Know your mma history?

Dioxippus was an ancient Greek athlete, renowned for his Olympic victories at pankration. His fame and skill were such that he was crowned Olympic champion by default in 336 B.C. when no other pankratist dared meet him on the field. This victory was called "akiniti" and remains the only one ever recorded in the Olympics in this discipline. The most famous story of Dioxippus is his defeat of Coragus of the Macedonian Army.

During a banquet thrown by Alexander the Great (friend and sponsor of Dioxippus) a powerful Macedonian warrior of distinction named Coragus challenged Dioxippus to single combat. Dioxippus accepted the challenge.

Despite his friendship with Dioxippus, Alexander the Great and his Macedonians supported Coragus, while the Athenians in attendance supported their champion Dioxippus. Coragus came on the field resplendent in full combat armor and carrying a full complement of weapons, including javelins, a spear, and a sword. Dioxippus merely carried a balanced club, and was unarmored. Coragus threw his javelin, which was dodged by the pankratist, and then his spear was shattered by Dioxippus' club. Before Coragus could draw his sword, however, Dioxippus used his techniques to off-balance his opponent and throw him to the ground. With one foot on Coragus' neck, he looked to the crowd of spectators. Alexander the Great signaled that Coragus should be released, and the Athenians celebrated the victory, much to the chagrin of the embittered Macedonians. Even united against the Asians, the Greeks continued their fraticidal squabbles. Caught in the center was the victorious Dioxippus.

This victory was also Dioxippus' ultimate defeat. Alexander the Great continued to be more and more hostile to him for the embarrassing situation, and his friends and other Macedonians in his court conspired to embarrass Dioxippus by putting a golden cup underneath his pillow and accusing him of theft. Dioxippus, put in such a situation and realizing that the Macedonians had framed him, wrote Alexander the Great a letter describing the conspiracy and committed suicide. Whether Coragus of Macedonia was involved in the conspiracy is unknown.

This guy would fight two guys at once and was such a badass he won the Olympics by default because no one would stand against him.

Pankration, as practiced in the ancient world, combined elements of both boxing (pygme/pygmachia) and wrestling (pale) to create a broad fighting sport similar to today's mixed martial arts. A match was won by submission of the opponent or if the opponent was incapacitated. A contestant could signal submission by raising his hand, but sometimes the only form of submission was unconsciousness or death. Joint locks and choke holds were common techniques of accomplishing this. In fact, there were only two rules: contestants were not allowed to gouge eyes or to bite. Grave, even permanent injuries were common as an accepted means of disabling the adversary: mainly breaking limbs, fingers or even the neck. Pankration bouts were quite brutal and sometimes life-threatening to the competitors. There were no weight divisions and no time limits. The fighting arena or "ring" was no more than twelve by fourteen feet to encourage close-quarter action. Referees were armed with stout rods or switches to enforce the rules against biting and gouging. The rules, however, were often broken by some participants who, realizing they were outclassed by a heavier and stronger foe, would resort to such measures to escape being seriously maimed. The contest itself continued uninterrupted until one of the combatants either surrendered, suffered unconsciousness, or was killed. Although knockouts were common, most pankration battles were decided on the ground where both striking and submission techniques would freely come into play. Pankratiasts were highly-skilled grapplers and were extremely effective in applying a variety of takedowns, chokes, and punishing joint locks. Strangulation was most feared during ground combat, and was the leading cause of death in matches. A fighter would immediately raise his arm in defeat once his opponent's forearm had secured a firm grip across the windpipe or carotid artery (though there are stories of fighters who chose to die rather than surrender.)

If there was no winner by sunset, the judges would declare Klimax and the fighters would start taking alternating undefended blows until one was defeated.

Dioxippus Rutten imo

Royce would kill him!

It's common knowledge that Coragus v Dioxippus was a work.

I've been calling for undefended blows for a decade now.

It's how the winner of Diego v Kos should've been decided.

ttt

Interesting stuff

TTT....very interesting...not doubting your veracity, but where did you find this story??

BM21

Klimax in MMA would be nuts.

Imagine the ending to Fedor/Cro Cop.

So in modern terms...

Alexander is Dana

Corgus is Rich Franklin

Dioxxipus is Anderson Silva

Edited for better references.

Although knockouts were common, most pankration battles were decided on the ground where both striking and submission techniques would freely come into play.

Boring LnP fighters imo

og

"Boring LnP fighters imo"

Don't forget they were usually nekkid, too.

two thousand years called and wants its thread back.

he wrote a letter and then committed suicide? Not so brave, IMO. He should have took out as many of the bastids as possible.

"If there was no winner by sunset, the judges would declare Klimax and the fighters would start taking alternating undefended blows until one was defeated."

That's just awesome!

Its all bjj, sorry GJJ (tm).

He fought a guy that had full battle armor and weaponry on with a stick. A stick.

LOL @ heyguy! Hey Dioxippus, you wouldn't happen to be a fan of Dioxippus would you?