Pancrase (Hybrid Wrestling)
パンクラスJapanese professional mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion founded in 1993 by Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki after they left Fujiwara Gumi.
Quick Facts
JapanCharacter & Origin
Training
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
About Pancrase (Hybrid Wrestling)
Pancrase is a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion that, according to Sportiva, Number Web and the official Pancrase website, was founded in 1993 by Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. Sportiva describes it as an MMA organization that the two created as a hard-edged wrestling federation different from ordinary wrestling. The official Pancrase website derives the name from ancient pankration and gives as its goal a total fight combining the best techniques of the world's martial arts.
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According to Sportiva, both left Fujiwara Gumi in January 1993, which according to Number Web Yoshiaki Fujiwara had dissolved in December 1992. HK01 reports that they founded Pancrase on the advice of Karl Gotch, an adviser to Fujiwara Gumi, and that the company World Pancrase Create was established on 16 May 1993. According to Sportiva, the inaugural event took place on 21 September 1993 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall, and a series of very short bouts set off a fashion for byosatsu, that is, victories within seconds. In Number Web, Funaki explains that they decided to make all bouts real fights, to set themselves apart from UWF International and RINGS. According to HK01, early Pancrase banned punches to the head and had escape points for grabbing the rope. Since September 1999, according to HK01, open-finger gloves have been worn and punches to the head are permitted. The current rules from 2025 are issued by the King of Pancrase Council, and a bout under them lasts 3 rounds of 5 minutes, a title bout 5 rounds.
History
According to HK01, after Newborn UWF broke up in 1991, Funaki and Suzuki followed Yoshiaki Fujiwara into Fujiwara Gumi. Number Web states that they were contracted fighters there, while Fujiwara ran the group on commission from the parent company Megane Super. According to Number Web, in December 1992 Fujiwara asked everyone at a meeting who the boss was, and after Funaki's silence he dissolved the group. Sportiva states that in January 1993 Suzuki and Funaki left and founded Pancrase. According to Number Web, the model for the Pancrase style was Funaki's match with Yoshiki Takahashi in Fujiwara Gumi, which Funaki proposed fighting in earnest. The founding event took place, according to Sportiva, on 21 September 1993 at Tokyo Bay NK Hall. English Wikipedia states that all five bouts ended by KO or submission, lasted 13 minutes 5 seconds in total and were watched by 7000 spectators. According to Sportiva, the first turning point was May 2000, when Funaki ended his MMA career after losing to Rickson Gracie, and three years later Suzuki returned to professional wrestling. According to Sportiva, the event at Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium in 2006 was the last in a large hall.
How it differs
According to Funaki in Number Web, early Pancrase wanted to set itself apart from UWF International and RINGS by making all its matches real fights, whereas Fujiwara Gumi matches were, in his view, still wrestling rather than a combat sport. According to HK01, early Pancrase differed from the vale tudo of the time by banning closed-fist punches to the head, by escape points for grabbing the rope, and by a point system instead of round scoring. According to JSA, Satoru Sayama founded Shooto as a new sport with an amateur base, and according to Sportiva, Pancrase was founded in 1993 by professional wrestlers Funaki and Suzuki as a professional promotion. Under the 2025 rules, today's Pancrase is almost indistinguishable from general MMA, using a cage, open-fingered gloves, 10-point must scoring and punches to the head.
Technique
According to Sportiva, early Pancrase was characterized by very fast finishes, which started a fashion for byosatsu. HK01 states that on the ground it allowed many joint locks and chokes, including leg locks and neck cranks, and that ground strikes were not banned, but the audience disliked them. According to HK01, punches and elbows were originally allowed only below the head, and to the head only with an open palm or other than a fist. Today's Pancrase rules from 2025 allow punches, kicks, elbows, throws, joint locks and chokes. They ban, among other things, headbutts, eye attacks, biting, small-joint locks, strikes to the spine and back of the neck, and kicks, knees and stomps to the head of a grounded opponent.
Ranks and progression
Sportiva reports that after losing both stars, Pancrase introduced weight classes and rules and took the path of sporting MMA. Number Web summarizes Pancrase's development from its UWF wrestling base through open-palm strike rules and open-fingered gloves to the cage and the Unified Rules. According to HK01, the open-palm rules ended after the Anniversary Show in September 1999, in 2001 one round of 10 to 30 minutes became 3 to 5 rounds of 5 minutes, and between 2006 and 2008 the weight classes grew from five to ten under the Nevada Athletic Commission standard. The English Wikipedia states that from 11 March 2011 lower weight classes and the women's title Queen of Pancrase were added, and that since Pancrase 258 on 11 May 2014 fighting has been in a cage.
Competition
The Pancrase rules in the 2025 revision, in force from 11 February 2025, are issued by the King of Pancrase Council, which describes the sport as hybrid wrestling. A non-title bout lasts 3 rounds of 5 minutes, a title bout 5 rounds, always with a one-minute break. The rules list 11 weight classes, from atomweight (up to 47.6 kg) to super heavyweight (over 120.2 kg), and score by the 10-point must system with three judges. They permit a cage with a diagonal of at least 7 m or a ring, and numbered Pancrase events are held in an octagon. According to HK01, early Pancrase had one 15-minute round, 30 minutes for title bouts, and each fighter began with 3 to 5 escape points. Grabbing the rope during a joint lock stopped the bout but cost a point, and a fighter out of points lost. Without a submission, KO or loss of all points, the fewer points lost decided. Sportiva states that at the 20th anniversary event the Pancrase World Slam tournament began in the lightweight and bantamweight divisions.
Today
According to Sportiva, after 2006 Pancrase held monthly events for 500 to 1000 spectators, and in June 2012 Masakazu Sakai took over leadership with the motto world standard. For the 20th anniversary, according to Sportiva, the event PANCRASE 252 took place on 29 September 2013 at the Yokohama Cultural Gymnasium. HK01 reports that on 4 October 2015 Pancrase signed an exclusive long-term broadcasting agreement with UFC on UFC Fight Pass, including the archive. According to Number Web, in 2025 Pancrase celebrates 32 years, is older than UFC and is among the oldest MMA organizations in the world. The 2025 rules require gloves with open fingers approved by the organizer, a mandatory mouthguard and a white hand wrap on each hand.
Did you know
In Number Web, Funaki recalls that shortly after the founding the foreign ace of Pancrase, Ken Shamrock, lost to Royce Gracie at the first UFC, and so Pancrase had to relate to vale tudo with punches to the face as well. English Wikipedia states that in December 1994 the sixteen-fighter King of Pancrase tournament at Ryogoku Kokugikan was won by Ken Shamrock, who became the first champion. English Wikipedia attributes the authorship of the name Pancrase to Karl Gotch. At the 20th anniversary event, according to Sportiva, Yoshiki Takahashi, a participant in the inaugural event, faced Ryo Kawamura in a bout after which the loser was supposed to stop. English Wikipedia mentions a dispute over arranged bouts of the early era. According to it, Ken Shamrock admitted agreements with less experienced opponents because of injuries. According to English Wikipedia, in the mid-nineteen-nineties Pancrase events were broadcast in the USA as pay-per-view by Semaphore Entertainment Group, then owner of UFC.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Pancrase?
According to Sportiva, Number Web and the official Pancrase website, it was founded in 1993 by Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki after they left Fujiwara Gumi. According to Funaki, Ken Shamrock was the foreign ace of Pancrase.
Where does the name Pancrase come from?
HK01 and the official Pancrase website both derive the name from ancient pankration. English Wikipedia attributes the name to Karl Gotch, according to HK01 an adviser to Fujiwara Gumi.
What were the early rules of Pancrase?
According to HK01, early Pancrase banned punches to the head and, for grabbing the rope during a joint lock, deducted escape points, the loss of which meant defeat. Since September 1999, according to HK01, open-finger gloves have been worn.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.