@𝕭𝖆𝖉𝖍𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖙
I studied “All Star Wrestling” (WWE in the US) style stage combat for 3 months, and then rehearsed for 3 months to prep for fights in a series of plays I was in during college. In one, I kicked another actor in the nuts once a night four nights a week (twice on Fridays and Saturdays) and later in the same performance they disemboweled me with a great sword. For a month. Then we traveled for the summer. Literally hundreds of nut kicks. And that was just one show.
And, while it was stage combat, people absolutely do end up hurt. Sometimes seriously. We had one actor get a broken arm when another actor lost grip of their sword and it flew into her arm, another got a broken nose from an offhand attack 3 that glanced off the blade instead of being caught by it (I know - distance, people!), dislocations, separated ribs, lacerations from the burrs that the blades would get each show, etc, etc, etc.
My worse boo-boo was fucking up an in-distance punch stab where the blade go caught in my sleeve and instead of tucking the blade I literally stabbed another actor for realsies. Yes, bound edge, but skin is not that good at keeping metal out.
It was a lot of in-distance gags, so most of us doing battle were bloody in some way at the end of each show. Even when everything went smoothly.
Never fucked up the nut kick though. It was downstage, the climax of that phrase, and intentionally the thing everyone would be looking at - and we were “in the half round” (of fucking course) so I and the other actor rehearsed the shit out of that gag, and reran it before each show.
MMA is not stage fighting. So, take the months of training and practicing and turn it up to 11.
Then, you wear the right gear, because no matter how well you train or rehearse shit happens. If it’s a legal move, it will be done.
Basically you can wear same kind of gear you wear for show jumping, which is basically having a horse smash your balls with your saddle for 5 minutes during the show, and an hour every time you train. If you don’t wear the right gear, you’re fucked.
Basically you start by pulling your junk up in front of your pelvis as far as you can go, so there’s nothing there to kick (or to get smashed by the saddle) and make sure it doesn’t move by wearing compression shorts one or two sizes too small for you. Under Armour makes good stuff for this. It breathes really well, too. Add a good cup. Something solid like a Meister cup - not one of the high school sports gell things, but something solid something you can hit with a hammer and be ok. And then a normal sized pair of compression shorts over that - preferably something like a “Ringside Pro” lower abdomen and groin compression shorts, but those often won’t fit under costumes and really are hard to hide if your too close to the audience or camera, so look for “training” gear for martial arts.
Duct tape over the first compression shorts and to hold the cup solidly is not unheard of and can really help keep everything where it’s supposed to be. Not just your balls but your guts, too.
Best tip I ever got was to wear women’s groin protectors and compression shorts. If you can find something with the right fit, the absolutely will hold everything tight and tend to be half the thickness of men’s gear, which is a lot easier for costuming.
Then, in stage combat you block the gag so the audience doesn’t see you’re kicking the inside of the thigh, And of course in stage combat the person getting kicked sells it. They’re doing most of the work.
But, since the MMA was brought up, the MMA is not ASW. It’s not WWE.
So, everything I just said but add $300 to each layer.