From July to August of 2012, one question permeated the mixed martial arts community nearly above all others: should and if so, when will MMA become an Olympic sport? The logic goes something like this. Several sports that are already in the Olympics – wrestling, judo, boxing, taekwondo – make up a huge portion of MMA. Besides, UFC President Dana White has openly advocated the idea of reforming MMA’s deeply broken and exploitative amateur system by turning it into an organized process into the professional ranks. The truth, however, is that MMA isn’t ready to be in the Olympics. It doesn’t meet very much of the criteria to be a recognized as an Olympic sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The group the UFC has aligned itself with – the International Mixed Martial Arts Federation (IMMAF) – isn’t recognized as a legitimate International Federation by the IOC or SportsAccord. There’s also no real blueprint for what form or adaptation the sport would take to make it palatable to the IOC. The International Federation of Associated Wrestling Styles (FILA) has a growing amateur MMA division, but their distance from the MMA community is, to put it mildly, rather significant. Even if MMA becomes part of the Olympics it certainly won’t be anytime soon. That lead some members of the MMA community to ask a different question. If MMA is off the table for the foreseeable future, what about jiu-jitsu? After all, from the outside the sport appears to be far more ready. It has a significantly higher participatory rate globally than MMA and can boast strong rosters from white belt to elite black belt of both genders. The sport also has (seemingly, anyway) multiple governing bodies, the architecture of regulation, organizational hierarchy and various other features the IOC requires for Olympic inclusion. Yet, dig just below the surface and you’ll discover a significantly different reality. Whereas the window is still open for MMA in the Olympics, jiu-jitsu arguably already missed its chance. Many of the sport’s leaders, once interested in working with FILA to make the Olympic reality happen, walked away years ago before the effort ever really got started. The community is also generally opposed to any FILA involvement despite recognizing those who run and organize the sport’s biggest tournaments aren’t doing enough to make competition fair or properly regulated. Despite the grand commercial success jiu-jitsu has enjoyed in North America and worldwide over the last 30 years, the sport will likely never achieve the recognition and legitimacy Olympic underwriting provides. The simplest explanation is that despite public statements by promoters, noteworthy black belts or even new grapplers that the sport deserves Olympic sanctioning, none of them really want it. Here’s why. A Brief Moment in Time Things weren’t always so gloomy. There was a moment when FILA and several luminaries and leaders of the jiu-jitsu community wanted to work together to make Olympic inclusion happen. The story goes like this. Interested in some form of jiu-jitsu or no-gi grappling becoming a part of the Olympics, members of FILA partnered in 2007 with representatives of Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) to form an exploratory committee to determine if there was a way to make the project happen. According to Jason Townsend – FILA World Pankration, Grappling and Mixed Martial Arts Committee member and attendee at those meetings – things never got going in the right direction. FILA’s representatives, while not issuing ultimatums, articulated their view that Olympic sanctioning only happened through them. After all, FILA is the major international governing body regulating nearly all major forms of wrestling including freestyle and folkstyle and oversees national governing bodies like USA Wrestling. FILA operates with authority vested in it from the IOC and SportsAccord. ADCC’s representatives, while initially interested in working with FILA, bristled at the idea and ultimately and publicly cut off ties with FILA. We had several meetings and discussions but ideologically we were far apart and could not reach an agreement, especially when it came to rules and the direction of the sport. As a result of this Highness Sheik Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Guy Neivens and Renzo Gracie have all resigned from positions with the FILA World Grappling Committee, said then-ADCC Spokesman Guy Neivens. We have a strong organization with several Federations in Europe and expanding quickly in other parts of the World as well. We wish FILA the best, but at this time we are going our own way! You completely lose control, Renzo Gracie says. You have to pass all control to them. You’re investing and making a sport grow and the next thing you see, the guys are the owner of the sport. Basically we’d be under Olympic tournament. It’d be difficult. Townsend admits the strong personalities of both FILA and ADCC was like trying to mix oil and water. That ultimately torpedoed…