The British University Championships provide University Muay Thai clubs and societies the opportunity to compete fairly, under fully sanctioned Amateur Muay Thai rules on a national stage, against other universities, held annually the tournament crowns medalists in Novice and British categories.

Full details of how to enter and what to expect can be found below..


SECTION 1. PROCESS:


The entry portal opens early January, universities can enter athlete’s into either Novice or British 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 Saturday, 1st March 2025, at The Edge, Leeds University.

 

Weigh-ins and registration: 10-11am (Student I.D must be shown at registration).

 

First bout: 12, Midday, the event is expected to finish by 17:00.

 

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 Muay Thai 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 Muay Thai experience as a minimum.

 

The designated team coach responsibilities are:

 

 

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 Muay Thai club. 


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:

 

 

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 Muay Thai fight, although this is usually recommended.

 

Maximum experience:



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. 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) British Open Tournament – (Intermediate/Experienced)

2) Novice Open Tournament – (Beginner)

 

All decision fights 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:

 

British Open Tournament

 

Format: Knockout tournament (maximum 3 fights in a single day) 

 

Rules: Full contact fight, with decision. (See Appendix B for full ruleset) 

 

Protective gear provided by MTGB unless stated:

 

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 medalist = 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 ruleset)

 

Protective gear Provided by MTGB unless stated:

 

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 

 

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 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.


Appendix B: Rules

For the comprehensive, official MTGB amateur ruleset, please refer to: 


MuayThai GB - Amateur Muay Thai Rules