Thank you for sharing. Growing up in Peru with my cousins, my grandma would tell us to “ stop with the kachascan”. We knew she meant rough housing but never knew the history behind the reference. Keep it up boys!
@@JEG69 thats because a lucha libre was brought by railroad workers from england and the original name known for lucha libre in several south american countries was cachascan
Need to stop remembering new stuff for that to work lol I realised ages ago I'm holding myself back by trying to remember every single thing I've learned . Keeping my limited internal memory card clogged up 😂
I often wonder how advanced the technique was in antiquity, where presumably fighting/wrestling techniques developed for hundreds, if not thousands of years.
@@davidmorris1716 same here. We saw how much MMA has refined over just a few decades. Just imagine if it had 1000 consecutive years to mature like many systems in antiquity.
Great video, Catch is absolutely under appreciated. One minor issue: its seems to be made out that Sakuraba started Catch when he was 15. He was a freestyle wrestler until college and didn’t actually start training in catch / pro wrestling until after college I believe.
Correct. Billy Robinson always gave credit to Sakuraba’s freestyle wrestling coach, Shozo Sassahara - Olympic Gold Medalist. Sakuraba was Billy first Japanese student that he did not have to teach from scratch.
I've never heard anyone say a single time that Saku invented catch. Where were you hearing that? And. Now as I'm deeper into the doc, I see what you're talking about lol
Being a huge MMA and WWE fan it’s so cool to always see the history of the sport and how guys who were bored after work and wanted something to do turned into two of the biggest sports in the world
I think it was Josh Barnett that said catch wrestling is BJJ on steroids. He knows a lot about steroids, so I'll defer to his expertise. All joking aside, it's always cool to learn more about catch as catch can, and this video breaks the history down really nicely.
@@unmessable12 the irony of a martial arts built upon the mantra of 'size doesn't matter' where now ever practicioner is trying to get as jacked as possible.
catch wrestling was an integral part of my early training. my dad had a bunch of old film and tapes we used to go over when i was a child. i still tell people my grappling style is a catch based bjj
@@theemperorcharlemagne he's not really a catch wrestler, high level grappling especially for MMA has become so muddied it's kind of pointless to try and split hairs like that imo but he's part of the catch wrestling lineage.
Toms from wigan where the snake pit is located home of catch as catch can and aspull olympic wrestling club he's obviously trained there over the years his dad even says tom did jujitsu with him and the wrestling club was just up the road
@@creegyschannel8414 the snake pit was resurrected probably after 2010. Calling Tom a Catch Wrestler does not add up. Has he trained under a Catch Wrestler, if so who?
@@Magneticlaw for those wondering the story and correct me if I am wrong. Billy ran a Pro Wrestling camp with Verne Gagne and legends like the Sheik and Ric Flair attended as students. Throughout the camp the Sheik was talking shit about everyone. Eventually word got to Billy. Billy challenged the Sheik to a freestyle and folkstyle gut wrench drill, and Billy couldn’t turn him over. Billy then lost his temper and gave him the ole Lancashire surprise in the form of a knee to the thigh. This injured the Sheik for about a month. The Sheik then went on to call him Billy “No Coach” as a nickname. I love Billy, I think he was a great guy. But this certainly wasn’t a good look.
@@theemperorcharlemagneam not sure about the year but that was in the early 70s. Flair said he never wanted to piss of any of the old shooters because he knew they were legit. He said Verne trained the lving daylights out of them. Billy was there cos he was essentially a veteran like Verne and Verne trusted a hardass like him to run a training camp the way it was run by Billy Riley back in the Snake Pit of Wigan. Billy and Verne taught the trainees catch. Unlike Stu Hart, Billy didn't have to go too far to make somebody say uncle. Needless to say the Sheik was the young idiot who thought he could take an older man who wasn't going to let a free challenge go to waste 😅
All of my mma enthusiasts never mention the importance of catch wrestling. It was vital to the rapid evolution of MMA and I am thankful I was able to see the beauty of the art by being a huge Josh Barnett fan (I was able to catch him in his Baby Faced Assassin days) and Erik Paulson's catch wrestling gym is literally down the street from where I live. Love the channel chaps!
It's a Gen Z weenie era now and they're trying to take credit for everything nowadays when MMA in truth has to thank all martial arts for its existence.
By FAR the best MMA on Pont doc i have ever seen This was absolutely excellent. 10/10. I learned so much that i didn't know. And being a northerner, lots of this hit home... thanks again for the awesome content
It sucks. He's trying to erase the real history and suck up to MMA which is mostly BJJ and Muay Thai with some wrestling and boxing/kickboxing. MMA owes its existence to all martial arts and names like Bruce Lee and Gene Lebell and many others. Jason, you're a puke, and you should shut this channel down if you're going to be twisting the truth on the history of catch as catch can sucking up to BJJ. Ken Shamrock wasn't the best representative of catch either. He was overrated and showed it as soon as everyone started mixing styles.
Been in love with Catch as Catch Can for almost 15 years now. Beautiful part of British and Irish history that goes back thousands of years. We need Catch to be officially recognised in the UK and Ireland as part of our heritage with the heritage fund or what have you. Get some more schools for it built up.
I've known a few Catch wrestlers in my time, and I can say one thing, if they get you in a legit hold, you're done. Modern MMA owes a hell of a lot to catch wrestling, and pro wrestling in general, in how it's represented and how Catch has played a major role in most major styles today.
The Gracie's marketing was ridiculous, yes. And I think thats what really drives people to dislike them -aside from simple jealousy, but Aspinall is a BJJ black belt as is Eric Paulson. And Curran Jacobs (CACC WORLD CHAMPION) was not and he got smoked by a BJJ guy who was relatively unknown. None of the successful BJJ athletes cross train in CACC - _because they dont have to_ I like Catch, I respect Catch, but the delusional sense of superiority the online fanbois promote is just absurd, especially since CACC athletes arent out there winning in the major MMA or sub grappling promotions.
@@spacekookmusic I've been going over my view history. Was Volkov undefeated before Aspinall beat him? I hoped to watch that fight, so I'm hoping it's another Ruskie.
@@spacekookmusic he became swolekov during the Overeem fight and when he got that sick back tattoo. Tom submitted him after that. The only competition truly left for Tom is Jones and possibly Gane or Anatoly Malykhin
This is a great video, but one blaring error, Maeda was not Kimura's teacher, Tatsukuma Ushijima was his teacher. Tatsukuma Ushijima was super interesting, he travelled to Beijing and beat a Chinese wrestling champions and even tried to kill Tojo during WW2. I have a video about it on my channel.
Hello guys, have you heard of Dan Kolov? He was a Bulgarian wrestling legend known for his achievements in "catch as catch can" wrestling. Born in 1892, he became the first European to win the World Heavyweight Championship in this style. Kolov defeated notable opponents such as Ed "Strangler" Lewis, Rudy Dusek, and Joe Stecher. His career was marked by numerous victories, including multiple European and World Championships. Kolov's strength and skill on the mat earned him international fame, making him one of the most celebrated wrestlers of his time.
Yah very interesting ill have to look into him. I recently learned about Bareknuckle in the 1800s too.... as it turns out prize fighting has a much deeper evolution than fans really have assumed since the UFCs inception.
Judo Gene Le Bell was a student of Karl Gotch. Karl, according to Gene, taught him the double wrist lock. Gene also added that Karl could beat everyone with the double wrist lock. Karl was from the Snake Pit gym.
As a huge fan of British Pro Wrestling, they have the greatest fans in the whole world, it warms my heart to see the influence that Catch wrestling has had on the world of MMA. This is a lovely video. Thanks for making it.
haha FR so fucking dystopian. Imagine you are in the USA, you have no money and your kid needs surgery - i guess we go getting some brain damage. That is truly on the level of gladiator games in ancient Rome. MMA (ufc) is a sport - but you cannot train your chin, in slap fighting wins who goes first.
I waited 19 minutes for Billy Robinson to be mentioned. Was my Grandmothers cousin and I heard some fantastic stories. Always nice to send these links for her to watch about billy.
Modern BJJ is so heavily influenced by Catch Wrestling, it can hardly even be called BJJ at this point, hence why everyone says submission grappling, but no credit given to Catch Wrestling is so unfair
That’s completely ridiculous to say and not even true. The majority of submissions and techniques were invented in Japan. The only thing you can really say is that catch influenced leg locks.
@@theemperorcharlemagneExcept almost all the submissions are actually from jujitsu and not catch. Jujitsu and judo used to be one martial art and if you actually looked at the history of judo you would see that these submissions did not come from catch.
@@HaroldBluetooth-uz1zz Except you clearly don't know what you are talking about. Majority of submissions in jujutsu and judo were borrowed from Catch Wrestling
Catch Wrestling also went on to inspire Luta Livre. Luta Livre also has a win state of submissions(and maybe pins?) . I have never seen a video or an article that properly explores the connections between the two sports which I think would be fun to watch/read. There have been a small number of Luta Livre wrestlers in MMA and the UFC and the sports isn't as popular as it once was just like Catch Wrestling.
@@pax_mundi_8983 Catch Wrestling didn't inspire Luta Livre. Brazilian catch wrestler Euclydes Hatem, who choked out George Gracie, had created Luta Livre. Sambo has direct roots in catch wrestling as well
This is by far my favorite video you've ever done. Formally I have never trained Catch but I have had the pleasure of rolling with some that have a lineage and I learned alot. Catch, BJJ or Sambo they are expressions of the same thing. Good job on this deep dive!
Amazing job on putting all this together! It's a treasure trove of information about the subject, it's roots and the various off-shoots (no pun intended). Brilliantly done!! Thank you!!
I love when you cover history of MMA and fighting and this very very well done, but I have one correction, you said that Lou Thesz trained Ed Strangler Lewis which just isn't true as Lewis was the one who trained Thesz and not the other way around. I do love that you mention Lou's significance as he was very important for MMA, might not be as instrumental as Gotch aand Robinson but he was the third guy there in UWF and those shoot wrestling promotions, training many guys that would go on to fight in Pancrase and Shooto cuz he was actually skilled as a wrestler.
Really wish Catch gets more recognition and praise as it deserves. Shame there aren't more gyms around. Really well made documentary hopefully it can help spread the word 👍
Love the history of catch wrestling. In Southern New Jersey there is a gym called Snake Pit U.S.A. that's keeping Catch alive. Definitely check out them and their YT channel if you can.
Absolutely amazing video, however a huge part missing from this story is US Folkstyle/ Collegiate Wrestling Perhaps a part 2? The Gracies supposedly learned the "Americana" [Top Wrist Lock] & named it that after learning it from an American Catch/Folkstyle Wrestler & the reason why US Folkstyle Wrestking is different than the international Freestyle is largely because of the influence of Catch
What a great Documentary, very well put together, the history, from point A to the end back where it all started with current UFC Heavyweight champion.
This is so great. I've talked about this with people for years, but now I have a video I can point them to. Great work! You probably won't win an award, but you deserve one.
Awesome show!!! So well done! Thank you. What a time to be alive: to have access to people putting in the work to create content like this that we can learn with for free. Thanks again!
As someone who's from Liverpool and only about 20 or 30 miles from the snake pit I had no idea about any of this history infact I've never even heard about any of it! Truly fascinating thanks for making such a great video.
Bisping needs to see this video! In the past, I’ve read a bunch about catch wrestling and its practitioners, but this videos pulled so much together for me. Another excellent video!
Love the video. With so much of the origins of wrestling being in the UK it’s crazy to me that the country absolutely sucks at it now, both in MMA and Olympics 😢
Origins of wrestling? Wrestling goes back to the Egyptian an Babylonians. It didn't originate in England. The Japanese were doing jiujitsu way before and full of countries have millennia old national wrestling styles. Even this fanboi video doesn't claim this. You probably mean CACC.
It shouldn't be that crazy we don't do it in school or outside, it is as simple as that, no-one does it. Why we don't do it is the question. I think its crazy we dont
@@vlada Wrestling traditions developed independently in many parts of the world. The Japanese were not grappling before Europeans. In both cases the history of wrestling goes back before recorded history.
I had the good fortune of taking no GI grappling classes under Neil Melansen, back at Couture’s gym, and that guy was awesome. The grappling he taught was so straight forward and effective, and BRUTAL in its application of pressure.
Let's not forget that all 1st generation Gracie brothers (Helio, Carlos, George) learned Catch wrestling under the renowned Orlando Americo "Dudú" da Silva. He was coaching them privately every week.
I remember in the early days of pride and UFC, you would hear about catch wresting all the time. Nowadays, I don't think I've heard it mentioned in years.
It's really interesting to examine it today as compared to modern BJJ when you see Josh rolling with Craig Jones and such. You can tell that Catch came from a much rougher place and mentality in how it emphasizes strength, its best defense is offense attitude, etc. Modern BJJ resembles a slicker more technical version of catch than it does traditional BJJ at this point.
So let me get this straight. An English Martial Art is brought to South America by a self-proclaimed Japanese Count, who then proceeds to teach it to an immigrant Scottish family. … and we call this art form Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Got it .
Normally I use the comment section to troll and joke around but this was incredible. You really did a fantastic job and gave all the precursors to what we watch today a ton of love and credit. Awesome job, MMA On Point!
Thank you, guys! Exploring vast depths of european martial arts has been my hobby for well over past decade, and I love to see more brought to broader light.
I recently sparred with a pro-wrestler in a BJJ class at an UFC Gym in Japan. I mentioned catch-as-catch-can and he knew exactly what I was talking about. The spirit lives on.
Sorry to see you missed out on Orlando Americo da Silva and Rufino dos Santos who lead to Euclydes „Tatu“ Hatem and the art of Luta Livre which also has a big influence/lineage in MMA. Greetings from germany 👋
Nice documentary. Well done all around. I hate to mention the history of unarmed combat techniques developed by every military since the beginning of recorded history, but I guess I just did.
Catch wrestling is the reason why I will never call pro wrestling fake because at one point in time it was very real and you still get shades of it in certain matches or promotions
Fun fact: MMA actually has its routes in the Greek Olympics and was added in 648 B.C called Pankration. It was going to be added back in the modern Olympiad in 1896 but was deemed to violent
This is one of your very best videos so far. It's unbelievable to me that this isn't recognised more here in England as a incredible contribution to martial arts and pro wrestling. We're far too focused on boxing, though that was where the big money was, and still is. Great cameo from Dutch Mantell too. Shooters by Johnathan Snowden is a great book that covers a lot of this video's subjects in detail.
@@trollking99MLB is a name for professional baseball so no, you are wrong as is the narrator (who takes a lot of liberties and guesses). The OP was right, there was professional baseball after civil war and semi pro before it.
@@trollking99 The MLB formed in 1903. The National League and American League, which joined to create it, were both professional leagues already at that point. The oldest of them started in 1876. However, pro baseball predates even that, with the first professional baseball team forming in 1869. They played against amateur teams until other pro teams and eventually a league formed.
BRING BACK CACC !!! especially the submissions that are unique and not learned in BJJ. No one will know how to defend them and the fighter will be a champ
Tom has more aura then pretty much every fighter on the roster the only people who rival him are Alex and Jon the only heavyweight who did was Sergei before he got slept by him.
There was also a lot of catch wrestling that went from America into Brazil. Judo was also heavily influenced by catch wrestling. The Gracies just learned how to use the gi as a weapon, cheat, create favorable conditions, and market
