[dscott]

Can someone explain this to me? I ask because I heard about Barnett vs. Yoshida earlier and was wondering what the difference's are between Catch Wrestling and MMA or Pancrase.

[Wilhelm von Wänkenstein]

Catch wrestling in the US at least is based on the turn-of-the-20th century traditions of freestyle submission wrestling that were developed from earlier wrestling traditions brought to the US by immigrants. Functionally speaking, it is like olympic freestyle, but emphasises hooking, or submission holds, which are illegal in olympic style, as a way to end matches in addition to the wrestling staples of pinning and positional control.

Older styles of catch-as-catch-can wrestling exist in other parts of the world, too, such as the Lancashire style in England and I believe the varzesh-e-pahlavi style practiced by zurkhaneh athletes in Iran. I could be wrong about the latter, though.