Thanks for the post Ricky, never knew that! interesting!
On another note. around the early 1900s, Captain Allan Corstorphin Smith of the United States Army recieved his black belt in Japan, and began to introduce combatives in the U.S. Army...not MMA, but it is an interesting read concerning things that still apply today, along with a whole lot of things that were not really understood clearly and would be considered not so good by today's standards.
Interestingly, Fort Myer, Virginia, about 2 KM from our dojo in Northern Virginia, was probably the first place that martial arts classes were ever taught in the U.S. formally by Captain Smith around 1918!
Good reading from ejmas below!
http://ejmas.com/jnc/jncart_cptsmith_0700.htm