Hamilton hosts light-contact MMA tournament
Hamilton held its only light-contact Mixed Martial Arts or MMA tournament recently but with submissions, bruises and blood it was far from a walk in the park.
Twenty eight fighters took the mat at the Kobukan Dojo on Friday night, to compete in the second of four, light contact MMA tournaments at Core Mixed Martial Arts.
Relatively unknown in NZ, light MMA has a long history with roots based around the sport of Jiu Jitsu. It has limitations on striking, slight limitations on submission moves, but allows controlled takedowns.
Organiser Carlo Maestro recommends light MMA to any fighter thinking about stepping into the ring.
“It’s about as close to full MMA as you can get. It’s lighter but the techniques are still the same, you don’t know who you’re going up against, what their strengths are, and there’s the pressure of being in front of a crowd.”
Competitor Kiran Chandra, training out of Incorporated Martial Arts in Hamilton, won his match.
“You don’t know who you’re fighting or anything about them, so you really have to think on your feet. It’s a real test of your skills, it’s pretty technical, and it’s great to bridge you into that next level.”
Each fight has three rounds of three minutes each, and the first to win two rounds wins the fight. Without a points system three judges judge who has the best standup, best takedowns and best ground work and then use that to determine the winner of each round. Submission ends the round but not the fight.
Core MMA student Sam Weston uses the tournament to prepare for future fights and a chance to put what he has learnt into practice,
“Even though it’s not full contact it’s so much more intense than sparring and there’s nothing like being in a competitive environment with people watching.”
Open to anyone, Organiser Carlo Meister explains that participants vary from the absolute beginner to veteran fighters.
“We have most of the clubs round here participate. We’ve got guys that have just started, guys that do random stuff like flips, and guys that are good at everything. That’s the beauty of it, being able to mix it up with lots of different people and lots of different styles.”
The reasons for giving light MMA a go vary as much as the fighters.
Training out of Fighter Factory, Kereti Raureti is new to MMA and has his own reasons for joining the tournament.
“I’ve been doing MMA for a only a few weeks but this is about seeing what it’s all about and having a bit of fun rather than seeing who’s the toughest.”
