Martial arts

"I studied martial arts for several years. It was required by ONI for anyone engaging in frontline diplomacy with the Sangheili."

- Olympia Vale

Martial arts are fighting systems utilized and taught for combat, self-defense, or sport. A practitioner of martial arts is referred to as a martial artist.

Overview
Unarmed martial arts teach striking or grappling techniques for hand-to-hand combat, whereas weapon-based martial arts employ the use of various hand-held objects such as swords, staffs, clubs, or knives. Many cultures practice different styles of combat based around unarmed and armed fighting. Pan guth was an early fighting art that was practiced by the Forerunners.

Many United Nations Space Command inter-species delegates were required to learn martial arts as a prerequisite for serving as a frontline diplomat for the Office of Naval Intelligence with the Sangheili. Olympia Vale studied martial arts for several years at the Green Cloud institute in order to fulfill that requirement. The Spartan supersoldiers were exceptionally well-versed in martial arts. The Spartan-II soldiers had spent years training on Reach with martial arts specialists provided by their drill instructor Franklin Mendez. Li-008 was considered one of the best martial artists among the Spartan-II supersoldiers. In addition to their War Games training aboard the, Spartan-IV soldiers practice multiple different forms of unarmed martial arts. The Infinity also hosts fighting events where its crew members and Spartans can showcase their pugilistic skills in "cage matches".

Fighting arts

 * Boxing – Boxing is a combat sport in which two contenders fight with their fists in an attempt to knock out the opposing fighter. The martial art had been outlawed on the human Outer Colony of Eridanus II by the turn of the 26th century.


 * Stick-fighting – Stick-fighting is a generic term for martial arts which use simple slender wooden 'sticks' for fighting; such as a pugil stick, staff, cane, baton or similar. The Sangheili train extensively with sticks from youth, learning combat skills and the basics of the art of swordsmanship.


 * Swordsmanship – Sword fighting is the skill of fighting with a sword weapon.


 * Wrestling – Wrestling is a combat sport involving grappling techniques such as throws, takedowns, pins and other grappling holds. During their years of military training, the Spartan-IIs spent endless hours on wrestling mats sparing with their teammates and handlers. In 2520, Spartan trainee Carris-137 inadvertently killed a handler during a wrestling routine. She had reversed her handler's pin and thrown him away, causing the man to die instantly when his fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae were severed in the fall.