When President George Washington defeated seven challengers in wrestling at the age of 47

A great leader is someone who can protect and lead his followers. While doing so the leader should be capable enough to protect himself. Hence, no why we have seen some of the past presidents of The United States have a background in wrestling. So was the case with the first president of the USA, George Washington.

Wrestling had made its way to the new world with the arrival of the Europeans and was already a legitimate sport by the 18th century. With boxing yet to exist as a sport wrestling was the main form of combat sport prevailing throughout the continent. George Washington came in contact with wrestling during his days at the Rev. James Maury’s Academy in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He got into wrestling to stand up against bullies during his school days. 

He practiced an old Irish style of wrestling called the ‘collar and elbow‘ wrestling which included throws, pins, and even submission holds. George even became a wrestling champion at the age of eighteen. He never lost his skill in wrestling even growing up. At the age of 47 while serving as the Commander of the continental army he managed to defeat seven challengers from the Massachusetts Volunteers one after another.

George Washington was a gifted athlete and even excelled in other sports like archery, swimming, and sword fighting. However, George Washington was not the only president to have a history in wrestling, many others after him like Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Howard Taft also had a background in wrestling.

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Some of the other President had backgrounds in mixed martial arts other than George Washington

Theodore Roosevelt the 26th president of the USA got into wrestling and boxing at a very young age. He even started training in Judo after watching a demonstration from a famous Japanese judo master. Roosevelt was also able to get a 3rd-rank Brown belt in Judo.

Howard Taft, the 27th president, was also a collar and bone wrestler and became the champion of Yale. Abraham Lincoln was also into wrestling and wrestled over  200 matches throughout his life. The 38th president of the USA Gerald Ford was into boxing and used to be a boxing coach at Yale. He even used to give boxing training in the US Navy seal during the second World war.

Great leaders often needed to stand up for their beliefs and confront their enemies in the past. Hence we do see a connection between mixed martial arts and leaders of the past. 

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