During the 90s in Japan, a gentleman with cauliflower ears and a thick neck, called Kiguchi Noriaki was wondering about a rule set, convenient enough for all representatives of the big grappling styles, so an ultimate champion could be declared. He came up with the format, known as Combat Wrestling and soon enough, big names like Rumina Sato, Gomi Takanori, Imanari and many more, were crushing their opponents on the mats, applauded by huge spectator crowds. Later on, with the rise of MMA and the global expansion of BJJ, other rule sets came into play and Combat Wrestling fan base began to shrink…

Almost a decade later, following the success of sambo, judo and wrestling players in mainstream MMA, the debate about their grappling abilities arose on forums, such as Sherdog, where it was discussed at length, why ADCC, NAGA and such are not enjoying the entries of many sambo and judo grapplers. Truth is, all of those sports are heavily relying on pins in their ground work. And since BJJ scoring is completely different, they actually dont have many tools in the box to secure a medal. Some sambo players started experimenting with their local no- kurtka tournaments, mixing up sambo scoring with no- gi grappling… Up until 2013, when the bulgarian Ivaylo Ivanov came with the adaptation of no- kurtka sambo rules to the already existing Combat Wrestling format and formed the International Federation of Combat Wrestling (FICW). The original founder Kiguchi Noriaki gave his blessings to the newly found federation, permitted the official use of the name and accepted the post of Honorary President of FICW, joining forces with a strong international team to promote the most balanced grappling rule set up to date…
And so, the International Federation of Combat Wrestling (FICW) was born. After some test tournaments in Bulgaria and Mexico, the organizers are ready to take it to the next level and have currently announced the date for the 1st Combat Wrestling World Championship- 22nd of August in the resort city of Varna, Bulgaria

Interview with Ivaylo Ivanov, the President of Combat Wrestling Federation.

Hi Ivaylo, may you please introduce yourself?

My name is Ivaylo Ivanov. I was born in Bulgaria and traveled the world for the last 15 years, training and meeting with many people from the grappling world. I have enjoyed learning a bit from everyone and now I am giving back to the community, teaching, organizing events, camps and promoting active sport life in general.
How did you get interested in Combat Wrestling and what was your approach to this style in order to revitalize it?
I have trained almost all of the popular grappling styles- wrestling, sambo, judo, bjj and I have competed in many hybrid rule sets, while living in Japan. With the rise of BJJ, many new grapplers entered in competitions of submission wrestling and started practicing NoGi. Now a days, when someone refers to submission grappling, the majority is talking about BJJ influenced competitions, such as ADCC. And while they are all great formats, I could see that the advantages of most of the grappling styles, which are throw & pin based, are taken away or scored low. So, that not only gives big advantage to the BJJ practitioners, but also leads to creation of unbalanced style grapplers, who are beasts on the ground, but lack important skills, such as throwing and holding the opponent on his back. Those were the driving reasons behind my search for more dynamic rule set.

• Can you tell more about the rules and what make them innovative and modern?
Combat Wrestling encourages active search for domination both on the feet and on the ground. One have to target specific throwing position to achieve higher score. On the ground, points are given to the active player on top position, making the rule set attractive for judo, sambo, wrestling and bjj players. Combat Wrestling is pushing for aggressive approach, dynamic throw- pin- submit sequences.

• Is there a plan to support local organizations, in order to make easier for all the teams, affording international competitions?
FICW is organized on Olympic basis, with national, regional, continental and world federations. We have independant referee committee, taking care of specific situations. Our short term goals are to cover all continents and organize tournaments in every country, area and continent. We are working towards recognition by United World Wrestling as a wrestling style, inclusion in big ligue combat sport tournaments, organizing separated youth, female, adult and master events.
Securing sponsorship on local and global level is one of our main priotities. At the moment we have achieved all of the success with our own joined efforts. We have created a big organization, including members on 3 continents, which is a very attractive point for many sport and apparel companies. We are actively working to secure sponsorship on a global level and take the load from the shoulders of the competitors. We have also secured some promotional contracts, which are bringing in revenue, channeled directly to the competitors. Its not going to be that big for this year, but will steadily grow in the following years.

• What is the relation between Combat Wrestling and all the other styles of grappling in term of cooperation and/or possible rivalry? Are you expecting to cooperate, in any manner, with them?
We are operating with a rule set, affordable for any style grappler. FICW is welcoming all style practitioners to participate in our events. We are building strong, self- sustained organization, promoting well balanced, modernized wrestling style. Its not about competition and rivalry. Its about common conpetition ground.

How is it going the preparation of the first World Championship? Can you tell more on that?
The 1st World Championship of Combat Wrestling wouldnt be possible without the help of the entire FICW team. We went a long way and dedicated a lot of time and efforts to maie it possible! I cant express enough my gratitude to the team, for making it happen! National championships in each country, member of FICW, securing logistics and sponsorship for each team, providing help to each other… it is a lot of work! I cant wait for 22nd of August to come!
We have planned a FICW congress around the World Championship, together with referee seminar and coach certification seminar. Everyone is welcome to join in!
Also, we have received a lot of requests for participation, from grapplers, which countries are not members of FICW yet. We allow them to compete on individual basis. All they need to do is visit our homepage and fill in the registration form. I hope to see you all in Varna