Every time I find myself wishing I had learned about HEMA when I was younger I need to go back and watch this fight

Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?

The exchanges that would get both fighters black carded in a tournament today set to Naruto recorder music really set the tone for what was to come.

This was brutal to watch and only the commentary got me through it haha. HEMA is night and day different, and it is incredible how far it has come. Great video.

I don't think Hema is "dying" because it's "less martial", but there's a point that some people make, being scared of a martial art getting watered down over time, it's been observed with many martial arts...but it's not happening to Hema, as long as people spar and train realisticly there should be no worries

I'm pretty sure there was a steel tournament at the same event that looked quited different (IE more like what you'd expect to see now). But in general HEMA has come a long way in time.

I have mixed feelings. Thank you. Goodbye.

its like bohurt without armor

The greatest match of all time has finally hit the mainstream

wow, it was so much better back then

Link to this video should be a response to any "back in the day hema better" argument.

I think the reference those people are using, for saying it is too sporty, is not the 2010s. It's a reference of what we ("we" HEMA, IMHO) should be aiming for, with our modern resources, to make it as representative of civilian defense fencing, as the treatises purposed to represent. Meaning, trying to replicate the context of the treatises as realistically as possible, whilst keeping an acceptable level of safety. Varying rulesets according to gear and even level of expertise. And just whatever you want to do, even if it's not HEMA, so long as you're straightforward about what you're aiming at. As any martial art that actually tries to represent the context of a specific fight, as opposed to being "just" being good and fun (which is perfectly fine, just doesn't lead to the H in HEMA. Which is fine, just not HEMA. Keeping in mind HEMA treatises themselves fall on a "martial violent sport to ""true" defence" spectrum). Any sportification artifact should be criticized and accepted only after such pro vs cons scrutiny. Like it happened in plenty of martial arts that wanted first and foremost to represent a form of defense in a given context. Like it has happened in HEMA in the past, in the context of very different gear available and tolerance to violence amongst historical practicioners. And I would argue we need to keep having this discussion, as more representative and safe gear is developed, not halt in this point in time, like some other martial arts turned sports for the masses. I also think that it's great that HEMA is still so divided and ununiform, that everyone can try its own thing, some with grappling and punching, some with none, different levels of realism for different people. The way we keep it this way is by letting people on both sides and the middle moan about "this is not historical enough" and "this is not civil / accessible enough" :D Once this discussion turns taboo, and everyone falls neatly in line to one interpretation and ruleset, the sport closes in on itself, and becomes gradually more full of widespread artifacts with little to no martiality.

I was initially afraid that this was from a recent HEMA tournament, and breathed a sigh of relief hearing this was so long ago. Great video, and super interesting to see this!

Safest longsword match

Man, this is what nerd rage looks like lmao 😂

I remembered an interview a that mentioned earlier on with tournaments, the overeagerness of fencers back then to “prove” the martial validity of HEMA. Coupled with the uncertainty when fencing other clubs lead to a period of stuff like this before people sorta got that ego out of their system. I suppose the most superficial method giving the impression of a “serious sport” is by violent demonstrations of hard knocks. It’s a natural thought, like when it comes to point-style semi-contact vs others like Muay Thai. I mean people like to model their training methodology based on sports fencing or brag about their Judo/BJJ background and it seems to give the activity more validity when fencers practice HEMA more like athletes. But whatever, just yapping myself.

Well that was horrific.

That's about what I'd expect from a dude in an ARMA shirt...

Drops sword and goes for a clinch and knee lmaoo

I like some intensity in fencing matches, but this isn't just high intensity; it's high stupidity

Great commentary. What a shit show. I started in 2014 and the fencing then was terrible at every level. What we see these days is orders of magnitude more skilful, athletic and martial. Thank god we kept moving and will continue to get better as the years progress.

Foam, Rubber, and plastic swords can leave a nasty bump or scar on your face. My friend whacked my nose with a foam sword. It didn't bother me though but I did feel the damage and left a minor bump.

This video provided some very good context. Thank you!

Dropping swords and going fist to fist with dirty tactics is _probably_ *a lot* more historically accurate than the measured and refined duels that we see today. ...just saying.

Excellent video! Fight was ASS 😂

To add some context to this from my memory. Luis Preto in white here was at Swordfish holding a Jogo Do Pau seminar. The Pentti swords was more similar in weight and length to the one handed sticks he was used to and not the two handed staff. So the first matches he did he used the longsword one handed the whole time. This is a bit later match when he had started to use it more in a two handed grip.

I don't know if I would even call this HEMA. Every single exchange should be a DQ for one or both of the "fencers". I think when people say that HEMA is just LARP, this is what they're picturing. Thank god we grew and I'm excited to see how far we come in another ten years.

Well, to be fair, it _might_ work in a fake fight. I don't think you get to conduct yourself in the same unrealistic ways once there are bladed weapons in play and it's no longer a game.

This video was thoroughly entertaining, and very much on point (absolutely no pun intended given the fighting quality). I can feel the sound of the Penttis. Next weapon purchase: a plastic cutting board.

Lol so this is what modern sabre looks like without priority and crossing feet on the attack allowed.

Dude I don't even know what HEMA is and I can tell whatever they're doing is wrong. This reminds me of my teenaged larping sessions.

As an mma fighter I see this is an absolute win

Thanks for doing the video. I think there’s a lot that can be learned even from bad fights/exchanges. This also makes me wonder what our fights would look like now if we had stayed with minimal protective equipment but our swords had gotten better. Would people be more cautious before fear of broken bones? Or would we have crazy buffalo strategies coming from people with no sense of self preservation? It’s just a theory that I have little interest in testing, but I do wonder

How old is this footage?

Those crap swords were 90% of the problem. It's not like they were trying to go for Chinese swords. I wouldn't even want to practice with those swords unless the purpose of them was to work on proper edge alignment and not actually striking anyone. Swords like that encourage injury and to piss someone off getting hit with a slap instead of a blow.

You're right that these doofuses aren't putting the MA in HEMA... but I will disagree with the premise of this video. I actually would say that these two are a harbinger of what is to come with HEMA. Their brutish tournament does not point towards a more serious martial validity, but points towards a sterilizing competition that will gut the soul of HEMA that many practitioners enjoy today. HEMA has become very modernist.

What the hell am I seeing

Jeez 1st time i saw hema in 2009 with Kohutovich fight and that was much better than modern. Obviously u can find such trash nowadays just dig deeper. In fact i can provide video of final slitly better then this fight. So its not an argument

Fake dichotomy: contemporary longsword is crap, so I'll just compare it to a cherry picked crap video from the past

4:02 to 4:06 is something out of Kenjutsu or Kali/Escrima.

😮😂

The footwork 😂

Never heard of this discipline before. Laughed my arse off. I don't know if it's dying or not, but it sure is a funny one.

This looks like the old ARMA style of fencing. ARMA died. HEMA lives on. Do a little more research into ARMA and the brutality that we witnessed in your video will make sense...even if it nonsense. However, most of the people who created Hema came out of ARMA for many good reasons. ⚔

Hahahahaha💚

This is supposed to simulate a real sword fight If those swords was real their techniques would be more refined It’s the fact that they are plastic that they did behave the way they did And essentially game it to win vs actually sword fight