Anyone do any Pankration? It seems pretty down right effective and extra brutal. Just wondering if anyone has dabbled in it? Maybe the next NHB champ will be a Pankration artist.
Always seeking to learn,
Kong Jianshen
Humble disciple of the ancient Boxing Arts
My knowledge..
As I seem to recall, it is greek for “All Powers”. A combination of wrestling and boxing already practiced as sports by the ancient Greeks. Pankration was added to the Olympic Games in 648 B.C. In order to force his/her opponents to concede defeat, the Pankration artist uses punches, kicks, grabs, throws, joint-locks, and chokes. Ground fighting is a large part of their training.
Because Alexander the Great’s armies carried the sport with them across the Alps into Asia, too, and greek authorities still spout some claims that many asian grappling techniques are based on Pankration. Nothing confirmed though.
That’s about all the hearsay I got. However, I had the pleasure of sparring with a Pankration artist, as there is a school over here that teaches submission wrestling, Boxing and a little Pankration. I almost had him in the start with parries by the bucket-load and rapid punch combinations (I had been training a lot of Nan Ching then, and that was what I used mainly), and he tried to grapple with me for wrist and headlock takedowns. Then he started punching as well, and cold knocked me before putting me in an, quite agonizing, Ankle lock 
So, it’s mainly a lot of takedowns and joint locks, with added punch. Trust me, when they suddenly throw the punch, it has a great surprise value. But there it is, never assume you got someone’s style figured out 
Peace out, and I hope it helped,
Seeker of the Way.
The dance of life, the capering of elements, and skip of gods. The dance is mine, I AM the dance.
Pankration
was invented in the seventies based on stories and wall drawings. The moves depicted in the wall drawings arent used in modern Pankration so I think all they share is a name. It seems to work well for Shamrock though. Its basically a fusion of thai kickboxing, boxing and wrestling. Since Prankration folks of old would use their chi to kick through shields, I find it curious that modern Pankration hasn’t also aquired some chi kung.
8Step Sifu
PANKRATION
Hello Kong,
In your area, Bart Vale is involved with the U.S. Team for the next Olympics.
He also teaches Shootfighting and Kenpo.
Good Luck!
Dave S
My empty hands will bare me out…Code of Yosida
Remember there is a sport of pankration and an “art”. The art is promoted mostly by Jim Arvantis (sp) who is who 8steps is talking about. He feels that he is the only one who can use the term pankration.
Anyone from any style can enter a pankration turnament however and most have nothing to do with Jim A. This is what pankration traditionally was, anyone could enter the event. My school enters and hosts pankration a lot. Its a great sport and helps develop real world skills.
“…was invented in the seventies based…”
Wrong! 
It was documented on the Athens docks up until 1974. Pankration is an event. The method has only been systemized lately. Jim Avarnitis is the most visible. Yes he incorporates a variety of methods. However there were and still are people teaching the methods used in pankration in back yards and garages. 