When asked to recall a noticeable martial artist of African descent born in the Americas, the ordinary person is expected to mention a twentieth-century boxer such as Jack Johnson, or a more recent exponent of the Asian martial arts, such as Jim Kelly. Or one might name the modern mixed martial arts competitor Anderson Silva, considered by some as the greatest pound-for-pound combatant of all time. What many do not know is that in centuries past, some of the greatest practitioners of European martial arts were of African descent. Although Africans brought a number of their own indigenous techniques with them to Europe and the Americas, they also sometimes trained in, adopted, and excelled at European swordsmanship also known as classical fencing.