Serious fans of combat sports know what Karate Combat is, but it flies under the radar for many. For those who don’t know, Karate Combat is a full combat karate league that takes place all over the world, including at the top of the World Trade Center and within ancient columns in Greece. According to the Karate Combat website, “Karate Combat was founded to elevate and promote the sport of karate worldwide by creating the first professional, full-contact league.”

The league used input from MMA greats Bas Rutten and Chuck Liddell to make sure that it stuck to its karate roots while being highly entertaining at the same time. You can find the entire list of rules here: Karate Combat Rules. The beauty of the rules for fans of striking is that following take-downs or knockdowns, the competitors must act quickly and definitively. Also, while down, the fighters must be active or required to stand. The fights are three rounds, each three minutes long. Fights are scored by three judges in a similar fashion to MMA fights- official rules can be found in the link above. Finally, what makes the combat unique is the fighting arena. Instead of a ring or cage, the fights take place in a pit in the shape of a square with fans standing around the combat area.

The Karate Combat website can be found at Karate.com. It’s a simple website focusing on the fighters (Karateka), the fights, the dojos and info about the promotion. One cool aspect of the website is the portion devoted to fighters. For those of us nerds who love advanced analytics, the site has amazing breakdowns for each fighter. This is but a screenshot of the whole, but gives you a snapshot of what Karate.com offers.

Karate Combat also offers an app on IOS and Android under the same name.

Next Thursday, January 24, 2019, Karate Combat will be held in Hollywood California. Bas Rutten will be in attendance as well as actor Danny Trejo who will serve as the guest announcer. The event will be live streamed at Karate.com.

Main Event: Luiz Rocha (Brazil) vs. Myrza Tebuev (Russia)

Co-Main Event: Jerome Brown (UK) vs. Abdalla Ibrahim (U.S.A.)

Elhadji N’Dour (U.S.A.) vs. Calum Robb (Scotland)

Igor de Casteñada (Spain) vs. Gilmarcos de Bastos (Brazil)

Daniel Viveros (Ecuador) vs. Ilies Mardhi (France)

Alex Bouderbane (France) vs. Willians Quirino (Brazil)

Nadege Ait-Ibrahim (France) vs. Ana Luiza Ferreira de Silva (Brazil)

Teek Silva (Brazil) vs. Kevin Kowalczik (U.S.A.)

Luis Diogo (Portugal) vs. Jonas Correia (U.S.A.)

Adilet Shadykanov (Kyrgyzstan) vs. Milos Vukovic (Serbia)

The main event looks to be a special fight. Luiz Rocha is a Brazilian with a record of 1-1 with a knock out over Dimitris Triantafyllis and a decision loss to Reda Messaoudi. Rocha is a powerful fighter who is arguably 2-0. He is facing Myrza-Bek Tebuev who is 1-0 in Karate Combat. He knocked out Deivis Ferreras last July in Greece. Myrza-Bek throws it all out there and isn’t afraid to take it to the ground. He keeps his distance and is difficult to hit. The winner of this fight will go on to fight for the Featherweight Golden Belt, an addition to year two of Karate Combat.

For the Co-Main Event, Jerome Brown looks really strong. He is 2-0 with one fight stopped to his opponent’s leg injury due to leg check and, in his other fight, he dominated Pedro Roig with strikes and takedowns, ultimately earning the stoppage. Brown is fighting Abdalla Ibrahim who has a nasty left hook knock out on his resume. This fight should be a striker’s delight with the edge going to Brown, but only slightly.

The other fights on the card are filled with fighters who aren’t household names…at least for now. The fights will be filled with knockouts, takedowns, drama and unfavorable decisions. Karate Combat is a promotion that puts on amazing fights with fighters dedicated to the honor of their sport. For those of you who don’t love ground and pound and find boxing just a bit boring, this may be a happy medium. Tune in next Thursday, January 24, free on Karate.com at 7 PM PST, to find your new favorite fighter and watch some excellent competition.

I am a 1993 graduate from Indiana University. I have been a teacher, athletic director and assistant principal for the past 20 years. I write for Sports Media Pass and Break the Fourth covering the Indiana Hoosiers, MMA, Music and Comics.