‘Car Jitsu’ Is Where MMA Meets Motorsports
Backseat tussles with siblings have nothing on Car Jitsu.
Getting rocked by your sibling in the back seat is a tradition as old as the road trip. Now, it's also a martial art; car jitsu, a sport borne that looks fun enough to make you wonder if a seatbelt around the neck is the thing for you.
As its name implies, car jitsu is basically just Brazilian jiu-jitsu inside a car. It operates under the same rules but allows the use of a car's interior to force opponents into submission. That can mean throwing the seat back to change the environment or using the seatbelt to choke an opponent. With cramped confines, it's a bit more like a cage match in that regard, only even tighter.
According to Jiu Jitsu Legacy, car jitsu was invented in 2020 by Russian jiu-jitsu and judo black belt Vik Mikheev, whose YouTube channel full of fights has accrued millions of views. It's reached a level of popularity in Russia that it even has its own championship, which at least one organization in the United States is trying to replicate with the Car Jitsu Championship. It appears to be held inside a Toyota Prius, marking the first occasion on which dudes in Tapout shirts have sought time inside a Prius.
Spectators often comment on car jitsu's value as a means of self-defense inside a car. However, it also offers a source of inspiration for movie fight scenes, especially if neither party is carrying a weapon. And as long as we're following that train of thought, it can be expanded to dozens of people duking it out on a bus. Sounds like the perfect stunt for a sequel to "RRR"—or maybe just another "Karate Kid" spinoff.
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