Dana White Proposes MMA in the Olympics to Increase Viewership: ‘You Want Viewers?’

UFC CEO Dana White believes MMA should be in the Olympics.

As the 2024 Paris Olympics are underway, many MMA fans believe the sport should be in the Games. Wrestling, boxing, and Judo are among sports in the Olympics but not MMA.

Dana White

Now, Dana White believes MMA should be an Olympic sport and it would add plenty of viewers to the Games.

“I think it should be an Olympic sport already,” White said (via MyMMANews)… ““It’s not my job. It’s not what I’m looking to do. I’m not pushing to turn this thing into an Olympic sport. [But] I agree with whoever said that, yes [I’d like to see it added]. And not to mention the fact that one of the big problems the Olympics is having right now, is viewership… You want viewers? Put MMA in the Olympics.”

Although White believes MMA should be an Olympic sport, there are no signs of it happening anytime soon.

Chael Sonnen doesn’t think MMA would work in the Olympics

Although Dana White thinks MMA should be an Olympic sport, former fighter and now MMA analyst Chael Sonnen disagrees.

Instead, he thinks the wear and tear from MMA compared to boxing makes it hard to compete that many times and such a short period of time. He also says getting approval from the IOC will make it hard.

“I think that most people would say ‘yes’ but they never finish the thought – do you know what it takes to be an Olympic sport? You’ve got to get approval through the IOC, you’ve got to have proof of governing bodies, you’ve got to have a lot of funding and a lot of interest and above all else, you’ve got to have a venue. That’s the one thing that so many people do not understand that’s difficult, and I don’t mean that to condescend, I say that because it looked like there was going to be a push for many years [already]… So, I’m going to say no,” Sonnen said (via BloodyElbow).

Ultimately, it doesn’t seem likely that MMA will be an Olympic sport anytime soon.