Is It Time For MMA in The Olympics?

With the UFC 103 fight card on tap for tomorrow, Dana White is hardly giving us a chance to catch our breath. We saw an action-packed fight night followed by the premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 10 featuring Kimbo Slice. Three days later, the UFC is at it again.

It's been beyond a banner year for mixed martial arts. We've seen the rise of Brock Lesnar, which culminated in his UFC 100 victory; we've seen the return of Randy Couture, Mirko Cro Cop and, tomorrow, Vitor Belfort. Heck -- now Jean-Claude Van Damme, the green Power Ranger and Mariusz Pudzianowski, the World's Strongest Man, are entering the MMA fray.

Yes -- it's that popular. Popular enough to become a water cooler topic or appear on the ESPN news ticker. And that's why it's time to consider putting mixed martial arts in the Olympics.

Is it so crazy to imagine? Boxing is a longtime stalwart at the Summer Games as a combat sport, as have been many different forms of wrestling. Now, MMA may be the most globally watched combat sport on Earth. World-class athletes are migrating to it, legitimizing it and shattering its reputation as a sport for "Xtreme," tattoo-covered types.

Detractors would immedialy veto MMA because of the damage it does to fighters. How can a guy fight his way to a medal round if his round-one victory hospitalizes him?

Well, there are two answers to that question. The first is that MMA did it before -- in the original UFC tournaments and Pride, champions fought multiple times in one night, sometimes beating two or three fighters en route to the tournament final. So MMA fighters have proven they can handle multiple fights despite short intervals between them.

The second answer is an idea of mine that I feel trumps the "all in one night" approach: making it a team sport in which countries rotate their fighters strategically. You could do one bracket per weight class. Let's say Brazil has Lyoto Machida, Mauricio Rua and Thiago Silva as its "light heavyweight team." They're facing Team Canada in the first round of a quarter-final. The coach knows there's a good chance team USA will reach the final, so he saves Machida for Fight 3 and unleashes the aggressive Silva on the weaker opponent in round 1. Not only would it be a joy for online betting fans to watch, it would be an exciting exhibition of sports strategy.

Face it, folks -- MMA is here to stay and its combatants are true athletes now. If sailing is a sport, it's time to give Anderson Silva a shot at the podium.