Brief History of No Rules:

No Rules Tournaments started as a means for fighters from different Martial Arts backgrounds to be able to test their techniques against other styles.
A kick-boxer would be able to test his skills against someone who practised Aikido, or a wrestler might want to challenge a Judo player.
There have been a few "No Rules" Tournaments held in South Africa with the bigger ones being held up in Johannesburg. We hope to make them a regular feature on the Durban Entertainment Agenda - and we have had a number of sponsors that are very keen to help us host these tournaments. On an International level, events like the U.F.C. (Ultimate Fighting Championships held in the States) and Pride (held in Japan) draw crowds of over 90 000 people and the prize money runs into the Million Dollar mark.

There are actually a few rules to stop guys getting severely injured:
No eye-gouging
No fish-hooking
No groin strikes
No elbows to the back of the head
No strikes to the spin
No small joint manipulations
No biting
No hair pulling
No Head butts
Apart from that - anything goes... kicks, knees, punches, elbows, slaps, arm bars, shoulder locks, leg locks and chokes.
The fight is over if a corner throws in the towel, the ref stops the fight or a fighter "taps out".
If the fight does last the full 3 rounds of 5 minutes each, the decision will be the judge's.  

First Novagen No Rules Tournament:

Novagen hosted a very successful No Rules Fighting Tournament on the 1st of June 2003 at the Jewish Club at North Beach.

The evening consisted of 11 fights, Capoeira Demonstrations, Jiu-jitsu Demonstrations, Stick Fighting Demonstrations and Tile-Breaking Demonstrations. The after party was held at Jo Kools on North Beach.

Eleven fights were scheduled for the night, but one did not take place because Hannes van der Berg did not show up for his encounter with Julio Greco.

Port Elizabeth's Chris Bright returned home victorious after he defeated Dave Verster, while Weihan Leish, of Cape Town, was also successful in his bout with Junaid Azmuth.

The competition got off to a good start, with winning performances from Novagen fighters - Dinesh Moodley, Yuki Kvarnstrom, Kevin Thomas, Darell Moodley, Abdul Hassan and Dr Micah Atkinson.
But, it was Atkinson's fight that had spectators captivated. While fighting Othello Barna, the 30-year old chiropractor was eye-gouged. Atkinson had a dominant position with Barna in his guard. As Atkinson was climbing his guard higher on Barna and preparing to secure an arm-bar, Barna shoved in thumb into Atkinson's right eye. Atkinson shouted to the ref that he had been fouled, and released Barna from his guard. After being freed, Barna replied by kicking Atkinson on the side of his head. The referee managed to get Barna to the other side of the ring, where a no contest was declared. But, after watching a video replay, the referee recalled his decision and disqualified Barna. It was a dirty fight. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise the tournament.

Final Results are as follows:

Dinesh Moodley bt Dane Dunn
Darell Moodley bt Shane Cambier
Yuki Kvarnstrom bt Carl Webster
Abdul Hassan bt Brandon Knipe
Kevin Thomas bt Mbuso Ntuli
Henk van Wyk bt Dean Strydom
Chris Bright bt Dave Verster
Weihan Leish bt Junaid Azmuth
Ronald Dlamini bt Eric Neethling
Micah Atkinson bt Othello Barna