Thermopylae Team Combat

The idea came from the battle of Thermopylae where only 300 Spartans fought and defeated over 10 000 Persians by defending a narrow mountain pass. The ring is rectangular copying the mountain pass leaving no room to hide.

This is the one sport that makes the UFC look like pussies and really hope it takes off at some point. TTC or Thermopylae Team Combat is somewhat unique in the way the fighting happens. Even though tis is a brutal sport they have some gentleman type rules which are there to protect the fighters.

This is from the final of the team event in 2018 and just to give everyone a flavor of what this sport has to offer.

The sport was thought up in 2012 by two friends who wanted to blow everyone's minds and this is one sport where there is nowhere to hide. Basically two teams of four fighters gather at either end of a narrow passaged ring and over 5 rounds eliminate each other until one team is the only ones left standing. Brutal is an understatement as basically you need 4 knockouts to win and if you have a good first fighter he can eliminate the opposition on his own as the winner of each bout stays on until he is either too tired, injured or is knocked out. I have only witnessed one such fight where one boxer defeated all 4 of his opponents whilst his team waited for their turn to help out.

The rules are simple and that is where we see some subtle differences to the UFC fighting. There is no wrestling or grappling, no throat punches, no biting or spitting, no punching behind the neck and no head butting. This is all about action and putting your opponent away as quickly as possible as you have to defeat four other fighters and not just one within the time period of wither 4 or 7 rounds. You can however defeat more than one fighter per round and as I mentioned before the winner can stay on to face the next opponent.

As a world sport it may or may not take off as the UFC has fighters who are about themselves and not a team. They all have ego's and this would show up any weaknesses they might have. From what I can gather the top teams in the TTC events are made up of ex Russian Spetsnaz members which is their special forces.

The beauty about this sport is a group event of 8 teams could compete over one evening crowning the champions the same night and knowing how quickly the UFC is growing this surely has to be added to the offerings at some point. The last figures I saw stated that the UFC has over 100 million fans and after watching what the TTC offers many would tune in to watch these events.

The idea of having a world championship with teams representing their countries is still very much on the cards and one which will capture the imagination of combat fans from around the globe.