Armored MMA Is A Return To Medieval Brutality And The Final Frontier Of Combat Sports (Videos)

None of the league’s videos appear to have taken off on YouTube Shorts yet but they’re doing pretty well with full fight videos. This one from an Armored MMA fight night last August has over 2 million views and it’s the full battle, all 17 minutes of medieval combat action. The most-watched moments from the clip come at 3:30, 12:55, and 14:53 for those who want to skip around for the action:

The impression I get from Armored MMA is ‘what if they let the Medieval Times restaurant performers actually fight?’ In fact, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s how the idea for this league came about.

The next big Armored MMA fight is on March 15th in Nashville, Tennessee. I’ve been informed by one of the BroBible editors who lives in Nashville that he’s being bombarded with ads for this combat league on social media. So there is evidence they’re trying to get the word out there.

Do they call themselves knights?

Need some more convincing that this is actually entertaining? I’m not sure why you would, but here is another video from a battle on June 8th between Mickey Gallus v John Stegmeier.

I have lots of questions. A quick Google search reveals that organized armored combat fighting has been around for decades and it exists in over 20 countries around the globe. My first question is, if that’s the case and the United States is constantly thirsty for combat sports, how has this not taken off here yet?

Looking at the recent history of this sport, the International Medieval Combat Federation has existed since 2013. Competitors must wear armor that covers the torso, limbs, head & neck, and hands as well as a padded layer underneath.

Interestingly, the armor worn must be in a style from the same medieval era (within 50 years). So competitors cannot wear a head piece from 1210 and a codpiece from 1450. But that is specifically for this International Medieval Combat Federation which is a separate entity from Armored MMA.

My next question is, who regulates the Armored MMA league? Or can anyone, myself included, just buy a glorious suit of armor and show up to do battle?

Their website lacks an ‘About Us’ or ‘FAQ’ section but does offer links to buy tickets in Nashville and it has more videos on there for those who are interested… For now, I will keep digging to learn more about this peculiar combat league and I’ll update this post in the future with more information.