Duels
Skill-focused bouts with standardised weapons: sword and buckler, longsword, polearm.
Resources
New to buhurt
Buhurt is a full-contact medieval armoured combat sport, fought with steel weapons under modern safety rules. Under Buhurt International, fighters wear historically inspired armour and compete as individuals or teams, aiming for clean strikes, control and takedowns. It is not choreography, and it is not reenactment.
Show the fight categories and the new fighter pathHide
Pro fights & outrance
Heavier contact, fewer restrictions, higher intensity.
5v5 team fights
Squad combat. The last team with a fighter standing wins.
Mass battles
Larger teams, with the emphasis on teamwork, positioning and endurance.
Don’t buy armour yet
The new fighter path, in order
- Find a team and come to practice. Don’t start solo. A team gives you coaching, loaner gear and someone watching out for your safety. MCUSA club locator
- Buy soft kit. Most teams do most of their training in soft kit, not steel. Soft kit guide
- Start athletic training. Join a gym, cross-train in judo, BJJ, wrestling or MMA, or both. Conditioning matters more than anything.
- Train three to six months before your first event. Learn the fundamentals, the conditioning and the rules first, to avoid injuring yourself or anybody else.
- Use loaner armour. Most teams have it, and it lets you compete before you spend serious money.
- Research legal armour and try on helmets. Not all armour passes the authenticity committee, and not all of it is comfortable. Fit matters, so try before you buy. Armour research
- Save for a fitted kit. Custom or semi-custom is the goal, at around $3,000 new. Once you are committed, titanium is worth it for the weight saving. Ask us at practice about makers.
How a melee works
Team melees are the heart of buhurt, and nothing else in combat sport looks like them. The most common format is the 5v5: movement, striking for effect, teamwork and, above all, grappling, all in full armour. Winning takes skill, endurance, strength and strategy in equal measure.
Show the format, rules and positionsHide
Teams line up on their own sides of the list, a rectangular fenced arena, facing each other. On the marshal’s call the fight begins and the teams engage.
BI melee format
- 5 to 12 fighters per team
- 3 to 5 rounds of 3 minutes
- A team loses the round with nobody left standing, or when outnumbered 3 to 1
A fighter is down when
- Any body part other than the feet touches the ground
- A marshal puts them down for an armour failure or a red flag violation
- They submit: taking a knee, or raising a hand palm out
Downed fighters stay still until a marshal says otherwise. Other leagues differ in the details; some count three points of contact instead.
Marshal calls
- Stop fight
- Stop immediately
- Hold
- Freeze in place
- Fighters rise
- Downed fighters stand
Never strike
- Neck and throat
- Back of the head and neck
- Groin
- Feet
- Back of the knee
- No stabbing or thrusting, anywhere
Armour requirements
- Fully BI approved armour
- Helmet with a chin strap, and a strap securing it to the back plate (the Simon strap)
- Gorget
- Period shoes with flat soles
Also worth knowing
- Drop your weapon and you cannot attack until you fetch another from the back of the list. Dropped weapons cannot be picked back up.
- Your opponent is not allowed to remove your armour.
This is a summary, not the full ruleset, and leagues differ in small but important ways on techniques, armour and weapons. Fighters are expected to know every rule for the league they compete in. Full BI melee rules (PDF)
The positions
Bigger formats (10v10, 12v12, 16v16, 30v30 and up) play a different game because of the field size and the list. A 5v5, though, usually lines up with two fighters on each side of the rail, left 1 and 2 and right 1 and 2, plus a single fighter roaming the field: the 3. There are exceptions, but this is how most teams set up. Most new fighters start on the rail.
On the rail
Rail fighter
Stands directly on the rail. Needs to be a talented grappler, big, or ideally both. A good team is built from the 1 outward. Almost always carries a one-handed weapon.
“Be the potato.”
Don’t waste energy. Being the 1 is about grinding your opponent down as lazily as possible. Stay loose: hard to move, but never locked at full tension. This isn’t MMA, where one-handed strikes can knock you out, or wrestling, where you stay at max tension the whole match. Everyone weighs far more in armour and momentum is higher, so save explosive effort for throws and for winning the hand fight in the clinch.
The 1 isn’t really a playmaker. The job is to stay up, burn the other 1’s energy, and set up your 2, with strikes or by trading up into better grappling positions such as a head rip. Take opportunities as they come, but don’t force them.
Behind the 1
Wing or guard
Stands behind and slightly field-side of the 1, supporting the rail. Carries a one or two-handed weapon to suit their partner’s style.
“Diet 3.”
The 2 keeps the 1 safe, shielding them from strikes and breaking them out of bad positions. With a two-hander the 2 can strike for effect, wearing an opponent down rather than trying to drop them in one or two hits, and should always be watching for a play. Head rips and cross checks are usually the safest options.
Together the 1 and 2 work to drag the opponent’s field-side arm over to their side, spend as little time as possible reaching across themselves, and win dominant clinch and grappling control. Striking, hooking with weapons, and grabbing and pulling shields are easy, low-energy ways to get there.
The floater
Center
Works the middle of the field: flanking, supporting and roaming. Usually the most experienced fighter, in the lightest kit they can wear, carrying a two-handed axe or polearm about 80% of the time.
“Head on a swivel.”
The 3 is the x factor: causing chaos or breaking the other team’s positioning, looking for quick and easy takedowns, cancelling out the opposing 3, and watching the whole field for openings. It is the most dynamic and dangerous position in the list, and it demands speed in both movement and decision making.
Watch the 3s on high-level teams to see how many playstyles there are. Some teams with big, strong rail grapplers even run two 3s, though that is uncommon.
Soft kit guide
What to train in before you own any armour. It protects you while you learn strikes, grappling and positioning. Purpose-built buhurt training kit is excellent but expensive; budget MMA and hockey gear works well as long as it covers what it needs to.
Show the full soft kit guideHide
Start here
- MMA helmet with a cage mask
- MMA-rated headgear with a full cage over the face to protect your eyes, and solid padding round the back of the head. This is what takes the weapon hits.
- Closed MMA mitts
- Mitts rather than gloves with separate fingers, so your hands are covered and your grip feels closer to a gauntlet.
- Shin guards
- They need to cover the shin and the top of the foot properly. Unpadded shins get hurt in strikes and checks.
- Athletic cup
- If your body calls for one, it is required. Unexpected hits happen at full contact.
Also useful
- Chest and back protector, for extra core protection
- Arm guards for the elbows and forearms
- Foam or rattan training weapons, a sword or a small axe
- A foam pad or small shield
Tips
- Soft kit is not buhurt armour, but it cuts the risk while you build skills.
- Once you are practising consistently and know your fit, move toward approved full armour.
- Not sure whether a piece is right for training? Ask us before you buy it.
Training videos
Armour research
Before you buy steel, find what you are copying. Period art and surviving effigies show what was actually worn, and these groups and boards are where fighters trade references.