“E.W. Barton-Wright is also remembered as a pioneering promoter of mixed martial arts or MMA contests, in which experts in different fighting styles compete under common rules. Barton-Wright’s champions, including Yukio Tani and Swiss svingen wrestler Armand Cherpillod, enjoyed considerable success in these contests, which anticipated the MMA phenomenon of the 1990s by a hundred years.”
Did you just reference Wikipedia as a reliable resource?
Besides, even that quote you posted doesn’t mean he’s the “originator” of MMA. Go watch the wrestling vs. boxing video from 1932 in the style vs. style section.
The Wikipedia article on Barton-Wright is completely accurate, but that doesn’t mean that he was literally the “originator of MMA”; obviously, people have been combining different martial arts styles for about as long as there have been people. Barton-Wright was, however, the first person known to have combined Asian and European martial arts into a named system, and the first person to promote contests in jiujitsu vs. European wrestling styles.
B-W’s Bartitsu style pre-dates the wrestling vs. boxing newsreel by thirty years, and also the craze for jiujitsu vs. boxing and other mixed-styles contests that took place during the early 1900s (this was discussed in detail in a recent thread in this forum).
He deserves full recognition for being exactly what he was, a martial arts pioneer whose ideas were about a hundred years ahead of their time.
Barton Predates that by a mile. Besdies that was still that was still very much Sytle vs Style. Barton Wright was actually MMA in that he took the best from everything jujistsu, boxing, judo, savate etc etc
[unrelated note]
Hehehehehe, if by “MMA circles” you mean MMA/TUF fanboys, more than one didn’t know who Royce Gracie was when he fought Hughes.
:eusa_doh: :eusa_doh: :eusa_doh: [/unrelated note]