Strong Women in History: Marie Ford

Famous American strongwoman Marie Ford was born in New York in 1900. At 132 Lbs and 5’6” tall, she participated in Marathon, acrobatics, boxing and wrestling. Marie toured all over North America and challenged volunteers to boxing or wrestling matches.

Marie Ford was a pioneer of Pancration, the mixed combat style which is a combination of wrestling and boxing. When competing, Marie used the tactics of contemporary MMA fighters: she "softened" the opponent with accurate powerful punches and then vigorously grabbed him/her, threw down and pinned. At those times, they wrestled just for a pin rather than for a submission.

The idea to combine boxing and wrestling came to Marie when she performed in the American South. A well-endowed female giant challenged Marie to a fight and she had only established a weight limit for male opponents. Trained by the Marathon, Marie hoped to exhaust her much larger and stronger opponent and she eventually was victorious..

Edited from: www.fscclub.com