This clip is of the finals of an army combatives open-weight tournament. The matches follow a rule set similar to amateur mixed martial arts. The army holds an open weight tournament as in combat, there are no such thing as weight classes and an enemy combatant can be bigger or smaller than you.

The two soldiers square off and it’s immediately apparent that one has a considerable size advantage. Both were their fatigues along with shin pads, but their hands are unprotected.

The two circle and the smaller soldier is very active, feinting up and down as his larger opponent stands his ground. The smaller opponent lunges in with an attack quickly but doesn’t land.

He then lands a good outside kick. It’s obvious that although he is much smaller, he holds a very obvious speed advantage. He attempts a spinning wheel kick that misses and lunges in with another punch and his larger counters but is too slow. After another attack, the larger soldier is finally able to grab a hold of this smaller opponent. He sits down and tries to sweep his opponent, but the technique fails and the smaller soldier takes a top position in side-mount.

On top of side mount, the smaller soldier is able to control his opponent and keep him from standing up. Eventually, he is able to work his hand into a solid grip on the collar of his opponent and work a lapel choke that forces him to submit.

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The mission of the U.S. Army Combatives School is to train Leaders and Soldiers in close quarters Combatives in order to instill the Warrior Ethos and prepare Soldiers to close with and defeat the enemy in hand to hand combat.

The Modern Army Combatives Program (MACP) started in 1995 with the 2nd Ranger Battalion and has spread at the grassroots around the Army. It has been incorporated into the new TC 3-25.150 (AKO Account Required) and Basic Combatives is one of the Forty Warrior Core Tasks of the Warrior Ethos initiative.

source: army.mil