Kumite (tournament)
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The Kumite is the name of an alleged freestyle single-elimination full-contact fighting tournament, held in secret every four years, to which only the world's finest martial artists are invited. The event was originally portrayed in the 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme movie Bloodsport, in which Van Damme's character, Frank Dux, battles his way through the rounds, ultimately triumphing over a malicious fighter named Chong Li, portrayed by Bolo Yeung. The character was, in turn, based on a real person named Frank Dux, who claimed to have been a CIA operative, and to have participated in a real Kumite tournament, despite there being many differences between the movie and the real Kumite.[citation needed] Another Kumite-based film starring Van Damme, to be titled either Kumite or Bloodsport: A New Beginning, is tentatively scheduled for release in 2008.[citation needed]
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[edit] Account
While no known Martial Arts governing body or martial artist will acknowledge the existence of such a tournament,[citation needed] Frank Dux has claimed that he did, in fact, attend and win the 1975 Kumite, in which the events of the movie Bloodsport took place. However, according to his accounts, "Kumite" that year was not held in Hong Kong, it was held in Jamaica.
Dux's credibility, however, has been contested on several occasions. There's little evidence to support his claims about his ninjutsu experience, and no acknowledged martial artist has ever confirmed anything like Kumite existing[1].
[edit] "Rules" of Kumite
Kumite takes place over three days. The day before Kumite starts, all fighters must provide their invitation to the judges. The judges reserve the right to question any invitation, and reserve the right to make the fighter presenting the questioned invitation, to perform an attack that would be only known to that particular fighter's art (In the case of the movie, Van Damme had to demonstrate the "Death Touch"), a successful performance means the invitation will be honored, failure means the fighter is disqualified.
Fighting with the other fighters in Kumite, outside of a sanctioned match, is strictly forbidden. If a fighter is caught breaking this rule, both fighters are automatically disqualified. Provided that the events of Bloodsport are followed, the tournament layout is:
- Day One is the round of 64 and round of 32.
- Day Two is the round of 16 and quarter-finals.
- Day Three is the semi-finals and championship match.
Matches in Kumite continue until one of the fighters satisfy one of the conditions of winning. Time is used only for official records. To win, one fighter must A) Knock out his opponent, B) Make his opponent say "Matte" which means "wait" as a way of saying uncle or I quit, or C) Knock or throw his opponent out of the ring.
The championship match has the same rules, only the center of the ring is lowered to ground level, whereas in a normal match, the ring is elevated off the floor of the arena.
[edit] A possible sanctioned Kumite
While in 1975 such a tournament would never be allowed in normal sanctioned Martial Arts, the rise of Mixed Martial Arts, has made a sanctioned Kumite tournament possible. Mixed Martial Arts is now officially sanctioned and legal in several U.S. states, Japan, and Great Britain, and they are several governing bodies of Mixed Martial Arts that could possibly sanction a real Kumite tournament.
[edit] Other fictional Kumite
The 1996 film, The Quest, for example, portrays such a tournament taking place in the 1920s. In that film, each fighter represented a country (although one fighter represented Africa as a whole); Van Damme represented the United States, and won the tournament by defeating the stereotypically "evil" fighter from Mongolia.
In the comic adaptation of the cartoon G.I. Joe Sigma 6, the Cobra ninja Storm Shadow participates in a tournament called the Shadow Kumite, in which he is the reigning champion. At his insistence he faces his sword brother, the G.I. Joe agent Snake-Eyes in the final round as opposed to the actual contender. Storm Shadow bets stolen technology that Snake-eyes is sent to retrieve and loses the tournament.
The animated television series The Boondocks referenced Kumite in the episode "Attack of the Killer Kung-Fu Wolf Bitch". Robert "Granddad" Freeman has a date with a beautiful woman who enters the home for the weekend, who turns out to be a crazy "White Lotus Kung-Fu" master as well as a former participant of Kumite, which occurs in an unknown island and a holiday resort. Every time the word is mentioned, a kung-fu, or karate shout is heard. The images of the Kumite competition look similar to that of the video game Mortal Kombat.
