In the modern times Pankration could still be seen in cities like Smyrna and Constantinople even in the beginning of the 20th century. It was after the burning of the city of Smyrna by the Turks that caused many of the Athletic associations including those who practiced and taught Pankration, to scatter to mainland Greece and other parts of the world and try to rebuild their lives. Of those Pankratiasts that went to Greece, life was unmerciful given Greece's poor economic and political stability and providing for their families was the foremost priority. It was then where Pankration took a back seat to the reality of survival for those old Pankratiasts.
The revival of pankration was essentially the innovative effort of Kerios Grandmaster Jim Arvanitis, world recognized today as the "father of modern pankration." A visionary considered far ahead of his time, Jim cross-trained in a number of martial arts and combat sports before it was common to do so. This included Western boxing and wrestling, combat judo, and muay thai. He extracted the best techniques from each and, using his research of what remained of the legacy of his ancestors, reconstructed ancient pankration into a modernized form. It was Arvanitis who reintroduced the combat sport at a time when such practices were criticized in favor of the more traditional Asian styles such as karate and kung-fu. MMA and even pankration in Greece would not surface until more than 20 years after Arvanitis appeared on the cover of Black Belt magazine. It was through this ground-breaking article that he and writer Massad Ayoob first exposed pankration to mainstream martial arts.
Pankration has also periodically been reintroduced in the modern Olympic Games, but not with much success due to scarce participation. Given the rise in popularity of Mixed Martial Arts around the world in recent years, interest in the sport has been renewed and even talks about entering MMA in the Olympics under the banner of pankration.
In the lead-up to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, a modern non-nude version of pankration was tipped as being a new sport in the Olympiad, especially due to its being an event in the ancient games. However, its application was not approved. The International Olympic Committee was unconvinced that Greece could handle the total number of sports proposed. To placate the IOC, the organizers removed all new medal sports and pankration missed out.
While Arvanitis was the one who reintroduced it to the world , it was Aris Makris who took it to a new level of global awareness by showcasing Pankration's originally intended combative side .....a non sport version meant for the battle field as it was originally intended. His work was based on over 30 years of hard work and research which was documented on the History Channels's Human Weapon series, "Pankration: The Original Martial Art." Grand Master Aris Makris's Armak-Pankration is presently sought out by Military and Federal intitutions in the US and around the world. However, it should also be noted that Kerios Grandmaster Arvanitis has trained law enforcement and S.W.A.T. team members, United States Marines and elite Army Special Forces.[5]
Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling is a mixed martial arts organization founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. Pancrase is taken from Pankration, a sport in the ancient Olympic games. Suzuki and Funaki are particularly skilled in the art of catch wrestling and based the promotion on professional wrestling consisting of shoots rather than works. Per its custom, its champions are named King of Pancrase rather than the title of Champion.
The promotion had a rule-set more similar to that of professional wrestling than those used in contemporary fighting organizations such as Shooto. Just as in professional wrestling, closed-fists to the face were illegal and submission holds had to be broken when a competitor made it to the ropes. However, beginning in 1998, it began adopting a rule set more in line with other mixed martial arts organizations, with most fights transitioning to the new rule set by 2000.
Aside from the traditional grappling rules (e.g., no biting, no eye-gouging) the rules were formerly as follows:
·
Jujutsu
(柔術
jūjutsu?)
listen ,
literally meaning the "art
of
softness", or "way of yielding" is a collective name for Japanese
martial art styles consisting of grappling and striking techniques. Jujutsu
evolved among the
samurai of feudal Japan as a method for dispatching an armed and armored
opponent in situations where the use of weapons was impractical or forbidden.
Due to the difficulty of dispatching an armored opponent with striking
techniques, the most efficient methods for neutralizing an enemy took the form
of pins, joint locks, and throws. These techniques were developed around the
principle of using an attacker's energy against him, rather than directly
opposing it, and came to be known as jujutsu.[1]
· There are many variations of the art, which leads to a diversity of approaches. Jujutsu schools (ryū) may utilize all forms of grappling techniques to some degree (i.e. throwing, trapping, joint locking, holds, gouging, biting, disengagements, striking, and kicking). In addition to jujutsu, many schools taught the use of weapons.
· Today, jujutsu is still practiced both as it was hundreds of years ago, but also in modified forms for sport practice. Derived sports forms include the Olympic sport and martial art of judo, which was developed from several traditional styles of jujutsu by Kano Jigoro in the late 19th century; and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which was in turn derived from earlier version (pre World War II) of Kodokan judo.
the above ju jitsu is taught to both adult and children for self defence .
· Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) is a martial art and combat sport that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting with the goal of gaining a dominant position and using joint-locks and chokeholds to force an opponent to submit or be knocked out depending on what submission method is used. The art was based on early 20th century Kodokan Judo ,[2][1] which was itself then a recently-developed system (founded in 1882), based on multiple schools (or Ryu) of Japanese Jujutsu.
· It promotes the principle that a smaller, weaker person using leverage and proper technique can successfully defend against a bigger, stronger assailant. It primarily uses Judo takedowns to gain the dominant position. BJJ can be trained for self defense, sport grappling tournaments (gi and no-gi) and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition.[3] Sparring (commonly referred to as 'rolling') and live drilling play a major role in training, and a premium is placed on performance, especially in competition
Muay Thai kick boxing
In its original form, Muay Thai consisted of an arsenal of nine weapons - the head, fists, elbows, knees and feet - known collectively as na-wa arwud. However in modern Muay Thai, both amateur and professional, headbutting an opponent is no longer allowed. Muay Thai is unique in the way it uses all parts of the body, including the elbows and knees, for both training and competitions.[5]
To strike and bind the opponent for both offensive and defensive purposes, small amounts of stand-up grappling are used: the clinch. Formal Muay Thai techniques are divided into two groups: Mae Mai or major techniques and Luk Mai or minor techniques. Muay Thai is often a fighting art of attrition, where opponents exchange blows with one another. This is certainly the case with traditional stylists in Thailand, but is a less popular form of fighting in the contemporary world fighting circuit. With the success of Muay Thai in mixed martial arts fighting, it has become the de facto martial art of choice for competitive stand-up fighters. As a result, it has evolved and incorporated much more powerful hand striking techniques used in western style boxing and the Thai style of exchanging blow for blow is no longer favorable. Note: when Muay Thai fighters compete against fighters of other styles (and if the rules permit it), they almost invariably emphasize elbow (sok) and knee (kao) techniques to gain a distinct advantage in fighting. Almost all techniques in Muay Thai use the entire body movement, rotating the hip with each kick, punch, and block. The rotation of the hips in Muay Thai techniques, and intensive focus on "core muscles" (such as abdominal muscles and surrounding muscles) is very distinctive and is what sets Muay Thai apart from other styles of martial
