The Armored League Slashes its Way into Los Angeles
MMA met GoT at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in East Hollywood last Friday, Sept. 4, for the West Coast debut of The Armored League — a full-contact combat sport where fighters decked in armor beat each other with medieval steel.
A sell-out 800-person crowd, many dressed in their Ren Faire-best, filled the room with deafening roars as the fighters bashed their opponents’ body and heads with real (albeit blunted) weapons like swords, axes, polearms combined with shields and hand-to-hand punches, kicks, elbows, knees and headbutts, takedowns and knockdowns. This isn’t Medieval Times — the fighting isn’t scripted, and the clanks are piercing.
TAL 21 culminated in an all-LA final. Nathaniel Gaston and Ronin Sato, both members of the local armored-combat community, survived the tournament to meet in the championship bout. Gaston ultimately took the win, adding an Armored League title and a cash prize to a resume that already includes work as a model and an MMA championship.
Comments