SECTION 1. PROCESS:
Universities can enter athlete’s into either Freshers, Novice, British and Elite categories (you can find details below in Section 4), we then hold an online briefing as well as circulating a tournament document to all participating clubs.
SECTION 2. LOCATION, DATE, TIMES
The event will take place on Sunday 15th March at The University of Warwick, Sport and Wellness Hub, Coventry, CV4 7EU.
Weigh-ins and registration: 10-11am (Student I.D must be shown at registration).
Medicals: 10-11:15am (All athletes must have a medical). No medical, no participation.
First bout: 12, Midday, the event is expected to finish by 18:00.
SECTION 3. DESIGNATED TEAM COACH
Each team must have a designated team coach. This is a single person within your team who takes responsibility for the submission of all fighters. Where possible, it is preferable for this person to be a non-student/external coach, with extensive Muaythai experience.
Where the team or university does not have a non-student/external coach, or their external coach is not willing to take responsibility for entering your team, your team must designate a team coach within your committee. This person should have at least some previous competitive Muaythai experience as a minimum.
The designated team coach responsibilities are:
Ensuring all applicants fully disclose their previous martial arts / combat sports experience (to the best of the coach’s knowledge)
Ensuring all applicants are suitable to enter the experience category they have selected.
Ensuring all applicants are entering at a suitable fight weight, which does not involve cutting dangerous amounts of weight over a short period.
Regular, prompt communication with MTGB in the lead up to the event, on behalf of their fighters (e.g. in the event that video footage is requested from any participant).
SECTION 4. ENTRY CRITERIA
The following criteria must be met for a fighter to participate in either tournament:
Entrants must currently attend a University in Great Britain, entrants must also be part of that University Muaythai club.
Elite Division:
There is no minimum or maximum competitive requirement however, this is the Elite division and should only be considered by the very best athletes.
British Open Tournament:
Minimum experience:
Entrants must be of a competent level to compete in a full contact bout, as judged by their designated team coach. They do not necessarily need to have had a Muaythai fight, although this is usually recommended.
Maximum experience:
Entrants must not have had more than five decision fights under Muaythai rules (A,B,C, N Class or Amateur rules). multiple fights in the same day (i.e. in a tournament format) are counted individually - e.g. fighting twice in a day counts as two fights experience.
Entrants with other combat sports experience must disclose this IN FULL via the athletes questionnaire (Section 5), then a suitable experience category will be allocated on a case by case basis.
Novice Open Tournament:
Minimum experience:
Entrants must be of a competent level to compete in a full contact bout, as judged by their designated team coach.
Maximum experience:
Entrants may not have had a professional decision fight, under Muaythai ruleset (A,B,C Class)
Entrants may not have had more than TWO decision fights, under any Muaythai ruleset.
Entrants may not have had more than 3 calendar years’ experience in Muaythai.
Entrants with other combat sports or Amateur Muaythai experience must disclose this IN FULL via the application questionnaire (see section 5) and will be assigned to an experience category on a case-by- case basis. Please be aware that MTGB may request additional information from any entrant, (including training footage) to aid this process.
Freshers Pathway Category:
Minimum experience:
None
Maximum experience:
See Section 7 - Tournament for information regarding the format of this new category.
SECTION 5. EXPERIENCED ATHLETES QUESTIONNAIRE
Entrants with other combat sports experience must disclose this IN FULL via the application questionnaire, athletes will be assigned to an experience category on a case-by-case basis.
The questionnaire will ask each fighter to declare any previous martial arts/combat sports experience, amongst other information (e.g. age & weight).
It is important that all athletes answer truthfully, as the submission of false or inaccurate information could result in that fighter’s disqualification from the tournament and/or sanctions on the participating university (i.e. a temporary or permanent ban from participating in future events, and/or communication with that student’s university).
*Please be aware that fighters will be screened against their application questionnaires prior to the event commencement to ensure they meet the correct criteria. Where they do not, the athlete may be moved to the other weight category, or removed from the tournament altogether.
**MTGB reserve the right to request video footage of any athlete training and potentially move the athlete to a different experience category depending on a case-to-case basis, based on our assessment.
Only fighters who have previous additional combat experience need to complete the questionnaire, click here.
SECTION 6. HOW TO ENTER
Fighters will register via Kihapp (an online app for fighter submissions, a link will also be posted here) – a maximum of 8 fighters may enter each weight category in each tournament. (This will result in a maximum of 3 fights in a single day to win the tournament) – See appendix A for guidance on weight categories.
To avoid two fighters from the same university facing each other in the tournament, each university may enter ONE fighter per weight category per tournament.
In the event that two fighters from the SAME university from the SAME weight category wish to enter the SAME tournament (i.e. Novice or British open), it will be left to that university coach’s discretion to select the appropriate entrant.
In the event that there are more than 8 entrants for the same weight category/tournament, entrants will be selected on a FIRST COME FIRST SERVE BASIS (i.e., the first 8 entrants to register via the Kihapp app).
In the event that a fighter does not register in time (i.e. 8 fighters register before them for a given category), they are advised to keep training in case of a drop out so that they can step in at short notice.
The fee for registration is £30 per fighter.
Additionally, each university club must pay an annual club registration fee to MTGB of £30. By joining MTGB all clubs agree to follow the rules and regulations of the organisation, particular attention should be paid to the athlete and coaches code of conduct – please refer to the following resources for more information:
Coaches Code of Conduct
Students Code of Conduct
SECTION 7. THE TOURNAMENT:
I. Format:
The championships will be divided in to two knockout tournaments. Additionally this year we are introducing the "Fresher's Category", exclusively for students who have trained since the start of this Academic year, and not before. This will be a non-decision, light contact category, its introduction is to make the event accessible to all and offer a clear pathway to the championship tournaments.
Athletes will be designated to ONE based on their level of experience and proficiency (Novice or British). Athletes are then separated by gender and weight (see appendix A.) For each of the two tournaments, the winner of each weight category will attain the gold medal and be designated the title of either “British University Champion” or “Novice University Champion” accordingly.
1) Elite Division: (Elite Athletes)
2) British Open Tournament: (Intermediate/Experienced)
3) Novice Open Tournament: (Beginner)
4) Freshers Category: (Not ready for competitive bout)
All bouts will be professionally refereed and judged by MTGB officials. A final rules meeting will take place on the day of the event.
A total of 2 cornermen/women may be present in an athlete’s corner during any single bout.
For a full list of rules and regulations as dictated by MTGB see Appendix B.
II. Experience Categories:
Elite Division
Format: Knockout tournament (maximum 3 fights in a single day)
Rules: Full contact fight, with decision. Full Thai rules are permitted, this includes Elbows and knees to the head.
Protective gear provided by MTGB unless stated:
Head guards
Shin pads
Elbow pads
Gloves 10oz
Groin protector (Not provided)
Gum shield (Not provided)
Female athletes may wear a breast protector (Not provided)
Round times: 3 x 3 minutes
Entry fee: £30 via Kihapp
Additional restricted techniques: All Muaythai techninques are permitted
Prize: Gold, silver, bronze medal. Gold medallist = British champion.
British Open Tournament
Format: Knockout tournament (maximum 3 fights in a single day)
Rules: Full contact fight, with decision. (See Appendix B for full rule set)
Protective gear provided by MTGB unless stated:
Head guards
Shin pads
Gloves 10oz
Groin protector (Not provided)
Gum shield (Not provided)
Female athletes may wear a breast protector (Not provided)
Round times: 3 x 2 minutes
Entry fee: £30 via Kihapp
Additional restricted techniques: No knees or elbows to head, no spinning back fists permitted.
Prize: Gold, silver, bronze medal. Gold medallist = British champion.
Novice Open Tournament
Format: Knockout tournament (maximum 3 fights in a single day) Rules: Full contact fight, with decision. (See Appendix B for full rule set)
Protective gear Provided by MTGB unless stated:
Head guards
Shin pads
Body guard
Gloves 16oz
Groin protector (Not provided)
Gum shield (Not provided)
Female athletes may wear a breast protector (Not provided)
Round times: 3 x 1.5 minutes
Entry fee: £30 via Kihapp
Additional restricted techniques: No knees or elbows to head, no spinning back fists are permitted.
Prize: Gold, silver, bronze medal. Gold medallist
Freshers Pathway Division
Format: Controlled light contact, non decision single match (See Appendix B for full rule set). There will be a strict policy regarding heavy contact, referees will issue a yellow card if they believe the contact is inappropriate, if a second yellow card is issued the offending fighter will be disqualified. This is a development category NOT A COMPETITIVE bout so please consider which category fighters enter!
Protective gear Provided by MTGB unless stated:
Head guards
Shin pads
Body guard
Gloves 16oz
Groin protector (Not provided)
Gum shield (Not provided)
Female athletes may wear a breast protector (Not provided)
Round times: 3 x 1.5 minutes
Entry fee: £30 via Kihapp
Additional restricted techniques: No knees or elbows to head, no spinning back fists are permitted.
Prize: All participants receive a medal.
III. Weigh ins:
ALL Weigh ins will take place on the morning of the tournament. There will be no weight allowance/tolerance - participants must weigh in strictly at or under the maximum weight of their category.
In the event that a fighter misses weight, they will be given the full weigh in window to re-weigh under the specified weight. If the fighter misses weight again, they will be disqualified.
IV. University Cup:
At the end of the tournament, the number of wins (British and Novice categories) in a single day for each university will be added up using a points system (2 points per win). The university with the most points will be awarded the MTGB University Cup.
Appendix A: Guidance on Weight categories.
There are a total of 13 male weight categories and 11 female categories per tournament.
