Any shootfighers in the house?

[African Tiger]

I may be playing a shootfighter in a new film starting in November, aaaaaaaaaaaand, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IT IS, or HOW TO DO IT!!!!

Ok, anybody got some "How to Shootfight" links? Preferably "Shootfighting for Dummies", or

"Shootfighting in Ten Easy Lessons", or

"Zen and the art of Shootfighting", or

"Shootfighting: Impress your girlfriend and Influence People"

Any of the above will do :D

[zen_celt]

In a nutshell, shootfighting is like extreme kickboxing with some grappling thrown in. Most often it is not taken to the ground but some guys work into the clinch and mess around or throw a bit and often back up and kickbox some more. Another diffrence is that kicking to the legs is allowed and even side-kicks right ABOVE, but not to, the knee joint.
At least that's how it was explained to me by my Karate sensei whose friend did it professionally. That friend is also a bad motha' and teaches Bushidokan Karate in Kansas. His name is Steve Mackey.
As far as websites...do a search on Google for "shootfighting" or "shootboxing" generally the same thing. I foud a site but it was in Japanese and wouldn't load.
Hope this helps and congrats on the part
-ZC
P.S. Don't rent the movie "Shootfighter 2" or something like that. It won't help and is really stupid. I saw it at like 2AM on basic cable when I was REALLY bored.

[Daredevil]

I've been to shootfighting matches and have a few acquintances who do shoot.

Shootfighting is a form of competition. Basically, it's kickboxing with grappling. However, my experience (unlike zen_celt's) is that the fights do go to the ground. Never seen a match that didn't and all the shootfighters I know are good grapplers. In many ways, shoot is the junior of NHB, since it has more rules and these funny things called "escapes" (you have a number of these which you can use to stop have the referee stop the action and stand up both fighters) which actually make the matches quite interesting.

The exact rules of shootfighting vary a bit, from (I think) place to place and from am to pro level.

A lot of shootfighters here train kickboxing/muay thai and grappling (usually BJJ) . Shootfighting classes are held separetely as well, but those are cardio heavy and with lots of rolling.

Many shootfighters here move onto NHB later.

That's my two cents.

[NPMantis]

http://sfuk.tripod.com/interviews/londonshoot.html

http://sfuk.tripod.com/events_01/ls_seminar01.html

Try these.

[Wilson]

Shootfighting is definitely a combo of Muay Thai and grappling. I've taken a few seminars and they focus a lot on leg lock techniques. Most of what I have seen has gone to the ground. Like Daredevil said, they then have stops which allow them to get up quickly. I think the rules are really to keep the audience more excited. Remember the first UFC's? People who didn't know the in's and out's of grappling thought all the rolling was boring. In shoot, they get the fighters up quickly and start from the feet again. In that respect, they need to focus a little more on standup and probably are not quite as proficient as pure grapplers on the ground. Great sport though. I really enjoyed the seminars.

[NPMantis]

One thing I have heard (from the 'Choke' video) is that it's illegal to strike while on the ground in shoot fighting as it's considered too dangerous.

If you're interested there's a bit of shootfighting on the video, it's called 'Choke' with Rickson Gracie, you can get it off Amazon.com.

[Brad Souders]

Shootfighting = Ken Shamrock

Shootfighting is a submission based style with more looking at going for subs over the position. Such as going for leg locks while having the mount. Striking is usually a thai base but most old style shoots had to be open hand palm strikes.

Shootfighters have good cardio,good submission knowledge,good takedowns,pretty good striking, and alright positioning. Lata, Brad