M-1 Global Medieval (YouTube)IV3yvOkooYAFreakshow Fight of the Week: Knight Fighting RJ Gardner April 25, 2015 Spotlight, Video MMA has come a long way since its inception; it has grown from being a gritty toughman-esq competition that just wanted to find out which martial arts style was the best into a true sporting event and martial art all its own. MMA today looks nothing like it did in the early days, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But that doesn’t mean it’s not fun to reminisce about the good ole’ days. The one part of MMA we truly miss in its modern form is the “Freakshow Fight”. For those of you who don’t know, a “Freakshow Fight” is a fight that pits two fighters against each other who have no business fighting; generally there is a crazy size difference between the fighters. So in honor of our love for “Freakshow Fights”, we at The MMA Corner will share our favorite videos of our favorite fights that had no business ever taking place. This week we travel to Russia, where M-1 Global has launched a new fighting division that will revolutionize “Freakshow Fights” forever. I give you M-1 Medieval, or “Knight Fights” for the less refined. The inaugural fight was held on April 10, 2015 in Moscow, Russia between veteran “knight fighters” Evgeniy Bedenko and Ivan Vasilevincluded. Complete with armor, shields and blunted swords (safety first of course), “Knight Fighting” features rules similar to MMA, where certain strikes and techniques are deemed illegal. As far as the sport of MMA has come over the past 20 plus years it’s nice to see it heading backwards once in a while. Maybe just not 500 years backwards. At least it’s entertaining. Enjoy!
