Checkmate or Knockout?

Photo via news.nationalgeographic.com

The chess-match metaphor in mixed martial arts is both apt and tired.  The same can be said for boxing, though the two have been coupled into the cerebral sport of chessboxing.  

From the World Chess Boxing Organisation:

In a chessboxing fight two opponents play alternating rounds of chess and boxing. The contest starts with a round of chess, followed by a boxing round, followed by another round of chess and so on.
A contest consists of 11 rounds, 6 rounds of chess, 5 rounds of boxing. A round of chess takes 4 minutes. Each competitor has 12 minutes on the chess timer.

A round of boxing takes 3 minutes. Between the rounds there is a 1 minute pause, during which competitors change their gear. The contest is decided by: checkmate (chess round), exceeding the time limit (chess round), retirement of an opponent (chess or boxing round), KO (boxing round), or referee decision (boxing round). If the chess game ends in a stalement, the opponent with the higher score in boxing wins. If there is an equal score, the opponent with the black pieces wins.

Personally, I love the concept.  It's a little outrageous, but switching between a fight mentality and a chess mentality is an interesting challenge.

Here's to hoping for an MMA version...would anyone else watch?

Videos (Note that one of the fighters in the second part apparently has MMA experience):

Highlights of the World Chess Boxing Championships from Germany, 2008 (Part 1)

Part 2