Martial Arts Stage Games

The **Martial Arts Stage Games** are a series of combative tournaments taking place over the course of one week every three years. The formats and rules for all of the tournaments held within the series have been created by Lincoln Hyde-Killings.

## History

The concept for the tournament formats were devised by Lincoln in 1975. Lincoln has himself said his inspiration for the series came from both the 1963 fight between Gene LeBell (judoka) and Milo Savage (boxer/amateur wrestler), and the 1976 fight between Muhammad Ali (boxer) and Antonio Inoki (professional wrestler).

A lover of martial arts and combat sports, Lincoln's vision of the series centered around to factors:

* Bringing together martial artists and fighters from different styles
* Placing them against one another in specifically created elimination-style tournaments

Participators could find themselves in both beneficial and weak positions, depending on the style of match they participated in. For example, a sumo wrestler would excel in the Raised Tournament, as they would be accustomed to pushing opponents beyond a certain point of the stage. However, the sumo would not be use to the allowance of striking within the match, therefore allowing someone with perhaps a boxing background to stand a chance of winning.

## Tournaments

**AT Tournament** - Matches within this tournament are often described as the precursors to modern mixed martial arts. The rules within these tournaments were few:

* No groin attacks
* No eye gouging
* No fish hooking
* No fingers in an opponent's orifices
* No biting

All other techniques were legal and victory was obtained by way of:

* Decision
* Disqualification
* Knockout
* Submission
* Technical Knockout

Matches consist of 3 rounds each of 5 minutes. Fighters fight within weight division. The tournament is an elimination style tournament, with the tournament winner fighting a total of 3 fights.

**All Strike Tournament** - The rules within these tournaments were:

* No groin attacks
* No head butts
* No eye gouging
* No fish hooking
* No fingers in an opponent's orifices
* No biting
* No submissions/grappling

The attacks allowed within this tournament were punches, elbows, kicks, knees and backhands. Victory was obtained by way of:

* Decision
* Disqualification
* Knockout
* Technical Knockout

Matches consist of 3 rounds each of 5 minutes. Fighters fight within weight division. The tournament is an elimination style tournament, with the tournament winner fighting a total of 3 fights.

**Iron Arms Tournament** - The rules within these tournaments were:

* No groin attacks
* No head butts
* No eye gouging
* No fish hooking
* No fingers in an opponent's orifices
* No biting

The attacks allowed within this tournament were punches, elbows and backhands. Victory was obtained by way of:

* Decision
* Disqualification
* Knockout
* Technical Knockout

Matches consist of 3 rounds each of 5 minutes. Fighters fight within weight division. The tournament is an elimination style tournament, with the tournament winner fighting a total of 3 fights.

**Iron Legs Tournament** - The rules within these tournaments were:

* No groin attacks
* No head butts
* No eye gouging
* No fish hooking
* No fingers in an opponent's orifices
* No biting

The attacks allowed within this tournament were kicks and knees. Victory was obtained by way of:

* Decision
* Disqualification
* Knockout
* Technical Knockout

Matches consist of 3 rounds each of 5 minutes. Fighters fight within weight division. The tournament is an elimination style tournament, with the tournament winner fighting a total of 3 fights.

**Grapple Tournament** - The rules within these tournaments were:

* No groin attacks
* No head butts
* No eye gouging
* No fish hooking
* No fingers in an opponent's orifices
* No biting
* No striking

The attacks allowed within this tournament were submissions and holds. Victory was obtained by way of:

* Decision
* Disqualification
* Chokeout
* Submission

Matches consist of 3 rounds each of 5 minutes. Fighters fight within weight division. The tournament is an elimination style tournament, with the tournament winner fighting a total of 3 fights.

**Raised Tournament** - The rules within these tournaments were:

* No groin attacks
* No eye gouging
* No fish hooking
* No fingers in an opponent's orifices
* No biting

The attacks allowed within this tournament were punches, kicks, elbows, knees and headbutts. Victory was obtained by way of:

* Knocking opponent off of platform

Matches consist of 3 rounds each of 5 minutes. Fighters fight within weight division. The tournament is an elimination style tournament, with the tournament winner fighting a total of 3 fights.

**Take Down Tournament**

* No groin attacks
* No head butts
* No eye gouging
* No fish hooking
* No fingers in an opponent's orifices
* No biting
* No striking

The attacks allowed within this tournament were throws. Victory was obtained by way of:

* Making any part of your opponents body touch the ground/mat other than their feet.
* Doing the above mentioned step either two times in a row or two times out of three rounds.

Matches consist of 3 rounds. Fighters fight within weight division. The tournament is an elimination style tournament, with the tournament winner fighting a total of ? rounds.