How's MMA different from pankration?

Question

Just wondering.

Answer 1

I never heard of pankration until now. i just watched a few pankration fights on youtube. and there is no difference at all in the concept of the two. perhaps the rules are different in competition? im surprised you dont see pankration fighters in MMA fights.

Answer 2

Pankration comes from: pan = all, kratos = power.  

Classical pankration was a system that used "all powers" wrestling, boxing and yes it did include kicking ("This is Sparta!")

Comparing  pankration to highschool wrestling is silly.  That's like comparing point-sparring to full-on hand-to-hand combat.  Pankration matches had no weight classes, no time limit, and continued until one man submitted, was rendered unconcious, or died.

It was a savage fighting system, which is probably why it was banned by the Byzantine emperor in the 4th century AD.

Answer 3

MMa a cmbination of art muay thai, judo, jiu-jitsu, etc...

Pankration is one art dervied from anciet greek fighting.

Answer 4

Pankration is no-gi grappling derived developed by people with a greco-roman wrestling background, as opposed to grappling derived from people with Ju-jitsu or Judo background.

Pankration + kickboxing = MMA

BJJ + kickboxing = MMA

The NAME "pankration" is derived from the ancient (?) greek name for their style of wrestling.

The ART of modern pankration is derived from greco-roman wrestling techniques, the way your high-school/college wrestling team trains.  

High school wrestling is about pinning your opponents shoulders to the mat.  

If you take away that rule, and introduce submission locks and chokes, than it starts to look just like no-gi Brazillian Ju-jitsu or sambo or any other grappling style.  

Last time I looked, the MMA gym in Seattle trained pankration, rather than BJJ.  The difference between BJJ and pankration has more to do with lineage than technique.  An arm bar is an arm bar is an arm bar.  

A rear-naked choke is a rear-naked choke.

Side-control is side-control no matter what's the name or your "style".

BJJ trains with gi and no-gi.  

Pancration is strictly no-gi.

RE:  "Comparing pankration to highschool wrestling is silly. That's like comparing point-sparring to full-on hand-to-hand combat."

response:

Answering a question with no experience on the subject except what you can cursorily read on Wikipedia is a little silly.

Your answer refers to the original, historical pankration of ancient Greece, which as you say, was banned by the Byzanntine emperor in 400 AD.  

The asker is asking about modern pankration, as it is practiced by people in the present day.  

When you looked it up on Wikipedia, you didn't read all the way to the end:

"The revival of pankration was essentially the innovative effort of Kerios Grandmaster Jim Arvanitis, world recognized today as the "father of modern pankration." ...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. "

As I read that, I discovered it may not be accurate to imply that it is ONLY western wrestling applied to MMA, but MODERN pankration is more closely related to western wrestling than the Ancient Greek pankration.  And most of the guys I'm aware of who pracice pankration are ex-wrestlers.

By the way, you DO see pankration fighters in MMA fights.  Look up Matt Hume  or AMC Kickboxing in Seattle.

http://www.mmawizard.com/amc/Welcome.htm