Chuck Norris's World Combat League (WCL)

[TAZ]

Hey ya'll! Has anybody heard anything about Chuck Norris's World Combat League? Just trying to get some idea of how widespread this has gotten since it's debut in Dallas. Thanks in advance for your responses!

[scottnshelly]

I got an email from Century (World’s Largest Martial Arts Supplier) about it, but that’s all I’ve heard. Is it kickboxing?

[Aodhan]

Heh. I didn't even get that much, I've never heard of it.

Aodhan

[TAZ]

It's a whole new concept that Mr. Norris has, from what I understand, been wanting to do for several years now. It's team fighting. It's formatted in such a way that there is continuous fighting. The debut competition had Dallas vs. Oklahoma and Houston vs. L.A. WCL will be going mainstream I believe in Februrary(?). You can check there website at https://www.worldcombatleague.com for more info. and also https://www.karatekast.com has a pretty cool podcast feed on parts of the fight.

[Zaine]

Yeah, the whole point of the WCL is to break away from the UFC thing. Where its everything ends up on the ground, this is a more street fight brawl thing where as if you get a bigh gash on the top of your head and going to your forehead, (which actually happened in the last one) then you better guard the gash because it is a weakness, well, i think it airs in march of 2006, so, look out for it.

[coralreefer_1]

Wow, that might be fun to watch. While I respect Chuck Norris for what he has done for martial arts over the years though, I think this idea will "flop" like the "XFL" did. At the start, the premise of XFL seemed like a good idea, but as time eventually showed, most of the games consisted of fumbles, dropped passes, and short runs, For people who actually know football, it was not very exciting to watch.

I think the same will be true of this WCL. It seems like a great idea in theory..like the XFL. People who have been watching Pride and K1 for years will find this not very interesting. It might be popular at first, but i dont think it will last very long. I'm sure there will be some nice knockouts, but i feel it will lose its flare quickly.

Just my opinion, but i wish Chuck Norris the best in his ventures...

Todd

[Kamauser5]

It is a continuous fighing match between teams. It will be at Mohegan Sun i think on Jan. 21st 2006. There are four adult teams and i think four jr divisions as well. The jrs are supossed to be countuous point fightng buti am not sure how that is going to work out.

[Charlie]

I just read the rules on their website. It looks like it's set-up to provide some good action by allowing full-force kicks and punches to the head down to the thighs. But, the competitors have to wear padded gloves and shin guards. I can understand wearing gloves since many states don't allow bare-knuckle face punching. I'm not sure why they wear shin guards though since most other full-contact karate or kick-boxing tournaments don't require them. Elbow strikes aren't allowed either. Why don't they allow the competitors to wear elbow pads and use elbow strikes?

Also, sweeps, grabs, and throws aren't allowed. You're not allowed to grab your opponents kicking leg and sweep him/her to the ground. In fact, the rules specifically state that judo techniques are prohibited. They probably do this to prevent any clinching or "stand-up wrestling" from occurring, but there are other ways to prevent that such as allowing grabbing to occur on only one side of the body at a time and only for a few seconds.

Anyway, it still looks like it would be enjoyable to watch. Hopefully ESPN or Spike will broadcast the Jan 21 event sometime so those of us who can't attend the event can watch it later.

[Kamauser5]

Anyone know anything about the Jr divisions? I have a friend who might be competeing in it and want to know a bit more than i do.

[coralreefer_1]

Well folks..Jan. 21st has come and gone. Did anyone see this event? How did It turn out? I live in Korea now so i had no chance to watch it, but I'm interested to hear what it was like.

Todd