Is pankration still an Olympic sport?
Pankration
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not list pankration among Olympic sports, but the efforts of Savvidis E. A. Lazaros, founder of modern Pankration Athlima, the technical examination programma, the endyma, the shape of the Palaestra and the terminology of Pankration Athlima, the sport was accepted by FILA, known today as United World Wrestling, which governs the Olympic wrestling codes, as an associated discipline and a "form of modern Mixed Martial Art". Pankration was first contested at the World Combat Games in 2010. The international federation is United World Wrestling. Under UWW the pankration competitions have two styles:There are also pro tournaments and federations like MFC modern fighting pankration. These competitions are similar to professional mixed martial arts. There are many UFC stars with pankration backgrounds like American UFC champion Demetrious Johnson, Russians Ali Bagautinov, and Khabib Nurmagomedov. Johnson's coach, Matt Hume, is the founder and head trainer at AMC Pankration in Kirkland, WA.
Aaron Pico
In addition to wrestling, Pico also competed in boxing and Pankration. Pico won the national PAL championship in 2008 and was national Junior Golden Gloves champion in 2009, he won ‘most outstanding boxer’ at both tournaments. In Pankration, Pico also was a national champion in 2008. In addition, Pico went to Ukraine in 2010, and won the golden cup European
Pankration championship. During this time Pico also won the California state championships in both sports.