Anybody Else Watch World Combat League?

[K31]

To me, WCL is a great deal better MA show than all the "Ultimate Fighter" type shows out there. They seem to mostly have some half-hearted kicks followed by a lot of boxing that ends in grappling.

The WCL rules are simple but they seem very effective. You have to kick and you have points taken away for being passive. I've seen some very interesting matches.

I don't want to knock anyone else's choice of sport. Some may argue that UF shows are more true to a real "street fight" but to me, WCL is more interesting as a demonstration of traditional, but practical, MAs.

 

[Carol]

Sounds interesting. When/where is it on?

 

[still learning]

Hello, World combat league is fun to watch. This is about making money thru entertainment. The rules was to keep the action going for 3 minutes.

It is all about stand-up fighting only. When a opponent is on the ground,actions stop. If someone is too groggy to go on...the actions stop.

The rules limits what they can hit and strike, and the goal is to get a knock-out to win the most points.

It is an entertainment to sell Chuck Norris excerise machines. Also to provide another form of fighting in the ring. (Stand-up only).

Ufc,mma,wrestling,boxing,wwf, including this....for entertainment only....and to make money thru viewers. The more popular they can make it, the more money advertisers has to pay.

What do I think? ....Fun to watch.(like golf)..........Aloha

 

[wade]

I like it.

 

[Yeti]

Haven't seen it yet, but I've been meaning to check it out.

 

[K31]

Sounds interesting. When/where is it on?

It's on the "VS" (Versus) network (was this the Outdoor Life Channel before?).

The hours seem to vary. You can go to the VS webpage and have them send you the upcoming times by email. Generally they seem to be 6-7PM on certain weekdays and either 4-5 or 8-9pm on weekends.

To clarify a couple of things, yes, it is called World Combat League presented by Chuck Norris but other than a shot of him in the audience during the opening and a few commercials for "Total Gym" I'm not too sure what he has to do with it. The show seems to have other sponsors.

The scoring is 3 judges 5 points each for a match with a knockout counting as an automatic 15 points. There are two teams and the team with the most points at the end of all the matches wins. The team coaches pick who they send against whom.

The referee will stop a fight on a TKO (aka "groggy"). I've seen this happen twice and both times the loser was too incapacitated to defend himself properly.

I believe you can't kick below the waist but whatever the reason most of the kicks are well executed and not the "knee to the outer thigh" kind of thing that seems to norm in other MA shows.

Yes, the rules favor action but this prevents people getting into clinches when they are ahead on points and waiting out the fight. I guess I really like this aspect because when I took Judo and you were tied in a match the match went to the most aggressive player.

Anyway I hope it catches on because I like to watch it.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

I have watched it a couple times and they have a few good fighters in the league. The down side is that it is designed as a team sport. That I believe will just not sell with the fight audience which revolves quite often around the celebrity of certain fighter's. Just my opinion but I do not think the WCL will be around long.

 

[K31]

Just got this reminder:

Subject: VS Show Reminders

You have requested to be reminded of the following shows:

WORLD COMBAT LEAGUE: February 22, 2007, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
WORLD COMBAT LEAGUE: February 23, 2007, 12:00 am - 1:00 am

Please note, all show times are Eastern Time.

 

[Brandon Fisher]

I personally have not seen it

 

[Xue Sheng]

I have not had a chance to watch it yet but this is one of Chuck Norris' things

World Combat league
http://www.worldcombatleague.com/
Notice the Total Gym add with Chuck in it to the right as well as another Total Gym link

Also
http://www.chucknorris.com/html/events.aspx

 

[INDYFIGHTER]

Watched one episode so far. It's interesting but I think it could be better. For one I found it a little hard to follow. Points were being given and taken away without much explination of why. I like that points can be deducted for inactivity meaning if a fighter is just standing there waiting for the next attack he can be penalized one point. Also since it's a 'team' sport it's hard figuring out what team the fighters are on. Each team should all be wearing different color uniforms to make it easier to reconize them.

 

[matt.m]

I have heard about it. I am going to record it on dvr tomorrow. It looks very cool. I do hope not to be disappointed.

 

[matt.m]

Ok,

I recorded and watched it. Very nice. Actually I was quite impressed with it. I have my dvr set to record future programming.

 

[Shawn]

Its a decent kickboxing alternative. Certainly fast and full of energy. They do allow leg kicks, but only if part of a kicking combination - ie you would have to immediately follow a leg kick with a body or head kick with the same leg.

I believe Chuck came up with the concept in answer to casual viewers that grew bored with MMA groundwork they couldn't follow.

Personally I think decent kickboxing already exists in the form of Savate or Thai Boxing, but the show is entertaining.

 

[gixxershane]

i watched it one day. i liked it better than boxing.. there was some good action.. i dont like some of the rules tho but that is just my thoughts.. it is simmilar to International Fight Leauge (IFL) as far as the whole team aspect.

 

[Dave Leverich]

I saw the premiere (I believe) in Las Vegas last year, then I've seen a couple on TV (late night on ESPN). While the split rounds is odd, other than that aspect, I find it very enjoyable as a traditional martial artist.
I'm rooting for them, no question there.

 

[meta_aesthete]

Eh, I've caught it a few times and I wasn't really captivated. It's an interesting idea, but I had two things I didn't like:

1) Arena design: no ropes! I think this subconsciously will limit the intensity that fighters use when they're not in the very center of the circle, because launching full-force into a row of cameras and onlookers would ruin your day.

2) Ref interference: while it's good to keep people moving, it defeats the point when the ref STOPS the action to penalize fighters for not being active enough. Also, I think more clinch fighting would make things exciting. I can see it if you want to rule out rolling for entertainment purposes, sure. But standing grab/strike action is entertaining. Maybe even award points for knockdowns, but disallow attacks once the "knockee" is on the ground.

Just my $0.02.

 

[K31]

There is something about the ring design that I find annoying but I can't put my finger on it. I don't think I'd like ropes because that would obscure some of the action and lead to more clinches in the corners.

When the referee stops the action in just about all cases that I've seen the match isn't going anywhere any way and they always tell the offenders to "punch out" before breaking it up.

 

[K31]

New reminders:

Subject: VS Show Reminders

You have requested to be reminded of the following shows:

WORLD COMBAT LEAGUE: February 27, 2007, 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
WORLD COMBAT LEAGUE: February 28, 2007, 12:30 am - 1:30 am

Please note, all show times are Eastern Time.

 

[K31]

More reminders:

Subject: VS Show Reminders

You have requested to be reminded of the following shows:

WORLD COMBAT LEAGUE: March 1, 2007, 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm
WORLD COMBAT LEAGUE: March 1, 2007, 11:00 pm - 12:00 am
WORLD COMBAT LEAGUE: March 2, 2007, 2:00 am - 3:00 am

Please note, all show times are Eastern Time.