“Car Jitsu” Turns Any Car Into A Competitive Martial Arts Fighting Arena

Mixed martial arts has grown to be one of the most popular sports in the world today. Fighters from nations everywhere compete in one-on-one matches to submit, knock out, or accumulate the most points against their opponent using techniques across multiple fighting styles like karate, kickboxing, muay thai, boxing, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu.

The sport has escalated to high levels of popularity that sub-categories of the sport have formed, with some sounding a bit unorthodox for athletic competition. One of those competitions is known as “Car Jitsu” and it is exactly what you’d imagine it to be.

These Are The Rules For Car Jitsu Matches:

• Two competitors are seating in the driver and passenger seats of a car. Before the match starts, they must both be buckled in.
• Once the match begins, both competitors must unbuckle themselves and attempt to submit their opponent inside the vehicle.
• Each round lasts for three minutes.
• Both competitors are allowed to utilize any part of the vehicle’s interior to their advantage, including seat belts, steering wheel, window seals, etc.
• Just like in traditional Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu matches, competitors are rewarded points by judges for taking advantageous positions and mounts while moving around the vehicle’s interior.
• A winner is declared to whichever competitor is victorious in two out of three rounds.
• If both competitors win one round each, the final four-minute round takes place in the back seat.

Why Is Car Jitsu Gaining Popularity?

While the name of the sport at first sounds a bit silly, as well as something you may see in a John Wick action sequence, for the competitors it is extremely difficult. After being used to practicing grappling techniques in an open space on floor mats, utilizing those same methods in a very confined space can prove to be a test of one’s “grasp” on the art form. One could actually execute a seatbelt choke while using an actual seatbelt in the process.

What is also very interesting is that Car Jitsu could prove itself to be very useful in a real-life altercation. The art of Jiu-Jitsu by itself is widely practiced by millions as a means of self-defense. By bringing those same techniques to an everyday location like the inside of a car, the practitioner may feel more confident and comfortable fending for themselves against an attacker or an aggressive carjacker.

Where Did Car-Jitsu Come From?

One must wonder, where did a wild idea for a sport like Car-Jitsu come from? Apparently, it was invented by Russian mixed-martial artist Vik Mikheev, who specializes in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, as well as holds a Ph.D. in math. Mikheev believed that by subjecting competitors to utilizing grappling techniques in very small, confined spaces, new techniques could be developed for future, more practical uses.

“In 2020, I came up with the idea of doing competitive grappling in vehicles,” Mikheev told RollingTimesMag.com. “Since October of 2020, I and my friends run small tournaments of Car Jitsu to study the aspects of jiu-jitsu application in such a confined space.”