Was Primo Carnera a Mixed Martial Artist?

 

crazy story; kind of a paper champion in the boxing world and then ended his career as a wrestler.  dunno how legit.  interesting article about it:

BoxerVsWrestler

Both sports were popular athletic pursuits back in the day and lots of boys and men trained in both. Don't know if he had any legitimate skills or not.



He goes for a guillotine at 4:45 in the second video.

doesn't look super legit, exactly

 

There was an old timer named Paul Berlenbach who was a two time AAU national wrestling champion who then went into boxing and won the World Light Heavyweight Championship (back when there was only one champion per weight class). Apparently he was a plodder and ugly to watch but hit like a truck. I'd say he'd qualify as an early MMA fighter.