Pancrase
 | |
Native name | パンクラス |
|---|---|
Romanized name | Pankurasu |
| Type | Private |
| Industry | Mixed martial arts promotion |
| Predecessor | Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi World Pancrase Create Inc. |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | , |
| Key people | Hidetaka Fukui (chief chairman) |
| Owner |
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| Website | pancrase |
Pancrase (パンクラス, Pankurasu) is a Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Tokyo. It was founded in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. It is one of the oldest continuously operating MMA promotions and played an important role in the development of modern mixed martial arts in Japan. The promotion grew out of the Japanese shoot wrestling scene, combining catch wrestling-derived grappling with striking and a competitive format inspired in part by professional wrestling.
The name was based on pankration, a fighting sport in the Ancient Olympic Games. Suzuki and Funaki conceived Pancrase as a shoot wrestling promotion with genuine combat, instead of predetermined matches, while retaining elements of the professional wrestling tradition. Its early events featured distinctive rules that differed from those of most modern MMA: closed-fist punches were prohibited to the head but permitted to the body, while open-handed strikes to the head were allowed. Fighters competed in a professional wrestling-style ring with three ropes, and could also escape a submission by reaching the ropes, although doing so cost a point; exceeding a specified number of rope breaks, normally between three and five, resulted in disqualification. Fighters competed without gloves, in close-fitting trunks and professional wrestling-style knee-high boots. Suzuki and Funaki coined the term "Hybrid Wrestling" for this new combat sport. The term "Shootfighting" was also used at the time to describe this type of legitimate hybrid combat; Ken Shamrock, Pancrase's first champion, for example, represented "Shootfighting" at UFC 1 in 1993. Pancrase's champions are known as "Kings of Pancrase".
The first event held was Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers at Tokyo Bay NK Hall in September 1993. Ever since, Pancrase has held over 400 events featuring "hybrid wrestling" and mixed martial arts competition.
During the late 1990s, Pancrase gradually revised its rules to more closely resemble those used by other MMA organizations, in particular PRIDE Fighting Championships. The promotion subsequently became an important proving ground for Japanese and international fighters and helped establish MMA as a distinct competitive sport in Japan. By 2014, Pancrase had fully adopted the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, used by the UFC. However, it still calls itself "Hybrid Wrestling" rather than MMA, preserving its traditions and origins in Japanese shoot wrestling.