Huka-huka

Huka-huka is a Brazilian folk wrestling style of the indigenous people of Xingu, in the state of Mato Grosso. It is performed as a ritual fight during the ceremony of Kuarup.^[1]

Huka-huka

Huka-huka fight during a Kuarup ceremony
Focus	grappling
Hardness	contact sport
Country of origin	Brazil

Rules

Huka-huka starts with the participants on their knees. It begins when the owner of the fight, a male chief, walks to the center of the arena and calls his opponents by name. The fighters kneel rotating clockwise in a circle facing the opponent, until they look at each other and cling, trying to lift the opponent and knock him to the ground^[2] The fight is performed by either men and women.^[3]

Huka huka as a martial art

Huka huka is being introduced, experimentally, in the formation of São Paulo State Military Police.^[4] The fight is also being studied by mixed martial arts practitioners.^[5]