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03/02/10 - Muhammed Ali versus Antonio Inoki: The most infamous MMA match of them all
Although mainstream mixed martial arts is usually thought of as starting with the Ultimate Fighting Championship in 1993, one of the most famous (or infamous) MMA matches in history took place more than 15 years earlier and involved none other than Muhammed Ali.
In 1976 "The Greatest" was in his second reign as world heavyweight champion. In the previous two years he had defeated the likes of George Foreman and Joe Frazier. On June 26 he engaged in a battle with a Japanese professional wrestler called Antonio Inoki at the Budokan Arena, Tokyo. For all the wrong reasons their encounter would become almost as famous as ‘The Rumble in the Jungle' and in ‘The Thriller in Manila'.
Prior to fighting Ali, Inoki - in a bid to boost tickets sales for his company New Japan Wrestling - frequently competed against popular martial artists in ‘worked' battles (having a pre-determined outcome). The world karate champion Willie Williams and Judo gold medallist Wilhelm Ruska, among others, participated in such matches with Inoki. Of course a fight with Muhammed Ali was the ultimate for Inoki and has company.
Quite why or how the 20th century's most famous sportsman came to partake in such a contest has never been definitively answered. (The alleged $6 million he received certainly helped though).
Inoki had won all of his other (pre-determined) MMA fights putting him very much over with his home crowd. It was originally planned that Ali would suffer the same fate as the others and get pinned by the wrestler.
Pro wrestling historian Dave Meltzer is quoted in Clyde Gentry's No Holds Barred as saying: "Ali would beat up Inoki, then he'd want to stop the fight because Inoki was taking such a horrible pounding.
"Ali was talking to the referee about stopping the fight and Inoki would come up from behind and give him a kick to the back of the head. Ali would fall down and be pinned."
Apparently though Ali wasn't overly enamoured with the script and two days before the match he said that he was unwilling to lose. As the two couldn't work together and agree an outcome the rules were altered to make the fight real.
Although the fight was to be ‘real' it was certainly not MMA as we know it. There were allegedly many rules that both camps agreed upon before - naturally nearly all designed to protect Ali.
Inoki was prohibited from punching with a closed fist or striking Ali in the head. The Japanese wrestler was also stopped from using any sort of submission manoeuvre. The most absurd limitation was that Inoki was prohibited from "grapping or trying to take Ali to the ground".
The net result of this was one of the most boring fights imaginable. It made last year's octagon snooze fest between Anderson Silva and Thales Leites seem like a ‘Fight of the Year' candidate.
For 15 rounds, at the start of each, Inoki rushed to the centre of the ring and fell on his back and peppered Ali's legs with kicks. Naturally unwilling to engage his opponent on the ground, a bemused Ali threw the odd jab (a total of six in 15 rounds).
The fight was scored on a five point system, and finished up in a 74-74 draw. In the end it was reported that Ali came away with just $1.8 million and unsuccessfully sued for the rest. ‘The Greatest' was also taken to hospital due to blood clots caused by the wrestlers repeated kicks.
In Japan, Inoki became something of a hero - due to his trying to fight despite the rules being so stacked against him. He remained one of the country's most popular professional wrestlers and later even had a career in Japan's parliament.
Although little damage was done to Ali's reputation the notion of mixed martial arts became somewhat of a laughing stock. It took years - and a certain North American event called the UFC - to repair the damage caused by the encounter.
Matt Hyde
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