A good place to get started in MMA

Underground
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With the legalization of MMA in California there are many new venues to fight. Promoters are booking alot of fighters who are not yet ready for full rules MMA. This is leading to frequent mismatches and injuries. Not good for the sport.

The California Athletic Commission is not regulating amateur MMA so there is no place to get started.

Pankration is the perfect stepping stone for both Grappling to MMA and TMA to MMA. Most competitors get 2 to 4 matches per tournament. Rules allow body strikes, Takedowns and Submissions. Emphisis is on safety and Technique. Two trained referees oversee each match which are held on full size wrestling mats. There is an Official U.S. Governing Body for Pankration which falls under the International Federation which is rulled by the Greek Government. Every other year the Official World Championships are held. This year in it's in Greece.

So Cal Pankration runs the California Amateur Pankration League which falls under the US Federation. We have held touranments since 2002 including many for the Marine Corps and U.S. Military. We have introduced many Traditional Martial Artist to the sport and have had over 30 former Pankration fighters make the succesful transition to Pro MMA.

Our Tournaments have divsions for Beginers, Intermediate and Advanced Adults in 8 weight classes, plus divsions for Seniors, Kids and teens.

This is what Amateur Pankration looks like:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3239981890632298800&q=pankration

Youth Pankration:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2310042801340805866&q=pankration

Our Last tournament had 149 competitor. We are trying to double that and become mainstreem in the Southern California Area. To help accomplish this we have been invited to be the main event in the he World Amateur Martial Arts Games. The Games will be held Aug 20th in at the Jenny Craig Pavilion of the University of San Diego.

If your interested check out our web site:
www.fightleague.org

For more information on the World Amateur Martial Arts Games ( The promoter has put over $15,000 into this event):
www.wamaigames.com

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This looks like a lot of fun, actually.

I am loath to get struck in the head, but doing body shots, adding kicks to both the body and the legs and having submissions seems like it would be a blast.

Keep on doing what you're doing.

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keep up the great work!

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Wow! That really is a great thing. Good luck to you. Any tournaments like that in the south east?

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It takes alot of support and resorces to put on a good event so we are limited to the Southern California area at this time.

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Wow. Watching that really makes me believe that the sport of mma will pass by our current champions in much the same way that it has passed Ken and Royce. I doubt if even Fedor would be able to come close to the champions of tomorrow.

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IDK if its just me but it's like glorified sport jj.

The puches and those push kicks were laughable.

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Pankration is double elimination but If the bracket is more than 8 men we go to cary-over double elimination, which means if you lose your first match the guy who beats you must win his next match to carry you to the consulation bracket. We do this so no one has to fight more than 4 Pankration Matches per tournament.

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Hey John, I was looking at the WAMAI website and it lists knee pads as required equipment for pankration. Are they really requiring knee pads? Or do they mean shin guards? I hope not.

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KNEE AND SHIN PADS ARE OPTIONAL but recommended

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Since there is no Amateur MMA in California it should be considered Pankration. Most Pro Promoters do recongnize our tournaments winners and placers for their events. We have had over 30 make the succesful transition so far.

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