A new form of brutal, weapons-based mixed martial arts is to be made possible by a modern suit of 'smart' body armour.
Australian company Unified Weapons Master developed the suits, which appear to have been pulled straight from a sci-fi movie, in order to develop a more intense style of entertainment-sport focused on weapons combat.
The suits are designed to protect the wearer from most of the harm of being hit with weapons, but register what the impact would have been, if they weren't wearing the suits.
In an interview with Wired, the founders cite traditional fighting techniques like krabi krabong, in which participants are potentially unable to participate with 'no holds barred' without causing (or receiving) serious injuries.
Using the armour, they will be about to fight as hard as possible, without incurring the same level of risk. The company won't say exactly how - only that the suits are based on confidential tech - but it says more than 96 styles of martial arts could be brought into the mainstream if it comes to fruition.
Check out the full story at Wired, and a video demo above.