The Economist had a piece on a new fighting sport that aims to take advantages of the innovation we’ve seen in the 21^st century:

• United Weapons Master is a new sport that clads its fighters in modern day Kevlar reinforced carbon-fiber composites (actual gear pictured).
• While the armor is tough it’s also lightweight enough that a fighter could plan to do cartwheels.
• Once the fighting begins the warriors let loose on each other. The armor is strong enough that fighters can hit each other with weapons that could kill a person if they were unprotected.
• 52 sensors that make 10,000 measurements a second then calculate the fractures that each blow would have done if the person subject to them didn’t have their armor.
• At the end the computer uses these measurements to declares the winner – creating a far more objective scoring system than anything related to referees or judges.
• Of course it’s been a while since humans flung throwing stars at arteries. The creators of the tournament will experiment with attacking pig cadavers so computers have more data about how much damage various attacks do.
• The first battles are expected to be televised this year. There will be a bit of nationalistic pride as fighters will be able to draw upon various ancient martial arts if they choose – and find out if Chinese Kung Fu can take on Japanese Swordsmanship.

Read more about military interest in the armor suits, how the fighters will be cooled, and other details here.

Source: The Economist