Full Contact Tournaments in the USA

[Steve_K]

Could anyone give me information on how to find full contact or knockdown karate tournaments in the U.S.? If not, I would also be interested in continuous fighting tournaments, as opposed to stop and go point fighting.

I've done searches on the internet and they have been difficult to find.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[ps1]

Not sure about the knockdown tourneys. You may want to ask on the karate section too. There's some Kyukoshin guys there. There are, however, some continuous sparring divisions in the PKC. I don't necessarily like them too much, it usually just looks kinda sloppy! But there it is.

Here's the PKC website. Click on the events tab for a list of their tournaments. You may want to call ahead to make sure they have the divisions you're looking for. Also, they are primarily located from Indiana, Ohio and New York.

http://pkcheadquarters.org/

Hope it helps.

[bushido_man96]

You could look for some Olympic style TKD tournaments as well. The rules set is a bit different, but you can fight to knockout, and need body displacement to score points.

[ps1]

You could look for some Olympic style TKD tournaments as well. The rules set is a bit different, but you can fight to knockout, and need body displacement to score points.

This will probably be easier to find throughout the country as well! TKD is huge!

[bushido_man96]

You could look for some Olympic style TKD tournaments as well. The rules set is a bit different, but you can fight to knockout, and need body displacement to score points.

This will probably be easier to find throughout the country as well! TKD is huge!

It is very popular, but make sure you look into the rules sets when checking. If you can find and AAU tournament, or a USTU qualifier around your area, they should have the Olympic style rules.

Oddly enough, when I watch the Kyokushin guys fight, I see a lot of similarities between their sparring style and the Olympic TKD style. The differences seem to come into play with the strategies and the point scoring systems.

[Steve_K]

I'm reluctnant to do any olympic TKD, because all the scoring is done with kicking, and I much prefer hand strikes, and I'm particularly interested in knockdown tournaments, because the fighting goes until someone goes down or a strike is hard enough to make someone stop.

Although I do appreciate the help you have offered this far, thank you very much

[bushido_man96]

I'm reluctnant to do any olympic TKD, because all the scoring is done with kicking, and I much prefer hand strikes, and I'm particularly interested in knockdown tournaments, because the fighting goes until someone goes down or a strike is hard enough to make someone stop.

Although I do appreciate the help you have offered this far, thank you very much

It's just another option to consider. I mentioned it because they do allow hard contact, and you can win by knockout. There is nothing to say that you can't use your hands, you just may not get scored for them. That said, you can still really wear down a TKD guy by jamming in on him, slugging him a bunch, and then as he clears aways, deliver that roundhouse to the head.

[Steve_K]

I didn't know that kind of contact was allowed in olympic style tournaments. Your suggestion is interesting.

[bushido_man96]

Yep. Body displacement or "trembling shock" is required for the point to be called. However, oftentimes a good slap of a round kick on the chest protector gets noticed, too.

The head can only be contacted with the feet, but from what I have seen in Kyokushin, that is the case as well.

Incidentally, Mas Oyama was born in Korea, too.