Heavy metal: French town hosts medieval combat cage fights (opens in new tab)

Fighters used swords and axes to battle it out in 20 combats at Onet-le-Chateau in the Aveyron region of southern France. The local council described the fights as the modern-day equivalent of "what was effectively the mixed martial arts of the Middle Ages". While most of the action involved men from France, Poland and Britain, some women fighters were also on the bill. The fights were held in a local club that organises this kind of armoured combat, known as behourd. Organisers say it includ...