8 Deadly Fighting Styles You've Probably Never Heard Of

2. Rough And Tumble

Rough and Tumble sounds positively whimsical, but when you consider that its other name is Gouging due to the common practice of gouging your opponent's eyes out, it starts to sound less like a lovely day at the zoo. This was common in the 1730s in the southern American colonies. Although not technically a sport, gouging is probably more akin to a duel and was mostly used to settle disputes and slights to one's honour. When disagreements arose, the fighters choose whether they wanted to settle the matter by fighting "fair" (i.e. according to Broughton's rules) or "rough and tumble". The fighting was brutal and disfigurement was common. Some would bite off fingers and noses, some out disfigure genitals, but the true endgame of many Gouging fights was in "liberating an eyeball" with a good thrust of the thumb.