Kayo Sports<\/a>. <\/p>\n\u201cYou can punch in the clinch. We\u2019re fighting in a square cage. You can only score points either standing still or coming forward and throwing punches. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no backfoot punching. You can\u2019t score off the back foot, as we call it. It\u2019s just an intense, exciting experience. It\u2019s two minutes of non-stop action.\u201d<\/p>\n
IBC\u2019s first event was held last August with the aim of providing an action-packed MMA entertainment product where fighters spend more punching than clinching or grappling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI come up with the idea last March. I think the traditional combat sports are becoming tailor-made and quite boring,\u201d Mac explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cMMA is becoming more about the cuddling rather than the fighting. Taking no credit away from them, they are still highly skilled individuals. But that\u2019s not fighting. Fighting is standing up and having a crack. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s getting to the point where they need to start providing pillows and blankets because they\u2019re spending more time on the floor than they were standing up.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe aim is that the difference with boxing is the fighters are just kind of going for it the whole time.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralian fans are really seeking for something that\u2019s going to give us a little bit more action. Bare knuckle had the right idea in terms of trying to deliver the action but I think it was probably a little bit too much, a little bit too gruesome and confronting for the average punter. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo I came up with the idea of basically an aggressive sport like bare knuckle but just introducing some safety rules.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mac said his dream fights would be a showdown between UFC greats Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway and an all-Aussie female clash between Ashleigh Sims and Shanell Dargan, who fought a boxing classic in 2022. <\/p>\n
Australia has a large base of MMA fans and the appetite for big hits and knockouts has seen Run It Straight events attended by thousands, despite obvious safety concerns.<\/p>\n
Mac said the demand IBC has balanced safety concerns and the demand for punches and knockout action.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re probably the safest combat sports to date at the moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, they\u2019re fighting less, they\u2019ve got a longer break. We\u2019ve got more doctors on site than any other promotion in Australia. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not kicking, we are not kneeling, we aren\u2019t choking anyone out. There\u2019s no ground and pound, it\u2019s a gentleman\u2019s rules where they\u2019re stood up and they\u2019re given an eight-count. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot less punches thrown to the head. I don\u2019t want my fighters having CTE and having unnecessary sparring to the head in training camps. I think we\u2019re setting the standard for safety.\u201d<\/p>\n
IBC is planning six shows in 2026 with plans to expand to events in Sydney, Melbourne, New Zealand and Las Vegas. <\/p>\n
Well known Australian boxer Issac Hardman, nicknamed the \u2018Headsplitter\u2019, is fighting a welterweight title eliminator this weekend and will be aiming to land another knockout win.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a bumper weekend of action for MMA fans \u2014 Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira will face off at UFC 326 in Las Vegas, 11 years after their first encounter in the Octagon.<\/p>\n
Originally published as \u2018Boxing without the boring stuff\u2019: Brawling KOs takes Australia by storm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s the new MMA sport dubbed as \u201cboxing without the boring stuff\u201d. Aussie fight fans will get another…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":517891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,244438,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-517890","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-ncaeditorialkayo","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/517891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}