An MMA expert breaks down House of the Dragon’s wedding fight

polygon.com:

This week’s House of the Dragon brought a lot to the ceremonial table: scheming power couples, bold fashion choices, and ultimately, a particularly nasty brawl.

It’s that last bit that we’re here to talk about today.

[Ed. note: Significant spoilers follow for the fifth episode of House of the Dragon.]

One of the biggest events of the episode is the wedding between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Laenor Velaryon, solidifying the bond between two powerful Westerosi houses. As is often the case for political marriages, the spouses have their eyes on others: namely, their respective lovers, Ser Criston Cole and Ser Joffrey “The Knight of Kisses” Lonmouth.

At the wedding, Ser Joffrey deduces that Ser Criston is his counterpart in this four-sided relationship. Joffrey makes an attempt to strike up a conversation, letting on that he knows about Criston and Rhaenyra’s secret, and advises that the two knights look out for each other.

That goes… extremely poorly. Soon afterward, a commotion breaks out on the dance floor, with Criston on top of Joffrey, whaling on his face with reckless abandon. It’s a ground-and-pound scene straight out of a modern MMA fight (albeit with one combatant wearing a full suit of armor).

Luckily, I work at the same place as MMA Fighting, the best MMA website in the business. So I reached out to senior reporter Damon Martin, who is also a self-described “massive” fan of the Game of Thrones universe.

Martin was impressed by Criston’s ground-and-pound fighting, and compared the knight’s technical approach to that of heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes. But he said the young fighter could still step up his game.

“Credit to Criston Cole on his technique with the quick takedown and moving into mount, where he just