The 6 Craziest MMA-Hybrid Promotions
As Mixed Martial Arts has grown in popularity over the years, so have the number of organizations attempting to replicate its success with their own spin-off versions of the sport.
That’s easier said than done though, and along the way we’ve seen some weird, wonderful, and at times just downright dangerous concepts brought to life by promoters in the hope of becoming the next big thing in combat sports.
In this article we’ll take a look at six of the craziest MMA-inspired organizations ever created, that, if nothing else, have shown a knack for pushing well beyond the boundaries of good taste.
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Hip Show: Arena Combat
Russian outfit ‘Arena Combat’ believe they have uncovered the formula for ‘the next evolution in combat sports’, by having 2 vs. 2 MMA-style fights in an enlarged cage that’s kitted out like an obstacle course.
It feels like a more extreme and violent version of ‘American Gladiators’ (the show that first brought MMA sweetheart Gina Carano to our screens), with helmet-wearing fighters scoring points for takedowns, submissions and knockdowns, as well as for staying on top of the various obstacles scattered around the cage for more than 10 seconds at a time.
The hybrid take on MMA has gained enough traction that it’s now been brought overseas to the United States, with ‘Arena Combat: American Battleground’ events being broadcast on AXS TV, and former UFC competitor Rodney Wallace being among those who’ve competed in it.
The sport has struggled to get licensed in many U.S. states though, and given the dangers involved in having potential two-on-one fights, and competitors falling from obstacles, it’s not hard to see why.
“They’re pioneers,” The California State Athletic Commission’s Andy Foster said of Arena Combat in an interview with MMAjunkie in 2015. “I don’t want to take that way from them. But a lot of pioneers died on the way out West.”
Team Fighting Championship
How do you make a sport like Mixed Martial Arts more extreme?
Latvia, a small country in Northern Europe that’s bordered by Russia, came up with one potential solution – put more fighters in the cage at the same time.
Not just one or two, but TEN fighters in total, five per team – all fighting at the same time in a larger than normal boxing ring, overseen by five referees.
If that sounds like complete and utter carnage then that’s because it is, and upping the violence quotient even further is the fact that ‘Team Fighting Championship’ adhere to PRIDE style rules, which means that soccer kicks to the head of a grounded opponent are legal.
”It’s more or less a barroom brawl without the bottles,” Jeff Jefferson of Global Proving Grounds, who partially own TFC, acknowleged to MMAFighting.com in 2014.
He’s not joking. The fights often start out somewhat civilized, with a man from each team generally taking on one of the opposing group, but things quickly turn ugly when one team starts to gain the upper-hand, and in the worst case scenario, the final member of a team can be left facing up to five opponents.
By all accounts it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen, yet teams from as far afield as the USA, Brazil and England have so far shown up to compete in this stupefying spectacle.
XARM
XARM was one of the first organizations to try to develop a hybrid of mixed martial arts, and to this day it remains one of the most bizarre.
The basic premise – in essence a hybrid of arm-wrestling and kickboxing – seems almost too absurd to be true.
The two competitors each have an arm tied together and are then harnessed to a small table, and when the action begins they can either go for a traditional arm-wrestling pin, or just kick and punch the crap out of each other.
It’s every bit as terrible as it sounds, so it does make you wonder why UFC co-founder Art Davies ever became involved in promoting it.
Nevertheless, the organization, who boasted that XARM was ‘The roughest three minutes in sports,’ somehow soldiered on for several years and even spawned a woman’s version too, though it now appears to be dead in the water.
Stickfighting World
Originating out of Canada, Stickfighting World is an organization who claim to offer, “the world’s first mixed weapon martial arts championship.”
That means that fighters fight each other with sticks, as is seen in ‘Eskrima‘, the martial art and national sport of the Philippines.
However, in addition there’s also an MMA twist, with competitors also being able to kick, punch and throw each other to the mat, through grappling on the ground is not permitted.
The fights take place in what’s known as ‘The Tank’, a 22’ Hexagon surrounded by 8-foot high plexi-glass, and fighters have to wear large protective head-gear, which can lead to long, drawn-out fights.
SFW held their first event in 2014, and though it’s so far struggled to gain traction, they are now planning to return as a fully sanctioned combat sport in 2016.
Knight Fighting
If you’re going to get sticks involved, then why not go the whole hog and battle with swords, shields and full suits of armor?
That’s the idea behind ‘Knight Fighting’, the brainchild of established Russian MMA promotion, M-1 Global.
”It is a new sport and rather cruel, which is appealing,” M-1 Medieval founder, Artemy GershvaldIt told the Sports On Earth website. “It is also beautiful, and no MMA promotion has attempted this before.”
Thankfully for all concerned, the swords are blunt, so there’s no risk of severed limbs here, but punching and wrestling is allowed (submission holds are banned).
With their swords being nerfed, the armor-clad knights appear to have difficulty inflicting real damage though, and bizarrely it’s often strikes with their shields that seem to have the most impact.
Shockfights
If you’re wondering what the craziest MMA hybrid organization of all is, then ‘Shockfights’ may well take the biscuit.
The idea here couldn’t be simpler, or more ridiculous – two fighters are put into a boxing ring with 3,000,000-volt tasers strapped to their hands, and have to battle it out until there’s either a submission or ‘shock out’.
Adding to the idiocy, Shockfights claimed that, “There are no judges, skill levels, weight classes, or rules,” while boasting that it was, “banned in all 50 states and in the civilized world.”
Attempting to drum up new competitors, Shockfights founder Michael Alexander took to YouTube, stating that, “Anybody who has the balls, and a dick big enough can step inside and do this. Let me tell you, If any of you out there right now want to come in and join Shockfights, we’re willing to have you. Just leave your fear at home and leave any notions of safety behind.”
Fortunately for the sake of humanity, Shockfights proved to be a short-lived venture, which fizzled out in 2012.
Bonus: Calcio Storico (aka Calcio Fiorentino)
We couldn’t leave without mentioning Calcio Storico (‘Historic Football’), though given that this violent Italian sport is believed to have originated hundreds of years ago, it can’t be classified as an off-shoot of mixed martial arts.
Nevertheless, it certainly looks like a completely bonkers blend of MMA and rugby that still takes place several times a year in the city of Florence in Italy.
The basic objective of the game is get the ball into the opponent’s goal, but the 27 man teams packed into the open-air, sand-filled arena are allowed to do so, “by any means necessary,” and that generally involves beating the hell out of each other!
Such is the ferocity of the sport that as far back as 1573, King Henry III of France declared that it was, “too small to be a war and too cruel to be a game.”
Calcio’s players won’t be getting rich any time soon though. Despite putting life and limb on the line with not so much as a pair of gloves or mouth-guard for protection, they don’t get paid for competing.
