What do you get when you combine the best fight sequences from Game of Thrones, Gladiator, and that awesome show that Cinemax ended way too soon, Spartacus? A glorious concoction called professional knight fighting (M-1 Medieval) —-and it's every bit as odd and entertaining as it sounds.
Watching M-1 Medieval, the fighting circuit that pits men dressed as knights from the Dark Ages against each other in an octagon-style ring, is almost like watching some goofy re-enactment group in a park—-that is, until the fighting starts.
You quickly realize this ain't no hobby club. It's one of those things you can't take your eyes off, because there's just something so bizarre about watching figures from the past fighting against a modern-day backdrop.
Launched in 2015, M-1 Global is one of Russia's largest mixed martial arts organizations. It started simply as an interlude between official MMA bouts, but M-1 Global president Vadim Finkelchtein soon realized the idea had legs.
"I liked the fans' reaction when we did it for the first time in St. Petersburg at M-1 Challenge 50," Finkelchtein told mmafightingcom. "They seemed to really like it. They were impressed and supported the knights."
Finkelchtein said he then decided he would try and turn knight fighting into an actual stand alone event.
"I thought it was worth continuing. At that time, the knight fight was to fill the pause between the undercard and main card fights. But if we find enough fighters to make enough fights, we will have a separate medieval show with its own weight categories, title fights and champions."
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Over a year later, knight fighting has become so popular that events are held all over Russia and it only continues to gain momentum. And for the skeptics that might see this as a sort of pseudo-fighting—-think professional wrestling—-injuries do occur.
The swords are "blunted" and the armor is real, but all that protection can sometimes have the opposite effect. Broken limbs, noses and concussions have been reported.
For some reason, though, as big as Game of Thrones has become in the United States this seems to be one of those things that'll always be more suited for European taste.
