Pancrase

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Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling is a mixed martial arts organization founded in Japan in 1993 by Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki.

Its founders were pro wrestlers with particular skill in the art of catch wrestling and they founded Pancrase as essentially a professional wrestling promotion consisting of shoots rather than works. As such, it had a rule-set more similar to that of professional wrestling than those used in contemporary fighting organizations such as Shooto. Just as in professional wrestling, closed-fists to the face were illegal and submission holds had to be broken when a competitor made it to the ropes. However, beginning in 1998, it began adopting a rule set more in line with other mixed martial arts organizations, with most fights transitioning to the new ruleset by 2000. The name Pancrase is taken from Pankration, a sport in the ancient Olympic games.

Per its custom, its champions are named King of Pancrase rather than the title of Champion.

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In 1993 Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki, Yusuke Fuke and others from the shoot-style Fujiwara Gumi wrestling promotion left that company, apparently in opposition to mentor Yoshiaki Fujiwara cooperating with leagues like Universal Lucha Libre and W*ING, where showmanship was the rule. These men formed Pancrase (the name and rule set being suggested by Karl Gotch), which would focus on pure shoot style wrestling with few gimmicks and no predetermined outcomes. The first King Of Pancrase Open Weight champion was Ken Shamrock, famous for his exploits in the Ultimate Fighting Championship circuit and who had previous experience in the Newborn UWF and Fujiwara Gumi. Over the years, Funaki and Suzuki took turns holding the title alongside other big names, such as Bas Rutten, Frank Shamrock and Guy Mezger.

Today, Pancrase recognizes King of Pancrase titles in the super heavyweight, heavyweight, light heavyweight, middleweight, and welterweight divisions, with plans to award new lightweight and featherweight champions in the future. The open weight title has been recently restored and is held by Josh Barnett, who also competes in PRIDE. Minoru Suzuki also has stopped competing for Pancrase and is currently wrestling as a freelancer, though he primarily competes in All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Aside from the traditional grappling rules (e.g., no biting, no eye-gouging) the rules were formerly as follows:

  • No elbows to the head (neither while standing nor on the ground).
  • No closed-fist strikes to the head (neither while standing nor on the ground).
  • No knees to the head on the ground.
  • No kicks/stomps to the head on the ground.
  • If a participant gets too close to the ropes, he is stood back up on the feet. (as opposed to PRIDE's recentering in the middle of the ring)
  • Non-title matches consist of one 15 minute round; Title matches consisit of one 30 minute round.
  • If a participant is caught in a submission and taps out, (whether unable to reach the ropes or not) it is a loss.
  • Five "escapes" are given to each fighter at the start of every match. An escape can be used when caught in a submission near the ropes, in which case the participant can grab them, be stood back on the feet and have one point deducted. Once a participant has used all of his escapes, it is a loss.
  • For knockouts, a ten-count similar to boxing and kickboxing is used. If the participant is unable to answer the ten-count, it is declared a TKO and that fighter has lost the match. However, if the participant is able to answer the ten-count, the fight resumes and one point is deducted.
  • If, at the end of regulated time, neither fighter has submitted, been knocked out, or lost all their points, a decision is rendered based on who lost fewer points. If neither fighter lost any points, or both lost the same number of points, the fight is declared a draw.
  • In the 1994 King of Pancrase tournament, the rules were slightly different, in that the first round had one 10 minute round and three rope escapes, and the finals had one 20 minute round with three rope escapes.
  • For a short period of time when Bas Rutten was the King of Pancrase, heelhooks were banned because of the frequency of injuries.

Today, Pancrase uses mixed martial arts rules similar to the ones in PRIDE FC and Shooto.

Main article: List of Pancrase champions
Division Champion
Openweight Josh Barnett (tenth Openweight Champion)
Super Heavyweight none, vacated by Tsuyoshi Kosaka 1/24/2006
Heavyweight Assuerio Silva
Light Heavyweight Yuki Kondo (third Light Heavyweight Champion)
Middleweight Yuichi Nakanishi　(sixth Middleweight Champion)
Welterweight Daizo Ishige (second Welterweight Champion)
Lightweight Vacant
Featherweight Yoshihiro Maeda (first Featherweight Champion)

Professional mixed martial arts organizations
North American promotions: UFC | WEC | Elite XC | IFL | Strikeforce | King of the Cage | Rumble on the Rock | Icon Sport | TKO | EFC | MFC | Cage Fury FC | IFC | Combate Extremo | Gracie FC | FFC | Art of War (US) | RioHeroes| Mixed Martial Arts World Fighting Championship
Asian promotions: HERO'S | Pancrase | ZST | DEEP | Spirit MC | Cage Force | Art of War (China) | Smackgirl
European promotions: Cage Rage | Cage Warriors | Finnfight
Other promotions: BodogFight
Defunct promotions: PRIDE FC | IVC | RINGS | WFA | UFO
Sanctioning bodies and networks: Shooto | International Sport Combat Federation | WWCN | North American Boxing Council
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancrase"
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