The forgotten MMA fight between Muhamad Ali and Inoki

9:40:00 AM Tkd kwan 0 Comments

This article today is about a forgotten fight between the legendary boxer Muhammad and the Japanese professional wrestler Antonio Inoki.

Everything started in 1975 when Muhammad Ali was invited to the Japanese Amateur wrestling Association, and Ali  asked if there is anyone who would challenge him and offered one million if they win :)

The challenge reached Japan the land of Samurai, and the wrestler Inoki accepted the challenge, and Ali was offered 6 million US$.

The fight was held in June 26, 1976 at Tokyo Nipon Budokan (Japan).

Muhammad Ali was 34 years old at the time while Inoki was 33 years old.

The first plan was a worked match, and they agreed about a certain senario for this fight, but when Ali knew he had to loose this fight, he decided to have a real fight.

they have created specific rules for this fight because the style of both champions were different, but this fight could be considered as one of the oldest mixed martial arts fights.

This fights ended up by a draw and the audience was not happy about this event and they even asked for their money back.

Muhammad Ali did not have to do this fight because he was hurt much, and Inoki kicked Ali's legs 107 times.

After that fight, Ali's legs were bleeding and swollen and infected and he also had two blood clots.

Before the fight Inoki offered Muhammad Ali a medical stick, and it seems that he expectation was right :)

In this visit to japan, Ali was accompanied by his friend grand master Jhoon Rhee who was one of the first Taekwondo pioneers in the United states.

Ali did learn few tips from Jhoon Rhee, and it was funny to see that he was using low block ''Arae Makki'' to block Inoki kicks :)