The Most Bizarre Fighting Events In History!
As we all know, martial arts or any kind of combat sports competition is a great form of entertainment. So the amount of money circling through the fighting business is enormous.
For many years now, martial art promotions have been battling for their piece of the pie and market share. The competition is high and you would have to be a Billionaire or a true innovator to compete with these guys.
In modern times, the promoters are willing to do anything to make their martial arts product unique. We saw them coming up with some bizarre ideas just to distinguish their product from the others.
As a result, there have been some bizarre martial arts events and weird fights over the last 30 years. I mean, we are talking about the “Pillow Fight League” type of ideas. Yes, people smashing each other’s skull with one hand while holding a pillow with the other holds a spot on our list below.
Without further ado, let’s begin with perhaps the most brutal one.
Hip Show: Arena Combat
We can clearly see what this Russian promotion is trying to do. And we have to admit, everyone has once watched the MMA fight and thought why there are no 2 vs. 2 types of competitions. Well, Hip Show is here to make your dreams real.
This promotion shares a lot of similarities with American Gladiators. But people are fighting in Hip Show under the MMA rules. Despite looking bizarre, the events are actually very exciting. The matches took place on a large square space full of obstacles.
I mean, the entire thing looks like a ninja warrior polygon and the swinging ropes are actually a very good idea.
The matches consist of a team of two, and they are fighting under the MMA rules. Like in any MMA competition, the round is 5 minutes long. Yet, if one team eliminates the member of the other team, the round doesn’t stop!
They continue to battle two against one until the rest of the round. Though this may sound dangerous, the fights are in fact very safe. All fighters are wearing headgear and there are many referees.
Bare Knuckle FC
In spite of its brutality, Bare Knuckle FC is getting more popular with every event. Former UFC fighters like Artem Lobov and Jason Knight are surely adding to the rise of this type of martial arts entertainment.
For many years, both boxing and MMA experts were suggesting that fighting bare-knuckle is the safest way. According to them, boxing/MMA glove allows a fighter to punch with full power while they can’t do that barehanded. One of the biggest advocates was the famous UFC color commentator, Joe Rogan. But if you are searching for an answer, just pull up a fight from any Bare Knuckle FC event or check out the video below.
As its name suggests, athletes are fighting bare-knuckle inside the circle ring. Each fight is five two-minute rounds and unlike in boxing, the sport allows fighting in the clinch. We don’t have to mention how brutal these bouts are.
M-1 Medieval
Most MMA fans are familiar with M-1 since it is the leading Russian MMA promotion. So, what about medieval stuff? Well, it seems like it all began as some sort of experiment.
Historical medieval battles are a quite popular sport in Russia. Also, such leagues exist all across Europe. For example, there is a Polish Knight Fighting League, Serbians have their own version of it and many other countries as well.
M-1 decided to include knight fighting into their MMA events and see if it’s going to attract some new audiences.
In matches, knights use all sorts of weapons while wearing heavy plate armor. Stabbing the opponent with the sword or knife is strictly forbidden. But you can always swing with the weapon and knock their senses under the armor. Usually, who lands more strikes takes home the victory.
Calcio Storico
We are not sure if Calcio Storico even fits into this list, but, what the hell. Is it bizarre? Yes. Is it violent? Absolutely. Thus, it’s good to go!
Calcio Storico is a sport invented by the Romans over 2000 years ago for military purposes. Believe it or not, the sport is still going strong and matches took place in Italy.
For many people, Calcio Storico is the most violent sport on earth. It actually shares more similarities with soccer and rugby than with martial arts. By some sources, it is the predecessor of modern soccer and even American football. So, what is the connection between Calcio Storico and martial arts?
The action takes place inside the rectangular shape field and there are two goals at each side. Players score points by throwing the ball inside the net. Each side has 27 players, and they are competing in something that looks like a rugby match
Now, this is where the brutality kicks in. The sport allows the players to actually fight each other during the match. They can use wrestling moves to take the opposite player down or use boxing techniques to the damage. Not to mention they are fighting without any protective gear or at least gloves.
So, we have 54 giant athletes blasting each other with full power punches. According to the experts, at least 10 or 15 players will experience serious injuries during a single match. That’s insane!
TFC: Team Fighting Championship
Like Hip Show, TFC matches consist of two teams but each team has five members. So, we have 10 fighters in total fighting each other at the same time. Interestingly, most of the fighters are actually European soccer hooligans with some martial arts background. And TFC is ideal for them to fight against the rivals from the opposite club.
TFC is the promotion based in Latvia. But some sources are suggesting this kind of events originated in Russia and Poland. Regardless of the origins, the matches are very dangerous. At the first look, it all seems very normal with two teams battling each other under MMA rules. Also, they use protective gear and there are many MMA referees.
But, it all becomes brutal when one of the fighters goes down. Like in Hip Show, the fight doesn’t stop and each team must fight until the last man standing. So, it’s very common to see five fighters destroying a single opponent.
Further, the rules are very interesting. Obviously, there are no weight classes. But the combined weight of each team’s five members must be 1,212 pounds or 550 kilos. TFC also allows soccer kicks and there are no rounds or time limits.
Tag Team MMA
If you have thought that only the Russians and Europeans let the fighters competing in teams, you are wrong. Although the concept is a bit different, there were many tag team MMA attempts on the US soil and all of them were bad. The concept also had some success in India and Japan, but they have all ended as huge failures.
The idea looks exactly like you are imagining it. I mean, the only thing from WWE that actually works inside the MMA cage is the wrestling itself, not the tag team concept.
In fact, TFC and Hip Show are very reasonable compared to this. If you don’t trust us, take a look at yourself.
Pillow Fight League
Ok, we are slowly entering that dark side of the internet but believe it or not, these bizarre events were a real thing. It’s even weirder when you see that this martial arts freak show was founded by the PFL Commissioners somewhere around 2004 in Canada.
Also, the bizarreness doesn’t stop there since this is a women’s sport. In what kind of a psychological state should a woman be to take part in this? It has to be “I want to speak with your manager” type of mood.
The matches took place in a square space like in wrestling matches. If we understand the rules correctly, every fighter steps into the fight with one pillow.
They could strike each other with pillows and use the wrestling moves to score takedowns. So, a woman must be an expert in at least two martial arts styles.
Once on the mats, they continue to battle for a position by using scrambles and sweeps. If a person secures a dominant position, she must put the pillow on the opponent’s face before exploding with the punches.
Although this looks funny, make no mistakes about it, the fights are very dangerous. Serious injuries like concussion, broken teeth, and black eyes are a common thing.
XARM
XARM is perhaps the most bizarre thing you are going to see this year. It is a pure example of the creativity going the opposite way.
Basically, XARM was the arm wrestling competition with the elements of fighting. Participants could throw punches and kicks at each other. In the beginning, the officials would tape their hands tight, so the fighters can’t break the grip.
Once the clock starts running, Both fighters would start blasting each other with the free hand. They could also land vicious roundhouse kicks. The matches lasted three one-minute rounds of action. Interestingly, they included the 10 point scoring system.
The funniest part is that the promotions included the announcers, commentators, and even analysts. Honestly, the most bizarre thing was to listen to them analyzing the “fights” and “fighters” skills.
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