The men's sabre competition in fencing at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro was held on 10 August at the Carioca Arena 3.

[2] The event was won by Áron Szilágyi of Hungary, the fourth man to successfully defend an Olympic title in the sabre and 14th to win multiple medals of any color.

Russia had three different fencers win the three world championships since the 2012 Games: Veniamin Reshetnikov in 2013, Nikolay Kovalev in 2014, and Aleksey Yakimenko in 2015; with the national limit reduced to two fencers for the 2016 sabre competition, only Kovalev and Yakimenko entered the event.

Next, 8 more men were selected from the world rankings based on continents: 2 each from Europe, the Americas, Asia/Oceania, and Africa.

The 1996 tournament had vastly simplified the competition format into a single-elimination bracket, with a bronze medal match.