So you have your Kano, Oyama, Huo Yuanjia, etc. for AMA.

Who are the important figures in the development and tradition of WMA?

Edited because I'm a douche and doubles as a placeholder for later information.

This is tough because I can think of a good half-dozen to dozen boxers, off the top of my head I would throw in there: Sullivan, Johnson, Dempsey, Robinson, Clay/Ali for changing "the game" of boxing based on they way others had to fight them.

Edited because I'm a douche and doubles as a placeholder for later information.

Ha! [maniacal laughter] Now that you've changed your post, I'll pretend I was the first to chime in with: Johannes Liechtenauer, Sigmund Ringeck, Jud Ott, George Silver, Farmer Burns & E.W. Barton-Wright...again: [maniacal laughter]. Have a nice day.

John Clements here's why (http://www.thearma.org/Director.htm)

Ha! [maniacal laughter] Now that you've changed your post, I'll pretend I was the first to chime in with: Johannes Liechtenauer, Sigmund Ringeck, Jud Ott, George Silver, Farmer Burns & E.W. Barton-Wright...again: [maniacal laughter]. Have a nice day.

Damn you!

I still have that placeholder.

@Moenstah: I believe that even though John IS the best swordsman I've seen so far (can't say I've seen more than a few dozen up close, but he is quite awesome), he is just a reconstructor and interpreter, not a creator of a style. Thus, true credit goes to the original masters, which, *ahem*, another ARMA member has already posted.

All? Not all... many remain to be seen.

This will potentially be a really, really long list ... are we specifically looking for influential founders of new styles/systems?

Agrippa, Talhoffer... how far back are you looking to go?

Well, the more influential, the better. Start at the top.

Johannes Liechtenauer

Johannes Liechtenauer
Yep, without question the most influential of the known German masters - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lichtenauer

Fiore dei Liberi would be his Italian equivalent - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiore_dei_Liberi

The next major innovators would be the Italians who really honed rapier fencing, especially Salvatore Fabris: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvator_Fabris

Basically, it's easier to name individual masters from further back in history because we have fewer surviving records from before the invention of the printing press. By the time you get into the 1800s there are so many manuals being published on so many styles it gets hard to choose between them.

Jim Corbett for use of the jab, adding more science to boxing.

Charles LeCour for adapting English style boxing to Savate. Depending on how you look at it, Vasili Oshchepkov and Viktor Spiridonov for the development of SAMBO.