Each step sounds like someone rummaging through a cutlery drawer.
That’s nothing, though, compared to the clanging of steel on steel as some of the blows delivered by the armor-clad titans echo like gunshots.
Then there’s that cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” that seemingly plays on a loop.
The cacophony is summoned by the inaugural Sin City Knight Fights and its underground fight club feel. The event is a chance for combatants to test their mettle — and their metal — while showcasing the local growth of buhurt, the combat sport often referred to as “medieval MMA.”
‘I fight 57-year-old women’
“We started off with one steel helmet and probably six or seven people who wanted to build an armored combat team here in Vegas,” says Triston Tinoco, founder of the Side Quest Sports training center and captain of that team, the Las Vegas Death Dealers.
Those early days in 2019 were anything but easy as Tinoco and his cohorts trained in parks, working on their endurance to be able to fight with blunted swords and axes while wearing 80 pounds of armor.
“You get a bunch of nerds who’ve never done any type of combat sport or anything physical for that matter,” Tinoco recalls. “And now you’re pulling them all into one space and saying, ‘Hey, guys, now we’re going to be athletes.’ ”
There were plenty of stumbles in the beginning.
“You start getting all these pieces of armor, and you find out what works and what doesn’t work,” Tinoco says of the pieces they began collecting from shops in Ukraine, Poland and Russia. “You spend thousands of dollars and find out that the armor you can’t use, because it will be crushed and crumpled in a real fight. We learned from all of our mistakes.”
That “thousands of dollars” figure is no exaggeration. A set of mid-grade armor runs around $2,500. From that initial half-dozen people sharing a helmet, Tinoco estimates he now has 20 people with full armored kits and another 30 or so who are gathering equipment.
Side Quest Sports, which opened in November at 2893 N. Green Valley Parkway in Henderson, serves as a base for them to train.
It’s also open to anyone who’s curious about learning the sport, with monthly memberships starting at $40 for youth and $60 for adults. Soft kit classes that teach proper technique while using foam weapons and padding have attracted students ranging in age from 6 to 60.
“I fight 57-year-old women,” the burly 32-year-old Tinoco says. “Like, I have no problem doing it.”
That’s not the best quote to have attached to your name, but Tinoco says it as a way to illustrate how Side Quest instructors adapt to different students and skill levels.
“I’m not sitting there throwing them into the ground to do it,” he explains. “I let them practice moves and practice techniques. … Having the trust that somebody’s going to spar with you in a very friendly manner is super important, and it’s a trust that we don’t ever break.”
‘It doesn’t feel great to be struck’
Tinoco may be the first person on the planet to tout the historical accuracy of “A Knight’s Tale,” the Heath Ledger movie set in the 14th century that kicked off a jousting tournament with Queen’s “We Will Rock You” playing as the familiar stomp-stomp-clap rumbled throughout the crowd.
But the movie shows that knights would travel from town to town — when they weren’t needed in actual battles — to compete for glory in various forms of combat.
“What we’re doing isn’t re-enacting the old wars,” Tinoco says. “It’s re-enacting the tournament-style fights.”
In buhurt, those fights are broken down into 90-second rounds in which competitors receive a point for each shot to the head or body and two points for a takedown, during which they have 10 seconds to rain blows on their fallen opponent.
“You see a lot of judo techniques, grappling techniques, and they’re swinging full force,” Tinoco says. “Swinging” being the keyword, as stabbing and thrusting moves are not allowed.
Tinoco and his Death Dealers travel the country, taking part in and competing in such tournaments, with the ultimate goal of representing America in international competitions.
“The armor does its job,” Tinoco says when asked if the blows hurt. “It doesn’t feel great to be struck.”
With combatants wearing a padded coat under their armor, he compares it to being “inside a steel can, but with an oven mitt inside.”
“You get hit,” Tinoco says, “and it’s like, ‘OK. That could’ve been worse. I’m gonna keep going.’”
Contact Christopher Lawrence at [email protected] or 702-380-4567.