Pandemic life has forced us all to get creative with our jiu-jitsu, and while it seems that virtually every jiu-jitsu situation has already been attempted, even we were surprised (and impressed!) with the idea that Vik Mikheev and Buck Peddicord of Midwest Defense came up with.
Mikheev and Peddicord decided to host a “car-jitsu” tournament, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a jiu-jitsu tournament that takes place entirely in a car. As Mikheev described in the video captions, the Kansas event was put on to learn about “specifics of jiu-jitsu application in vehicles,” with cramped, awkward conditions providing new challenges that many of us would never experience while rolling on the mats.
As with any tournament, there were rules: “3 min (or till submission) on driver’s seat and front passenger’s seat, then switch and 3 min more (or till submission). If the score by submission is equal, competitors move to the back seats for 4 min round. If no submissions happen on the back, the competitor with more pts wins. Points are count for the mount (4 pts), back mount (4 pts), and knee on belly (2 pts) positions. And yes, competitors can use the seat belts.”
While this may seem like just another ridiculous jiu-jitsu “experiment,” it actually has some practical applications. Given the popularity of ride-sharing apps — and how many of those trips have gone wrong for both drivers and passengers — learning how to grapple in a car could, in fact, prove to be very useful.
Check out one of the “car-jitsu” matches below:
