Heavy Mettle

Even in a city where pretty much anything goes, the sight and sound of knights in shining armor swinging swords at each other still draws a crowd.

“Are you ready for a medieval rumble?” shouts an announcer in a black kilt and leather boots. Spectators scream back, and play begins, steel striking steel hard, combatants hitting the ground with loud thuds.

[snip]

“It’s like full-contact MMA with steel weapons,” says 42-year-old Damion DiGrazia, who runs the team known as Gladiators NYC. “It’s also this sport that is surprisingly transformative for a lot of people.”

This sounds a lot more metal than the plastic-armor-and-wooden-sword SCA stuff I remember from my misspent youth.

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