Shootfighting
Encyclopedia
Shootfighting is a combat sport
and martial art, with competitions governed by the International Shootfighting Association (ISFA). Shootfighting incorporates techniques from a multitude of traditional martial arts, the most principle of these being Muay Thai
and Catch Wrestling
.
Shootfighting was previously used synonymously with mixed martial arts competitions in Japan
, as opposed to shoot-style professional wrestling
competitions. This usage of the term is retired from common usage because it became a registered trademark of Bart Vale, who uses it to describe his hybrid fighting system derived from shoot wrestling
. However, it is still sometimes used colloquially.
Examples which were once considered shootfighting styles, tournaments or organizations are Pancrase
, Shoot boxing
and Shooto
, where many fighters still considered themselves to be shootfighters. Ken Shamrock
is possibly the most recognisable shoot fighter, as this was the discipline he was credited as using in the early days of the UFC.
had its genesis in the 1970s, when Karl Gotch taught a group of Japan
ese professional wrestlers catch wrestling
techniques, called "hooking" or "shooting
". In 1976, one of these pro-wrestlers, Antonio Inoki
, hosted a series of mixed martial arts matches. This led to an increased interest in real and effective technique, and eventually led to the creation of shoot wrestling
, with some shoot-style professional wrestling
organizations hosting legitimate mixed martial arts bouts, called "shoots". In the 1990s the interest grew, and certain shoot-style organizations like Pancrase
evolved into pure "shoot" organizations. The term "shootfighting" was frequently used to describe these events and styles.
The word "shootfighting" was however coined by Bart Vale
, an American
with a background in wrestling
. He was the Japanese
Professional Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG, a Japanese shoot-style professional wrestling
organization) champion for close to three years. Upon moving back to America, Bart Vale used the term "shootfighting" to describe his own hybrid fighting system, which was a combination of the shoot wrestling
techniques he had learned in Japan, and his experience in American karate
and kickboxing
. He also founded the International Shootfighting Association to promote shootfighting as a combat sport
.
ring, competitors are allowed to kick
, knee
or elbow
any part of the body except the groin
, as well as headbutt
. Punches
are allowed to the body. Since no gloves are worn to facilitate wrestling, punches aren't allowed to the head, although open hand palms and slaps are allowed. Any type of throw
or takedown
is legal and competitors are allowed to hit a downed opponent
. Additionally, any type of joint lock
is legal as are chokes
against the side of the neck. The only foul consists of punches to the face, eye-gouges, techniques against the windpipe and groin strikes
.
Fights are won when a competitor is knocked down
for a 10 count, knocked down 5 times or forced to submit
. A fighter caught in a submission hold may grab the ropes to break the hold, but this counts as a 1/3 of a knock down. Grabbing the ropes 15 times equals a loss. Bouts that go to the full time limit are declared a draw.
Combat sport
A Combat sport, also known as a Fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport where two combatants fight against each other using certain rules of engagement , typically with the aim of simulating parts of real hand to hand combat...
and martial art, with competitions governed by the International Shootfighting Association (ISFA). Shootfighting incorporates techniques from a multitude of traditional martial arts, the most principle of these being Muay Thai
Muay Thai
Muay Thai is a combat sport from Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. It is similar to other Indochinese kickboxing systems, namely pradal serey from Cambodia, tomoi from Malaysia, lethwei from Myanmar and muay Lao from Laos...
and Catch Wrestling
Catch wrestling
Catch wrestling is a style of folk wrestling that was developed and popularised in the late 19th century by the wrestlers of traveling carnivals who incorporated submission holds, or "hooks", into their wrestling to increase their effectiveness against their opponents...
.
Shootfighting was previously used synonymously with mixed martial arts competitions in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, as opposed to shoot-style professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
competitions. This usage of the term is retired from common usage because it became a registered trademark of Bart Vale, who uses it to describe his hybrid fighting system derived from shoot wrestling
Shoot wrestling
Shoot wrestling is a combat sport that has its origins in Japan's professional wrestling circuit of the 1970s. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to utilize more realistic or "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their excitement...
. However, it is still sometimes used colloquially.
Examples which were once considered shootfighting styles, tournaments or organizations are Pancrase
Pancrase
Pancrase is a mixed martial arts promotion company founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. Pancrase is taken from Pankration, a sport in the ancient Olympic games. Suzuki and Funaki are particularly skilled in the art of catch wrestling and based the...
, Shoot boxing
Shoot boxing
Shoot boxing is both a combat sport and a stand-up fighting promotion company based in Tokyo, Japan. The organization was founded by former kickboxer Caesar Takeshi in 1985....
and Shooto
Shooto
Shooto is a mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, as an organization and as a particular fighting system derived from shoot wrestling. Practitioners are referred to as shooters,...
, where many fighters still considered themselves to be shootfighters. Ken Shamrock
Ken Shamrock
Kenneth Wayne Shamrock is an American mixed martial arts fighter, UFC Hall of Famer and professional wrestler...
is possibly the most recognisable shoot fighter, as this was the discipline he was credited as using in the early days of the UFC.
History
Shootfighting's use as a synonym for mixed martial artsMixed martial arts
Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...
had its genesis in the 1970s, when Karl Gotch taught a group of Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese professional wrestlers catch wrestling
Catch wrestling
Catch wrestling is a style of folk wrestling that was developed and popularised in the late 19th century by the wrestlers of traveling carnivals who incorporated submission holds, or "hooks", into their wrestling to increase their effectiveness against their opponents...
techniques, called "hooking" or "shooting
Shoot (professional wrestling)
A shoot in professional wrestling is a term that refers to any unplanned, unscripted or real-life occurrence within a wrestling event. Contrary to popular belief, the name does not originate from "shooting in" for a takedown, as in amateur wrestling - rather it is a carny term shortened from...
". In 1976, one of these pro-wrestlers, Antonio Inoki
Antonio Inoki
is a Japanese professional wrestling promoter and retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist who now resides between New York City and Tokyo. He was also the founder and former owner of New Japan Pro Wrestling before selling his controlling share in the promotion to Yukes...
, hosted a series of mixed martial arts matches. This led to an increased interest in real and effective technique, and eventually led to the creation of shoot wrestling
Shoot wrestling
Shoot wrestling is a combat sport that has its origins in Japan's professional wrestling circuit of the 1970s. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to utilize more realistic or "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their excitement...
, with some shoot-style professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
organizations hosting legitimate mixed martial arts bouts, called "shoots". In the 1990s the interest grew, and certain shoot-style organizations like Pancrase
Pancrase
Pancrase is a mixed martial arts promotion company founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. Pancrase is taken from Pankration, a sport in the ancient Olympic games. Suzuki and Funaki are particularly skilled in the art of catch wrestling and based the...
evolved into pure "shoot" organizations. The term "shootfighting" was frequently used to describe these events and styles.
The word "shootfighting" was however coined by Bart Vale
Bart Vale
Bart Vale is an American former kickboxer, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. He is known for his "old school" American martial arts look, consisting of a mustache, mullet and American flag trunks...
, an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with a background in wrestling
Wrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
. He was the Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
Professional Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG, a Japanese shoot-style professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
organization) champion for close to three years. Upon moving back to America, Bart Vale used the term "shootfighting" to describe his own hybrid fighting system, which was a combination of the shoot wrestling
Shoot wrestling
Shoot wrestling is a combat sport that has its origins in Japan's professional wrestling circuit of the 1970s. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to utilize more realistic or "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their excitement...
techniques he had learned in Japan, and his experience in American karate
Karate
is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. It was developed from indigenous fighting methods called and Chinese kenpō. Karate is a striking art using punching, kicking, knee and elbow strikes, and open-handed techniques such as knife-hands. Grappling, locks,...
and kickboxing
Kickboxing
Kickboxing refers to a group of martial arts and stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching, historically developed from karate, Muay Thai and western boxing....
. He also founded the International Shootfighting Association to promote shootfighting as a combat sport
Combat sport
A Combat sport, also known as a Fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport where two combatants fight against each other using certain rules of engagement , typically with the aim of simulating parts of real hand to hand combat...
.
Rules
Currently professional shootfighting matches consists only of a heavyweight (200 lb or more) division. But there are lighter divisions for amateur competitors. Pro matches run 30 minutes non-stop, amateurs 10 minutes. Held inside a standard wrestlingWrestling
Wrestling is a form of grappling type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. A wrestling bout is a physical competition, between two competitors or sparring partners, who attempt to gain and maintain a superior position...
ring, competitors are allowed to kick
Kick
In combat sports and hand-to-hand combat, a kick is a physical strike using the foot, leg, or knee . This type of attack is used frequently, especially in stand-up fighting...
, knee
Knee (strike)
A knee strike is a strike with the knee, either with the kneecap or the surrounding area. Kneeing is a disallowed practice in many combat sports, especially to the head of a downed opponent...
or elbow
Elbow (strike)
An elbow strike is a strike with the point of the elbow, the part of the forearm nearest to the elbow, or the part of the upper arm nearest to the elbow...
any part of the body except the groin
Groin
In human anatomy, the groin areas are the two creases at the junction of the torso with the legs, on either side of the pubic area. This is also known as the medial compartment of the thigh. A pulled groin muscle usually refers to a painful injury sustained by straining the hip adductor muscles...
, as well as headbutt
Headbutt
A headbutt is a strike with the head, typically involving the use of robust parts of the cranium as areas of impact. Effective headbutting revolves around striking a sensitive area with a less sensitive area, such as striking the nose of an opponent with the forehead...
. Punches
Punch (strike)
A punch is a striking blow with the fist. It is the most commonly used attack in hand to hand combat. It is used in some martial arts and combat sports, most notably boxing where it is the only type of technique allowed...
are allowed to the body. Since no gloves are worn to facilitate wrestling, punches aren't allowed to the head, although open hand palms and slaps are allowed. Any type of throw
Throw (grappling)
A throw is a martial arts term for a grappling technique that involves off-balancing or lifting an opponent, and tossing them to the ground in Japanese martial arts referred to as nage-waza, 投げ技, "throwing technique"...
or takedown
Takedown (grappling)
A takedown is a martial arts and combat sports term for a technique that involves off-balancing an opponent and bringing him or her to the ground, typically with the combatant performing the takedown landing on top. The process of quickly advancing on an opponent and attempting a takedown is known...
is legal and competitors are allowed to hit a downed opponent
Downed opponent
A downed opponent is a combatant that is on the ground, as compared to a combatant that is in a standing position. This commonly implies that the downed combatant is lying on the ground, but can technically refer to any position in which anything except the soles of the combatants feet are...
. Additionally, any type of joint lock
Joint lock
A Joint lock is a grappling technique involving manipulation of an opponent's joints in such a way that the joints reach their maximal degree of motion....
is legal as are chokes
Chokehold
A chokehold or choke is a general term for grappling hold that critically reduces or prevents either air or blood from passing through the neck of an opponent. The restriction may be of one or both and depends on the hold used and the reaction of the victim...
against the side of the neck. The only foul consists of punches to the face, eye-gouges, techniques against the windpipe and groin strikes
Groin attack
A groin attack is an attempt to cause pain to the groin area of one's opponent. The technique can be quickly debilitating, due to the large number of sensitive nerve endings in the penis and testicles of males, as well as the highly innervated vulva of females. A sufficiently powerful blow may...
.
Fights are won when a competitor is knocked down
Knocked down
Knocked down may refer to:* A car kit, see CKD.* Being knocked down in combat sports....
for a 10 count, knocked down 5 times or forced to submit
Submission (combat sport term)
A submission is a combat sports term for yielding to the opponent, and hence resulting in an immediate defeat...
. A fighter caught in a submission hold may grab the ropes to break the hold, but this counts as a 1/3 of a knock down. Grabbing the ropes 15 times equals a loss. Bouts that go to the full time limit are declared a draw.
See also
- Aliveness (martial arts)Aliveness (martial arts)Aliveness, also referred to as Alive training describes martial arts training methods that are spontaneous, non-scripted, and dynamic. Alive training is performed with the intent to challenge or defeat rather than to demonstrate...
- PancrasePancrasePancrase is a mixed martial arts promotion company founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. Pancrase is taken from Pankration, a sport in the ancient Olympic games. Suzuki and Funaki are particularly skilled in the art of catch wrestling and based the...
- Pride Fighting Championships
- Fighting Network RINGSFighting Network RINGSFighting Network Rings, trademarked as RINGS, is a Japanese combat sport promotion that has lived three distinct periods; puroresu promotion from its inauguration to 1995, mixed martial arts promotion from 1995 to its 2002 disestablishment, and the revived mixed martial arts promotion from 2008 to...
- PuroresuProfessional wrestling in JapanPuroresu is the popular term for the predominant style or genre of professional wrestling that has developed in Japan. The term comes from the Japanese pronunciation of "professional wrestling" , which is shortened to puroresu . The term became popular among English-speaking fans due to Hisaharu...
- ShootoShootoShooto is a mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, as an organization and as a particular fighting system derived from shoot wrestling. Practitioners are referred to as shooters,...
- Ultimate Fighting ChampionshipUltimate Fighting ChampionshipThe Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...
- Vale tudoVale tudoVale tudo are full-contact unarmed combat events, with a limited number of rules, that became popular in Brazil during the 20th century. Vale tudo has been considered a combat sport by some observers...
External links
- International Shootfighting Association The homepage of the International Shootfighting Association.
- Official Shootfighting information & training in Vallejo, Fairfield, Vacaville & Davis, CA
- The Shooters MMA Association The homepage of the European Shootfighting Association.