A history of MMA

I am just about to delve into an interesting looking book called No Holds Barred, by a gentleman called Clyde Gentry. Its basically a book about the history of Ultimate Fighting. Just thought this would be an interesting and knowledgable topic about what people know about where MMA originated from? Theres some cool pictures, one of MuHammad Ali vs Antonio Inoki from way back, and many of orginal UFC fighters.

Lets see what you know!?

Cool sounds a good read... although I havnt finished a book in ages! Too many blows to the head must have given me a short attention span!

What was the craic with the Ali vs Inoki fight? I know Inoki was just flopping on his bac kand leg kicking Ali... though I hear it was staged?

Is it a history of MMA or specifically UFC?

Id love to read some Vale Tudo history etc.. I wonder if there is any mentin of the Brazilian MMA I saw that was a Concrete wall and 3 sides of a cage round it! Was crazy stuff!

I remember reading about a really old MMA fight were some Massive Zulu fought some Tiny Japanese Judo guy... Cant remember where I read it.

The old Vale Tudo fights sound absolutely brutal, was it Chuck's book where he was saying he fought some guy bare knuckle and beat him so badly that his scalp was basically hanging off in a flap. Chuck looked around the room as if to say 'shall we stop now' and nobody was batting an eyelid!

Imagine coming up through those kind of underground tournaments, talk about a baptism of fire!

Wanderlei had agood few bare Knuckle fights under his belt, I remember seeing him on top of someone tangled in teh lower net (between the floor and bottom rope) and he was mangling his face with Bare Knuckle punches! There is also an old Video of him in a brutal scrap were he busts his own face up by headbutting the guy so often!! Valo Tudo was brutal. Remember hearing people would get stitched back up between fights and sent out to fight again the same night!!

Id love to fing the early stories I read about MMA, I think there are one or 2 good Wikipedia articles... Ill have a look for them.

Ben did you know you can get the old IVC events on DVD from amazon in the states?
http://www.amazon.com/International-Vale-Tudo-Championships-Wanderlei/dp/B000BHNNOC

I've read 22 pages since posting the topic and it's started off really well!! It gives you the historic side of things with bouts that were BC!! HAHA! and then mainly concentrates on THE UFC from 1993 - 1997 i think!

Ancient Greece had something called "Pankration" in which only eye gouging and biting were illegal, and referees would stand around the arena, and flog the contestants if illegal moves were made!! Fighters fought in the nude and didn't wear gloves the ways of winning the bouts were by submission, dislocation and fracture of bones or DEATH!! and if a winner hadn't been decided by sunset they would enter a stage called Klimax which would mean basically they would take turns at bashing each other until one couldnt carry on. Pritty brutal stuff! I'm pritty sure this says it was an olyimpic sport too! Ancient though I should add.

The Ali fight was supposed to be pre determined but Ali would not agree to Losing (chucking away 6million dollars in doing so), so they told Inoki he could not throw or submit Ali, so thats why he did what he did. The fight was deemed a draw and Ali got 1.8 million for his troubles!

I've read this book and it mainly focuses on the UFC - if I remember rightly, it is more focussed on the early years of the UFC. A good read and it is interesting to learn of the hassles the early organisers had to go through. The politics behind it all was incredible (fucking John McCain!!). Also, interesting to read about the influence of "Big" John McCarthy in the early years too.....

Enjoy!!

Nice avatar Giginho.

Gifs as avatars are the future

redmeanie77 wrote:Nice avatar Giginho.

Gifs as avatars are the future

Is it still there? I can't see it at work but it was working on my home computer. Yeah i like the gif avatars - there are some really good ones out there too...

This is the book you want to read on MMA history, imo.

I'm mainly reading about the Gracies and how jui jutsu turned into Judo and then went over to Brazil and turned to brazilian jiu jitsu and obv how the gracies kicked every other martial art going during the late 60's and 70's. Have to say i'm not a big reader but can't put this book down at the moment. Will have a look for that other book KJ...

The book kjgould recommends is available in waterstones, and I can heartily recommend it as well. Covers the history of ufc and pride, and quite a bit before that. Its fairly irreverant regarding both the Gracies and ken shamrock, but has the interviews as evidence to back it up.

From 1928... some really early MMA!! That would explain the use of the word Negro!

"One report from São Paulo declares that Jiu Jitsu is truly an art and that in an interesting exhibition in the side tent to the big circus a Bahian negro of monstrous dimensions met his waterloo at the hands of a diminutive Japanese wrestler. The negro was an expert at Capoeira, an old South American style of fighting, but after putting the Japanese on his back and trying to kick his head... the little oriental by the use of a Jiu Jitsu hold threw the Bahian and after a short struggle he was found sitting on the silent frame of the massive opponent."

Ben, that sounds like a very un-pc report on a fantasy fight between sapp and sakuraba:)

Albion_Oakley wrote:Ben, that sounds like a very un-pc report on a fantasy fight between sapp and sakuraba:)

Heres some Boxer vs Wrestler and other old MMA fights from Wikipedia... Also a bit more PC!

In the USA the first major encounter between a boxer and a wrestler in modern times took place in 1887 when John L. Sullivan, then heavyweight world boxing champion, entered the ring with his trainer, Greco-Roman wrestling champion William Muldoon, and was slammed to the mat in two minutes. The next publicized encounter occurred in the late 1890s when future heavyweight boxing champion Bob Fitzsimmons took on European Greco-Roman wrestling champion Ernest Roeber. Reportedly, Roeber suffered a fractured cheekbone in this bout, but was able to get Fitzsimmons down on the mat, where he applied an armlock and made the boxer submit. In Europe, around the 19th century, the Italian Giovanni Raicevich, skilled in Greco-Roman wrestling was defeated by Akitaro Ono, a Japanese heavyweight fighter skilled in Jujutsu, Judo, and Sumo, throwing him on the mat by one-arm shoulder throw. In 1936, heavyweight boxing contender Kingfish Levinsky and veteran professional wrestler Ray Steele competed in a mixed match, which Steele won in 35 seconds

You have to bear in mind many of the matches described there will have been rigged or "worked" in pro wrestling parlance. Another example is Primo Carnera, who had succesful careers in both Boxing and Pro wrestling. Of course all of his wrestling matches were worked (99.9% of pro wrestling was worked by 1900), but there also is a strong suspicion amongst boxing peeps that most of his Boxing matches were also rigged.

Its hard to know what was and what wasnt worked back then but reports of broken cheekbones is enough for me! I didnt know Primo had any fixed figths.. I hear some were suspicious of his record but I dont know the guy was a Giant... The MAx Baer fight certainly wasnt worked!

Yeah there was at the time even a lot of suspicion around his fights being fixed. There are reports of his oppnents staying down despite his punch not even making contact!