History- Submission grappling is a martial art that traces its roots far back into both ancient Greece and Japan. Pankration, in the ancient Olympics, was the first combat sport to actively introduce chokes and limb submissions in Western European history. In Japan submissions were a key piece of the battlefield art of the samurai, jujitsu. Jujitsu was streamlined into a competition art in 1882, called judo it is still the premiere grappling art in Japan today. While judo has helped spawn many offshoots, its most famous child art is Brazilian jiu-jitsu, formed in the late 1910's and early 20's. As with wrestling most countries have their own traditional form of submission grappling such as; catch wrestling (England), malla-yuddha (India), pankration (Greece), sambo (Russia), and many more. In the early to mid 90's submission grappling emerged as the dominant discipline in mixed martial arts. 

The Sport- The modern grappling arts are as numerous as the opportunities to compete in them. Every year hundreds of events take place across the country under rules as general as "submission wrestling", or as specific as the arts of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo. While judo emphasizes the throw more than than the ground game traditionally judo experts are still masters of the submission game. Most other grappling styles put much more teaching into the grappling on the ground and the submission offense and defense. 

Submission Grappling Philosophy at The Ludus- Our overarching principle in grappling (other than master the basics, as with every martial art) is to embrace your uniqueness's in the ground game and learn as many styles as you can to make one that works for you. More than any other sport grappling is adaptable and can be learned to fit your natural abilities and past experiences. Never stop learning. 

Notable Practitioners- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Mitsuyo Maeda, Carlos Gracie, Helio Gracie, Luiz Franca, Oswaldo Fadda, Royler Gracie, Carlos Gracie Jr., Carlos Machado, Rigan Machado, Pedro Sauer, Rorion Gracie, Relson Gracie, Carlson Gracie, Royce Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Renner Gracie, Ryan Gracie, Ronaldo Jacare Souza, Marcelo Garcia, Fabricio Werdum, Andre Galvao, Caio Terra, BJ Penn, Demian Maia, Eddie Bravo, Roger Gracie, Saulo Ribeiro, Xander Ribeiro Judo: Jigoro Kano, Tsunejiro Toita, Shiro Saigo, Mitsuo Maeda, Kyuzo Mifune, Keiko Fukuda, Masahiko Kimura, Gene LeBell, Gokor Chivichyan, Anton Geesnik, Yasuhiro Yamashita, Erik Paulson, Neil Adams, David Douillet, Kosei Inoue, Teddy Riner, AnnMarie De Mars, Jimmy Pedro, Ronda Rousey, Kayla Harrison