Some of you know that in addition to my role as Managing Editor of Field Gulls, I am an Associate Editor at Bloody Elbow, which covers primarily UFC/MMA but also other combat sports. The two worlds of Seahawks football and combat sports are usually kept separate, but we have an exception this weekend.
On the same day that the Seahawks will take on the Dallas Cowboys, Marshawn Lynch will be serving as a color commentator... not on the Seahawks game, but for Karate Combat. He’ll be working alongside former UFC champion Bas Rutten for the first three weeks of the 12-week season.
“The opportunity when it came to be a part of Karate Combat — the first thing I think of is ‘Daniel san! Wax on, wax off!’ I was a fan of Karate Kid growing up so it’s something that I always had an interest in. Not so much in doing it myself but I’m there to watch a good fight,” Lynch said to ESPN’s Ariel Helwani.
Lynch’s combat sports ties go back quite a few years. He trained with local Bay Area coach Tareq Azim as far back as the 2013 season, and as part of his rehab he trained MMA while he was recovering from sports hernia surgery in 2015.
“I’ll be kickin’ it with Bas watching guys get knocked out, doing all types of crazy moves in wild ass Indiana Jones type settings. It’s hella dope,” Lynch said in an earlier interview with TMZ Sports.
Karate Combat is full contact karate that’s contested in a pit. This season the fights are done in, and I’m quoting directly from Karate Combat’s Owen Phillips, “a sci-fi atmosphere created with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine.” In other words, the fights are real but there’s a mixture of virtual reality in there, and you can see the trailer below.
Just head over to Karate.com for more on the schedule as well as the rules, which do permit you to sweep the leg just in case you’re wondering.
By the way, if you watch the full interview at the top of the page you’ll get a little Seahawks talk towards the end. If he does ever get the call from Seattle to return again, would he say yes? Go to about 19 minutes in for all of that and more, including great praise for Chris Carson.