In 2004, a young judo player named Karo Parisyan had the opportunity to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials. Instead, he chose to pursue mixed martial arts and the opportunity to compete in the UFC. Karo said in an interview recently that he had been asked the same question about “35,000 times” about whether he ever wished he had chosen differently. He said that he never regretted it once. Judo did not pay his bills. It cost him money. He took his judo skills to the UFC instead of the Olympic trials, a move which he believes was best for both him and the sport of judo.

Did you ever wonder who did win the Olympic Trials in the 81 kg division in which Karo was ranked number three at the time? It turns out, it was Bellator fighter Rick Hawn. After placing ninth in Athens, Rick began his career in mixed martial arts. His next fight will be in the Bellator season six lightweight tournament.

Here are 38 facts about Taekwondo that you may not know.

The questions is do you know all 38 of them?

Mixed martial arts as a sport that is continuing to grow and expand. Looking around the world, more and more locations are legalizing the sport. While MMA still has its opponents and those that stand in its way, promotions such as the UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator and DREAM continue to look for ways to further its change and development.

As the sport continues to grow, I have been asking the question that may be too early to ask, but still worth the thought. Could mixed martial arts function as an Olympic sport? The quick answer to the question is no for various reasons, however looking deeper into the question poses some interesting points.