All credit goes to "shanoknowsmma" from the "Underground" (See original thread here) This thread contains a wealth of information regarding Hawaiian martial arts origins and their relation to cross training and mixed martial arts of today. It would do a great disservice if I simply cut and pasted the thread, so please head on over and enjoy. VERY informative.
Very cool article, thanks for posting the link to it. I wish it had gone more into linking that early history to the formation of arts such as Kajukenbo (founded 1947-1949 in Hawaii) since that is of particular interest to me, but I did recognize many of the names mentioned as being part of the Kajukenbo family in some way.
I'm very glad that they label him as "America's first mixed martial artist" and not "the world's first mixed martial artist." You might also look into Bartitsu, which is a mixture of jiujitsu, boxing, savate, wrestling, and various bits of stickfighting compiled by an Englishman around the turn of the century. Or, for that matter, Praying Mantis Boxing, which is supposedly a mixture of 18 different systems of Chinese boxing.
It's a nice read, but I would argue that there were neumerous fighters at the turn of the 20th century who studied boxing and multiple forms of wrestling, including some Judo and classic Jujitsu.
