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I am not sure if this question was asked/answered before (you guys probably know more than I).
I think all would agree that pankration, ultimately, was probably the first MMA as we now define it. However, looking at the last century and doing some light research, here are my thoughts (very brief of course).
When Kano was sending students to spread the gospel of Judo, Mitsuyo Maeda was chosen as one of the disciples. Before coming to Brazil, Maeda probably had hundreds of challenge matches from boxers to catch wrestlers. The concept of the challenge matches were passed to the Gracies along with the Judo/Jujutsu and probably other techniques he picked up or refined. The Gracies maintained this tradition of challenge matches which later became known as Vale Tudo (as an aside, the name Vale Tudo actually came from a reporter covering one of these street brawl/challenges.). The concept of Vale Tudo lead, obviously, to Rorion's brilliant business idea for the UFC (please everyone take a moment of silence for we shall never see anything like the early UFC again...damn wuss-politicians
). Now the concept of what is now known as MMA in the U.S. I believe had its genesis here, in the UFC, and probably like Vale Tudo the name "MMA" was coined by a reporter or marketing person.
Now I do realize that the term MMA has been used for about 12-15yrs, pankration was being revived, shootfight etc. So my question is who should be considered the Father of "Modern MMA".
I am just raising this because I thought I would be a good subject for discussion. So provide the rationale along with an answer.
I think all would agree that pankration, ultimately, was probably the first MMA as we now define it. However, looking at the last century and doing some light research, here are my thoughts (very brief of course).
When Kano was sending students to spread the gospel of Judo, Mitsuyo Maeda was chosen as one of the disciples. Before coming to Brazil, Maeda probably had hundreds of challenge matches from boxers to catch wrestlers. The concept of the challenge matches were passed to the Gracies along with the Judo/Jujutsu and probably other techniques he picked up or refined. The Gracies maintained this tradition of challenge matches which later became known as Vale Tudo (as an aside, the name Vale Tudo actually came from a reporter covering one of these street brawl/challenges.). The concept of Vale Tudo lead, obviously, to Rorion's brilliant business idea for the UFC (please everyone take a moment of silence for we shall never see anything like the early UFC again...damn wuss-politicians
). Now the concept of what is now known as MMA in the U.S. I believe had its genesis here, in the UFC, and probably like Vale Tudo the name "MMA" was coined by a reporter or marketing person.Now I do realize that the term MMA has been used for about 12-15yrs, pankration was being revived, shootfight etc. So my question is who should be considered the Father of "Modern MMA".
I am just raising this because I thought I would be a good subject for discussion. So provide the rationale along with an answer.
Unfortunately I do not know how to edit the poll
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