If the fight went to the ground the combatants were given 20 seconds to finish before they were stood back up. The winners was determined by the numbers of points at the end. Points appeared to be scored by an "Ippon" like throw, submission, TKO. The center referee had the ability to give you a standing 10 count and even stop the fight. I think two things made this event more exciting to watch than Pancrase: (1) Most participants wore a uniform and (2) the event was staged on a large wrestling mat. The wearing of the uniform opens the door to a plethora of techniques. This make watching a lot more interesting. Not having the event in a ring, but instead on a large wrestling mat, allowed a lot more space to fight.
Did I mention that knees were legal too. Not only that, you can grab the back of your opponent’s head and pull their head into your knee. This made for a lot of good fun. There had to be at least a dozen fights that ended in this fashion. Easily the most common submission was juji-gatame. I don’t think anyone’s arm was broken, however, I can’t be sure of this. At the very least, some of the fighters seriously hyper-extended their arms (sometimes both arms!).
Most of the fighters appeared to have a mixed background in Kyokushinkai Karate and Judo. There also appeared to be a few Sambo and Thai Boxing fighters too. The grappling was by no means BJJ. Very little use of the closed guard and since striking to the head on the ground was prohibited, the mount did not take on any importance in the tournament. The grappling clearly had a Judo feel to it. However, realize that there were quite a few leg locks used in the tournament. The rules really did not favor any particular style. All the fighters appeared to be in good shape and most look fairly skilled in there respective arts. Grapplers dominated. That’s not to say that a ton of the fights weren’t ended by a palm heal to the face. I think I could actually see the birds and stars swirling around the head of several of the crumpled fighters. More often than not, a fighter who you would have sworn was out of commission, would get back up (hyper-extended arm dangling) to fight some more.
This tournament was a lot of fun to watch. This type of tournament is clearly a bridge between sport tournaments and the UFC. The rules keep the event still in the sporting realm, but in the same vain no marital art is favored or disfavored by the rules. I will have to keep my eyes open for a 1996 All Japan Combative Sports Tournament. I can hardly wait. [Click here to go to the review of the 1996 All Japan]