Applying Systema to a MMA environment

Those who have visited BULLSHIDO.COM will know that until recently they have been scathing of Systema claiming that it is ineffective. The people who made these claims based there opinion on video clips from the net and as a result of this I met up with Rob Poynton of Systema UK and some of his students for a visit to the UK Throwdown which was held on the 5th March 2005 in Northampton.

This event is used by Bullshido members to test their skills against each other in fights using various rules.

On arrival we received a friendly reception from the other participants and after we had all introduced ourselves we got down to the business of the day. The first bout was under Vale Tudo rules. I have never fought in competitions and pay very little attention to sport styles. By asking around I found out that the rules were no gouging, kicking to the groin, once on the floor do not strike to the head using your elbows. Participants used gum shields and fingerless bag style gloves as protection.

My opponent had three years of Judo under his belt and had spent a year studying to fight under Vale Tudo rules. Instead of describing a blow by blow account it is probably best to click here and see what happened. Credit to my opponent he had another go, but after a few more punches to the head and a little roll around on the floor his nose was bleeding too much and he had to stop.

The second fight was grappling on the ground. Striking was not allowed along with all our usual tactics such as gouging and biting. I decided it would only be fare to give the Judo guy another chance. I was interested to see how my work would stand up to someone who trains to grapple on the floor. During the bout the Judo player tried several times to either get me in head locks or to apply and arm bar (ju-jigatamae). On every occasion this failed simply because I was able to escape using relaxation and movement. I treated this event as grab and escape, but there were plenty of opportunities to end the fight if we were to play outside the rules.

The third event was called standup. This was basically kick boxing wearing boxing gloves. My opponent, who had flown in from Ireland for the event, studied Wing Chun. For this bout he wore a head guard which he fondly referred to as the Darth Vader mask, asked that we limit our attacks to punches