Ancient Combative Sports

There were three combative sports at the Ancient Olympic Games – wrestling, boxing, and pankration. Wrestling was first documented from 708 BCE, with boys’ wrestling first contested in 632 BCE. Boxing was first documented from 688 BCE, with boys’ boxing first staged in 616 BCE, while the pankration was held first in 648 BCE, with a boys’ pankration first contested in 380 BCE.

Pankration was a mixture of boxing and wrestling, somewhat similar to modern mixed martial arts, and once described as “imperfect wrestling with imperfect boxing.”