Photo Vault: Rare images reveal the history of fighting

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

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A picture says a thousand words. And we have millions of them in our photo vault.

Check out this stream for the most interesting and evocative images we have in our database; all of which reveal a slice of martial arts and/or prize fighting history. We have images of sumo wrestlers and bare knuckle boxers from the 1800s and classic portraits of legends like Muhammad Ali and Bruce Lee. We also have some images that are a little more odd, which showcase the more bizarre lineages of combat sports such as MMA.

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About the author

Tim Bissell

Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. Among Tim's specialties are the intersections between crime and combat sports. Tim has also covered head trauma, concussions and CTE in great detail.

Tim is also BE's lead (only) sumo reporter. He blogs about that sport here and on his own substack, Sumo Stomp!

Email me at tim@bloodyelbow.com. Nice messages will get a response.