/martialarts had a poll 21 days ago about who would be willing to compete if reddit ever held a tournament. There were a lot of people down to compete so I figure let's actually make it happen!

I run a martial arts group in NYC, we are about to start doing monthly hard sparring day again and I thought that would make for a great environment for the qualifiers. My Idea is to have two hopefuls spar three special* 2 minute rounds and the 'winner' moves on to the tournament, do this for the next three months and have the tournament be around July.

There will be people with extended grappling and striking experience present to supervise, the locale will be a grappling school in Astoria, though the actual tournament might be held somewhere else. Obviously this is not a sanctioned event and no pros will be allowed to compete, certain protection will have to be worn, and liable forms will have to be signed. Weight classes will probably by divided into 3 divisions. If you are interested and/or have any questions just send me a message or chat. Hope to see some of you there!

It'd be a novice level Tournament, so no 'veteran' level fighters (more than 10 fights, any martial art tournament counts as 1 fight) or pro fighters.

Absolute rules are as follows: (no strikes to the back of the head allowed, no elbows unless both agree and have elbow pads, no knees to the face, no ground and pound, no twisting leg locks, no spine locks, no groin strikes, no eyepokes, no slamming, no spiking people on their head/neck, no jumping guard, no scissors throw, no oblique kick to the leg)

Fight format will be as followed: Three 2 minute rounds. First round is called Style Wars, you are to adhere as much as possible to the ruleset/strikes of your respective martial art (sans the ones that were already stablished as not allowed in the absolute rules) the one who veers the most away from their style is the loser of the round. No finishes, must go the full 2 minutes.

Second round is the Wild Card round, chance will decide what rules you will both fight under. The one who sticks the most to the style wins the round. Finish depends on the ruleset, E.g. if Judo ruleset is stablished then if you get an Ippon you win the round.

Third round is an MMA round. The one who dominates wins the round. Finishes allowed via TKO at referees discretion, tap, or verbal tap.

It will be full contact "friendly" sparring essentially, so no trying to knock out or damage your opponent if he is already compromised (there will be a referee to make sure). Gear at minimum will be gloves (at least 12 oz), shinguards, groin cup, mouth guard, and headgear up to the individual.

What do you guys think? Any suggestions?

Does anyone know a Master Lee (whose given name I cannot remember) who taught in Seoul American High School on the former Yongsan US Army Garrison in the late 1980s? I need to find him. I'm a former student, and I need to get back into training and not ever stop again.

Hope to see plenty of pics and read some interesting stories.

Hi all! I used to practice HwaRangDo with the great Master Jeffrey in NJ, but now that I've moved to NYC, it's really hard to come down there and train. Do you guys know where I could find a good place to join and continue my training?

I will be testing for the TSD orange belt. Anyone planning to test at the Madison East dojang?

I just noticed this morning that a link submission was awaiting moderation. I doublechecked the settings and anyone should be able to submit anything without needing mod approval. If anyone submits anything that isn't showing up please pm me and accept my apologies.

How did everyone do? What was your favorite part in todays competition?

Anyone? It's been fairly quiet here so in an attempt to spark some discussion I'll simply ask: what have you been working on? Any sticking points? Any advice for newer people on stuff to be aware of at higher ranks?

I've only had 4 classes but I really don't feel any more comfortable that I'm picking up on the bow in/out stuff and most of the Korean spoken. I've looked a bit but does anyone know of a good site to go to learn these things outside of class?

Please leave a short intro about yourself in the comments.