Two men go into the ring wearing medieval plate armor and blunted swords. Then they try to beat each other into submission. It's full contact with full steel.
This is Knight Fighting, a sport within the Russian M-1 Global mixed martial arts league. It's emerging in the US, too. USA Knights promotes the sport here.
But the Russians are leading the sport internationally. So to compete, we Americans really need to start training a large pool of fighters--perhaps only 1% of whom will be natural champions--from elementary school on. Make it a school sponsored sport, like volleyball and track.
-via Geek Tyrant
Newest 5 Comments
There are several groups in the USA that do steel fighting now. We have competed internationally for the past 4 years. I am one of the women fighters, we have been allowed to compete since 2014. The M1 fights are prize pro-fights and the first one that we were involved in was with Sergei Ukolov vs. Craig Michael Ivey, one of our champion fighters. Its a HUGE learning curve over SCA, and many of us started that way. It takes a lot out of you and I promise its the longest 3 minutes of your life lol. If you want to see some of the bigger fights search Battle of the Nations (BOTN) and International Medieval Combat Federation (IMCF). The USA has had teams in both World Championships.
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Definitely. It was clear they were tiring by round three--especially the one in red.
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Three minutes is a LONG time for a sword fight, and the fighters would have to hear the ref before they can stop when he says something. I know from experience that it's hard to make out much in a steel helm with lots of clattering metal and heavy breathing.
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It's only three 3-minute rounds, and the fighters (in this fight, anyway) stop the very moment the ref says anything. Still, I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to have a bat or morning star or lightsaber or something.
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The full fight via M1's channel. English announcers come on when the fight starts.
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