Meet heavyweights of new martial art based on medieval combat

BRUTAL SPORT MIXES MMA WITH SWORDS AND SUITS OF ARMOUR

- By LOUIS CORBETT

AS soon as I walked through the door my childhood obessesions started flooding back to me, from playing games with swords in the playground to boxing for a number of years but walking into this gym in Long Eaton came with a more sinister feeling, as I couldn't imagine anything worse than putting on 35kg of heavy duty medieval armour to batter the living daylights out of my friend.

But that is just what Armoured Martial Arts Nottingham is all about.

The group started around 12 years ago with Daniel Winter, a seasoned veteran in the game and a world champion.

The grizzled 35-year-old stood in front of me, not clad in armour yet but soon to be, and told me all about the brutal sport.

From kicks, punches, MMA takedowns, to swords and axes, the reality of armoured martial arts is that you are probably going to get hurt.

While this may be a one-on-one fight, the sport has been known to be extended to 150 vs 150 (in exceptional world events), with battles taking place all over the globe.

And people in Nottingham are lucky to have the biggest amoured martial arts gym in the UK on their doorstep.