Antonio Inoki kicking Muhammad Ali in the back of his leg (which he did a total 107 times) during their fight at the Nippon Budokan in Japan. (1976) Billed as "The War of the Worlds," the June 26, 1976, bout between heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali and Japanese professional wrestler Antonio Inoki was one of the earliest and most influential mixed rules contests. Held at Tokyo's Nippon Budokan, the event drew an estimated 1.4 billion television viewers across more than 30 countries and generated a live gate exceeding $6 million, a record for Japan at the time. The match was heavily restricted by last minute rule changes that prohibited Inoki from using most wrestling techniques unless one knee was on the canvas. In response, Inoki spent much of the 15 round fight on his back, repeatedly kicking Ali's legs. Historians estimate he landed more than 100 low kicks, causing severe bruising, blood clots, and an infection that hospitalized Ali for several days. The contest ended in a controversial draw after 15 rounds. Although widely criticized at the time, the bout became one of the foundational events in the evolution of modern mixed martial arts, demonstrating the challenges and possibilities of pitting specialists from different combat sports against one another. A young Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki, who later founded the pioneering MMA organization Pancrase in 1993, cited the Ali Inoki fight as one of the events that inspired them to develop a legitimate hybrid combat sport. #archaeohistories