18. The Greatest Martial Artist of the Ancient Greeks
The ancient Greek sport of pankration, which means “all force”, was a combination of boxing and wrestling. It was a no holds barred event, and other than for a few prohibitions – a competitor could not gouge or bite, or attack his opponent’s genitals – just about everything was allowed. Pankration is widely viewed today as the ancestor of modern Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Arrhichion of Phigalia (died 564 BC), who was crowned champion of that sport in the 572 BC and 568 BC Olympiads, was the most famous Greek pankratist.
He sought a threepeat at the 564 BC Olympic Games and advanced through the early rounds to the title bout. There, age might have finally caught up with him and slowed him down, because, for the first time in his Olympics competitive career, he got into trouble. Arrhichion’s opponent outmaneuvered him, got behind the champion, and with legs locked around his torso and heels digging into his groin, applied a choke hold. Arrhichion was too much of a competitor to accept defeat, however, and he managed to turn things around. Unfortunately, the result was his own tragicomic demise.
