“Although most of the examples in this chapter are drawn from the low- country and Chesapeake regions, it is important to note that blacks drew on martial art traditions in all regions of North America. These included forms of stick fighting. However, the two longest lasting and most widespread martial arts were the ‘wrasslin’’ art of kicking a wrap and knocking and kicking, also known as yuna onse. Why these martial art traditions, of the many others that would also have been brought by African adepts, became prominent in North America is not entirely clear. That African martial arts became entrenched in the Americas, however, should not be surprising since these technologies could potentially aid enslaved Africans and their descendants in a wide variety of contexts.”
-T.J. Desch Obi, Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Arts in the Atlantic World