Full-contact fighting appeals to participants who want to engage
in realistic combat with an opponent. Competitions tend to be
more aggressive and may have few rules or almost no rules except
the imperative to physically defeat the opponent. In general,
competitors have more freedom in full-contact as opposed to
medium-contact fighting, though often there are some techniques,
such as biting and attacking the eyes or groin, which are
forbidden. A point or time system may or may not be used, as
this would interfere with realistic combat. The term "full
contact" may also refer to the limitation of protective gear. As
an example, kyokushin, a variant of karate, allows participants
to wear no more protection than a groin guard while sparring.
Depending on the rules, full-contact fighting may allow
participants to use full force to disable or knock out an
opponent or achieve submission. At its extreme, the term "full
contact" may mean that all techniques of attack are permitted
and that no zones of the body are forbidden from attack. In the
early UFC events, judges, time limits, and points were not used.
The outcome of a competition was determined by the inability of
one of the participants to continue. In Portuguese, vale tudo,
which means "anything goes," is a form of full-contact fighting.
Full-contact rules are used in almost all mixed martial arts
competitions held by the UFC, PRIDE, Pancrase, and Shooto.
Recently, however, safety rules were written and the use of
protective gloves was added. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and judo, which
do not allow striking, are still full-contact fighting in that
full force can be used during grappling and submissions. Sambo
has full-contact variations of its fighting system.
Some practitioners of full-contact, hand-to-hand combat believe
that physically defeating the enemy is the only goal in a
competition. Winning a sports match by rules does not appeal to
them. They treat competition in the martial arts as a matter of
life and death, and they pursue training and the study of
fighting techniques without regard to competitive rules or
ethical and legal concerns. Even so, with precautions such as a
referee and a ring doctor, full-contact matches with basic rules
can serve as a useful gauge of a practitioner's overall fighting
ability and encompass striking, grappling, holds, and other
broad categories.
|
