. Calls for an International Federation that unites the sport under cohesive global governance. An International Federation that drives progress through an ambitious athlete-centered strategy. And an International Federation that delivers long-term sustainable global growth.
“FIMMA will stand as a unifying force. We are ready to collaborate with any and all organisations that share our commitment to protecting and promoting the global interests of MMA and its athletes.
“And with organisations that share our vision for MMA to take its place at the Olympic Games. Amateur MMA for too long has been divided. It’s time to unite our sport and bring it out of the shadow of its professional counterpart. It is time to unlock the enormous global potential we all know exists.
“I and ready to apply all my experience in MMA, sport and business at the service of this vision. Next week, the journey will begin.”
Tang is no stranger to the Olympic Movement, serving as an Executive Board member of the Olympic Council of Asia since 2021. Moreover, Mixed Martial Arts will appear on the program of the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya (JPN).
The Asian Mixed Martial Arts Association was founded in 2022 and held its first championship event in Thailand in 2023 and in Cambodia in 2024. MMA was included in the Asian Youth Games in Bahrain in 2025.
Even so, the new federation will need to create a structure, rules, institute an anti-doping program and begin standing up national federations around the world. Then the process of accreditation will begin, applying for recognition by the International Olympic Committee and joining the Alliance of Independent Recognized Members of Sport (AIMS). Once recognized by the IOC, Tang’s FIMMA could then apply to become a member of the Association of IOC-recognized International Federations (ARISF), and can begin serious lobbying to get onto the Olympic program.
But the idea of creating an International Federation for MMA is not new.
Standing in the way of Tang’s plan, however, is the fact that there is already an International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF), founded in 2012 and which has held world championships since 2014. A Swiss non-profit, it lists member federations in 123 countries and was launched with support from UFC. The IMMAF itself is the product of a merger with the World Mixed Martial Arts Association, in 2019. It is not a member of AIMS.
Observed: The outright violence which marks MMA will make it a difficult addition to the Olympic program, which already has boxing, judo, taekwondo and wrestling, not to mention the confusion with the existing IMMAF.
But the popularity of MMA will make it attractive for a future organizing committee to add it, seeing opportunities for increased ticket sales. Tang’s announcement underscored “athlete safety” – to the extent possible in MMA – with no cages to be used and restrictions on specific moves, such as strikes to the head after a knockdown.
Thursday’s announcement is the first step in a long road, but one which seeks to further validate MMA as a “mainstream” sport worldwide. It is not at all clear whether its inclusion would help the IOC’s stance that sports is a vehicle for peace.
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