The Match That Changed Fencing Forever [Epee]

How non-combativity changed epee fencing

2001 World championship final:

2017 Hungary vs Switzerland:

2019 Israel vs Japan:

[Yura]

After centuries of practice, training and competition, fencing has conclusively proved that the best strategy in a knife fight is not getting into a knife fight.

[Centauri]

Seems the solution is simple. Have the combat zone decrease as the match goes on till it is too small to avoid strikes.

[tomcaruth]

I love that Loit got a yellow card for fencing sarcastically

[TheGoodContent]

Ironically I imagine this is exactly how real life duels back then could have gone. No one wanting to die or get fatally wounded for getting hasty, waiting till the enemy got careless. I bet lots of battles went like this.

[BigMacOrange]

The fact that dude gave an enthusiastic victory shout and cheer at the end is what makes it extra hilarious

[froty]

There should be a tiger on a leash at both ends forcing the fencers to the middle. If the don't fight the tiger gets more leash, if they fight the tiger gets pulled back a bit. And then if you lose you have to fight off the tiger to get out of the building.

[WhirlwindHeatAndFlash]

You always know its a top tier sport when you have to put a rule in place to stop people from falling asleep in the middle of play.

[Kunstdesfechtens]

You see this in kendo too. Two fencers standing tip to tip to run out the clock and then go to sudden death. I’m not surprised they introduced non-combativeness penalties for fencing. They do it in Judo and MMA too.

[ponterraenglishacademy]

Obi-Wan: It's over Anakin, I have the high ground!

Anakin: Oh, um, I see.

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

A fencing duel is a supervillain's worst nightmare
Because there, their plans could be foiled

[steirqwe]

Whoever control middle zone most of the time during the fight should get nice chunk of extra scores. This would encourage both fencers to push their opponent back or perform risky lunges in attempt to get ahead whenever they realize they are losing by ground control scores.

[DocMaggie]

When I was a kid, I used to do this with a tree when I was very bored, although it had more action from both sides than this video.

[docb]

The IOC has made changes. Now after 1 minute a rolling fire begins from each side forcing the combatants, now swaddled in gasoline-soaked lamé to strike before one or both combatants are flambé.

[Tydusis]

On the opposite end of the excitement spectrum, we could have fencing Battle Royale. Just everyone fences each other at once until one person remains.

[VincesInHocSigno]

Easy solution, make them fight in an arena with stairs and a roped up chandelier to possibly cut down in the middle.

[michailtavonius]

In Epee, everyone waits, then wakes up and one has won. In Sabre, everybody is zerg rushing and claiming hits. Whowever can outscream the opponent, convinces the ref. And in foil (former foilist here, now HEMA) everyone starts discussing right of way like they are in a test for a driving license. Love fencing, but the rulesets are just killing it.

[regular]

The audience: Booring! Bring something interesting!
The FIE: Introduces non-combativity penalties.
Fencers:
FIE: Why are you booing me? I'm right.

[dantaehiruma]

The easy solution seems obvious to me: score each match individually then tally the number of wins and loses so fencers cannot rely on their teammates in team events. That's how it's done in tennis, badminton, and ping pong.

[shin]

Playing competitive games online thought me one thing, often times its not how skilled a player is who decide the match but rather who makes the first mistake. Being defensive and waiting for the other players to make a mistake is easier than making a play to win a game. I can understand these guys wanting to play defensively so yeah.

[CoachJohnMcGuirk]

This happens in fighting games too, there's a really funny melee set where neither player moved for basically the entire game. It doesn't make much sense to me though, when the timer runs out you lose if you are behind. The person in the lead doesn't need to attack but the person who is behind just sitting there waiting to be declared the loser makes no sense.