What was the first MMA organization????

[Lionheart7167]

Pancrase (although a different rule set) pre-dates UFC 1
Shoot began in 1989 (I believe with a different rule set)

Aside from one-off independent events (Ali-Aoki, Lebel-Savage, random events in Brazil, etc), were there any other organizations that pre-date Shooto???? And if Shooto was indeed the first, how did the rule set differ back then?

 

[ga_ninja]

Pancrase (although a different rule set) pre-dates UFC 1
Shoot began in 1989 (I believe with a different rule set)

Aside from one-off independent events (Ali-Aoki, Lebel-Savage, random events in Brazil, etc), were there any other organizations that pre-date Shooto???? And if Shooto was indeed the first, how did the rule set differ back then?

Olympic Pankration...that's how we got the lovely style Greco-Roman . As for the rules most say it was true NHB but impossible to tell obviously.

 

[chamcham]

Everyone knows the first MMA organization was the Kumite.
Kumite! Kumite! Kumite!

 

[Hans Gercmiov]

I always thought it was Shooto. I'm no MMA historian though.

 

[Lionheart7167]

Anyone?

 

[BisexualMMA]

I think Frank Dux fought Steven Seagal in a secret organization in 1950.

The name of the organization is classified, but high level CIA and KGB executives referred to it as the Black Ops Fight Championship.

 

[andyjeezy]

 

[IndyCovaHart]

Vale Tudo existed before UFC didn't it?

Probably underground shit though.

 

[JacJeanFinger]

Sayama's UWF (supervised by Karl Gotch) had its first event in 1984 and most consider it "birth of modern Pro MMA".

If regular MMA fans asked me, I would probably tell them so.

If nerds asked me, I would tell them differently- "Daido Juku Karate (a.k.a Kudo)". Wajutsu Keishukai (most successful Japanese MMA camp ever) was founded by Daido Juku competitors who vowed to defeat Gracies. First Japanese guy to fight in the UFC was Daido Juku Karate black belt.

Since I knew about both daido Juku and UWF during early half of 80's, UFC/Pancrase didn't surprise me when they debuted in 1993.

 

[DanTheWolfman.com]

nice post, yeah Daidojuku was doing sorta MMA rules since 1986 I believe.

Was shootboxing rules tested before full Shooto rules?
recently saw a cool shooto type vid from 89 I believe

 

[eseseses681]

Depending on your personal definitions, Herois Do Ringue was the first organization. They only lasted a year, but they were still the first organization that wasn't a one-off group of people from the neighborhood or that wasn't a Dojo challenge like the Gracie Challenges were.



I think there was also a series of mixed-rules tournaments in the 1920's in Japan that, considering they kept the same rules and kept happening and were run by the same people, could've been considered an organization.

Conventionally, though, and in terms of professionality, Shooto was the first organization. They started in '85 and started having amateur events in '86 and had the first professional events in '89. There were other things which did similar stuff before then, like the UWF, and there were other schools before then which had similar amateur bouts, but Shooto was the first organization that did it and, most importantly, the first one that officially went professional.
The rules were also similar to how they were for the next 20-years, sans the disallowance of ground strikes for the first few years. Punches, kicks and knees are allowed on the feet, takedowns of any kind, fingerless gloves, wrestling shoes, most types of submissions, the class licensing-system, the scoring system, the 10-count knockdown that Shooto kept until, like, '09 I think.

 

[MiroHa]

I think you have to go with Shooto as far as modern MMA goes.

 

[Lionheart7167]

Thanks for all the responses. I was always curious about this. Does anybody have reliable sources of info. on the UWF and Daidojuku? I'm interested to learn more