Today In Combat Sports: 5 vs. 5 Team Battles & Professional Pillow Fights

The limbs of combat sports continue to branch out, and in the case of the TFC & PFC, it is going in two completely opposite directions.

At this moment, you may be wondering what the heck TFC & PFC stand for. Team Fighting Championship (TFC)…

Pillow Fighting Championship

The limbs of combat sports continue to branch out, and in the case of the TFC & PFC, it is going in two completely opposite directions.

At this moment, you may be wondering what the heck TFC & PFC stand for. Team Fighting Championship (TFC) and Pillow Fight Championship (PFC) are two new forms of competition that fall under the “combat sports” umbrella term, albeit to wildly varying degrees.

Street Violence With A Professional Twist

TFC 5-on-5 Fights Look Out of Control and Dangerous | Bleacher Report |  Latest News, Videos and Highlights

Founded in 2014, TFC introduced to the world what is tantamount to group street fighting inside a ring. After all, fights in the real world are not limited to one-on-one confrontations, so this promotion essentially aims to bring the slice of gang life into the sports arena. These contests feature two teams representing their countries competing in a 5-on-5 single-elimination MMA team battle, i.e. a “shoot” version of WWE’s Survivor Series.

However, according to Jody Poff, who has served as the head coach of the US team, this isn’t street fighting at all. Because, unlike streetfighting, TFC teams devise clear strategies, or at least his team does (h/t Vice.com).

“My guys are technical. Some of these other teams are brawlers,” Poff said. “If we go in there and brawl with them, we will lose.”

Poff admitted that things can turn grizzly when fighters inevitably become outnumbered, especially when it’s one versus several. Still, he views the TFC as a sport every bit as legitimate as boxing and traditional MMA.

“First, everybody did boxing, then kickboxing got popular, then MMA became the next thing,” Poff said. “As a sport, we’re going to go through the same growing pains as MMA and the UFC went through. Yeah, we’re a little crazy, but we’re pro athletes and we want to explore what’s next. The next level…

“It can get ugly fast once guys start dropping,” Poff says. “But there are five referees in there with you, and they are watching everything. So in a way, by the time it gets mismatched, it’s pretty safe. In a normal fight, there’s only one ref.”

You can view some of the action from the most recent TFC event below.

The Softer Side Of Combat Sports <3

Photos from SFT featuring PFC

Quite frankly, whether or not the PFC qualifies as a “combat sport” is subject to some very worthy debate. Both the “combat” and the “sport” terms could be disputed on some level. After all, anything that can be done in a slumber party will rarely if ever be joined with the aforementioned two terms. Yet, the PFC might just be the literal one exception to this rule.

“It’s not something where you sit there and laugh and feathers are flying,” PFC’s CEO Steve Williams told Reuters. “It’s serious. It’s hardcore swinging with specialized pillows.”

And unlike that barbarous “MMA” and “boxing” you degenerates love, the PFC likes to ensure that their athletes make it back home in one piece.

“The fighters don’t like to get hurt, and there’s a lot of people who don’t want to see the blood,” Williams said. “They want to see good competition, they just don’t want to see the violence.”

PFC contests are scheduled for three rounds. The next PFC event, PFC 3: Pound Down takes, place January 29, 2022, and is available on FITE TV.

Will you be giving either the TFC or PFC a try?

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