Mixed martial arts -- without the wire cage and the blood -- bids to make the Olympics

Mixed martial arts could be coming to the Olympics — but it's a long shot

NAGOYA, Japan -- Mixed martial arts — without the wire cage and with less blood and mayhem — could be coming to the Olympics.

It's a long shot. However, a version of the sport — let's call it “MMA Light” — is being contested at the two-week Asian Games . The campaign to get the sport into the Brisbane Olympics in 2032 is being led by Chinese billionaire Gordon Tang.

“We have developed a rule set specifically focused on the safety and well-being of athletes, and aligned with Olympic values," Tang said. “The debut of MMA at the Asian Games is an important step in that journey.”

Tang heads the Federation of International Mixed Martial Arts, one of many groups lobbying to represent a very fractured global sport.

Removing the cage is a must for any chance to gain entry. But cage or no cage, it's a rough road to get the approval of the International Olympic Committee.

“We think without the cage we will have a better alignment with the Olympic values and hopefully recognition from the IOC,” Galastein Tan, the director general of the FIMMA, told The Associated Press.

First, the IOC would have to approve a governing body of the sports — there are many — and then Brisbane organizers would have to put it on their schedule.

So far the Australians have not announced what sports they might add and, of course, it's too late to get into the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

The IOC, in an email to The Associated Press, clarified that as of now “mixed martial arts does not meet ... eligibility criteria" for the Olympics.

The top issue is the sport's violent image. The IOC has had issues with violence depicted in esports , so that rub is clear.

This version at the Asian Games looks more like judo or boxing, set on an open mat. No wire cage. Contestants wear small gloves, similar to amateur boxing at the Olympics. Both men and women fight, and there are two styles — traditional with more grappling and modern with more striking.

“It takes time to change a perception,” Tan said. "We hope to be able to share that there is a new from of MMA, and this form is more aligned with the Olympics.”

Alex Engelhardt, the executive vice president of FIMMA, suggested this was an attempt to bring MMA into the “normal” range of sports and concentrate less on spectacle.