Is pankration still an Olympic sport?
Pankration
At the time of the revival of the Olympic Games (1896), pankration was not reinstated as an Olympic event.
Mixed martial arts
In Ancient Greece, there was a sport called pankration, which featured a combination of grappling and striking skills similar to those found in modern MMA. Pankration was formed by a combination of the already established wrestling and boxing traditions and, in Olympic terms, first featured in the 33rd Olympiad in 648 BC. All strikes and holds were allowed with the exception of biting and gouging, which were banned. The fighters, called pankratiasts, fought until someone could not continue or signaled submission by raising their index finger; there were no rounds. According to E. Norman Gardiner, 'No branch of athletics was more popular than the pankration.' From its origins in Ancient Greece, pankration was later passed on to the Romans.