A Brit has spent 12 years working his way up to become one of the best Medieval cage fighters in the world - despite nearly going blind after being stabbed in the eye with a SWORD.

Daniel Winter, 35, is the driving force behind armoured MMA in the UK - a UFC meets Game of Thrones-style sport, which has seen its popularity surge globally since being invented in 2013.

The bizarre events see men and women dressing up as knights from the Middle Ages to do battle in a cage - punching, wrestling and hitting each other with swords, battle-axes and sticks.

Participation in armoured MMA has rocketed - thanks in part to celebrity interest from the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Hardy - and in the USA exhibitions can draw crowds of 25,000 people.

Daniel is now the captain of Team GB, having fought in more than 100 tournaments and winning 40 gold medals competing in the USA, France, Italy, Poland, Ukraine and Russia.

He not only competes but also runs his own company training and coaching people from across the UK - including girlfriend Jenny Häbry who is the best female fighter on the planet.

Daniel first got into the "craziest sport ever" after being introduced by a friend and as a self-confessed "nerd" and history buff with a background in combat sports he never looked back. "

Daniel, from Ilkeston, Derbys., said: "It's real combat, with real weapons and all the risks are very real."

"A friend got me into it 12 years ago and he just said to me 'I have found the perfect sport for you'."

"I've always done full contact sports like boxing, judo, fencing and rugby but I'm also a bit of a nerd and into my history."

"We went along to an event and when I put on a suit of armour it was like I had been missing an arm my whole life. It just clicked and felt right. "

"And my obsession started from there and my life has been consumed by it. It's basically MMA in armour. "

"The team event is more like rugby in armour as the aim is to knock your player to the ground. "

"In the one on ones, you do groundwork too, so you win by technical knockout or knockouts usually."

"It is dangerous but no more dangerous than rugby or other contact sports, there are strict rules around the bluntness of the swords and axes. "

"But accidents can happen and I have been one of the unlucky ones - during one bout I actually had a sword go through my eyeball."

"Fortunately I didn't lose my sight. In the history of the sport this has only happened twice and I was one of them - the other guy did go blind in one eye sadly."

"I've had broken wrists, a broken ankle, broken fingers and a dislocated knee, but all these again are what you'd suffer in rugby anyway. It doesn't put me off."

"Thanks to movies people think that armour is"

either ineffective and doesn't protect you at all or conversely that it makes you invincible - the reality is somewhere in between.

"The blows you take would kill you if you weren't wearing armour - you're being whacked with two kilo weapons."

"But most of the time the worst you end up with bruises, so the level of contact is compared to being in a boxing match."

"We want to be the best in the world and we are up there with USA, Australia and France who I'd say make up the rest of the top four."



Fighters are usually armed with swords, axes, polearms or maces and compete in one on one bouts or team events, involving up to 30 people, where the aim is to floor your opponent.

Competitors can fork out anything from between £3,000 to £6,000 on the 35kg steel-plated suits of historically accurate armour before repairing any damage themselves.

Daniel added: "At the start people would make their own suits but the sport has proved so popular there's dedicated smiths which make them to order now. "

"The suits are similar to firefighter's equipment and your movement is restricted but the weight is distributed through your body so you're not like a clunky robot."

Daniel has since started a firm called White Company - a performance squad which has enjoyed international success.

He added: "The company is named after a real-life mercenary band in the Middle Ages who travelled Europe, taking over parts of France and Italy in the 14th century."

"It's in honour of them as we're sort of doing the same thing as we travel the world. "

"Personally I have won 40 gold medals in international championships and I took silver at the world championships just gone. "

"I'm one of the best fighters in the world and I have coached the best - my partner Jenny is the top-ranked female fighter in the world."

"It has been a combined effort of like-minded individuals to get to this point but I am certainly one of the driving forces behind the sport in the UK."

"I have travelled the world competing - from USA, France, Serbia, Poland, Ukraine and Russia before the war. "

"I find it removes all the stress from your life, you're not thinking about relationships and mortgages when you're out there training and fighting. "

"It's just an amazing escape from reality."

"I'm autistic too so the structure and routine also really helps me."

"Team GB are also the reigning gold medallists in the team event. We just started getting better and winning and we thought let's just see how far we can go with this."

"Pretty much every boy wanted a suit of armour - so you're sort of living out a childhood fantasy. I absolutely love it."