Dakota Miller, center, tries to defend against an axe attack from William Hester, left, and Jesse Tice, second from left, as Dan Hawkee, second from right, and Ethan Hester look on during a Buhurt practice at Miller’s home.
Submitted photo
Dakota Miller competed in Mixed Martial Arts for four years and was so successful at it that he held the belt for the 115-pound weight class for Elite Cage Fighting and Indiana Cage Fighting.
But four years ago, Miller decided to take on a new challenge. He began competing in the sport of Buhurt, a European full-body combat sport that includes armor and sword fighting.
“I started out doing MMA, and then a friend of mine who was an instructor down in Louisville, got in touch with me about an Armored Combat League down there,” Miller said. “That was the closest place you could do it. If you wanted to do serious training at all, you had to go down to Louisville.”
Now 32, Miller is in Prague, Czech Republic, this week for the Buhurt League World Cup. He is one of 50 fighters from the United States and the only one from Indiana.
This is the third year in a row that Miller has made the national team. The World Cup, however, was canceled because of COVID in 2021 and because of the war in Ukraine last year.
“It’s a dream since I started the sport,” Miller said. “It’s been my goal the entire time to represent the United States in the thing that I want to do.”
Dakota Miller holds the award for winning the Sword and Buckler event at the Carolina Carnage national event in February in Pendleton, South Carolina.
Submitted photo
The World Cup for Buhurt began in 2010, and the US started sending athletes in 2012. This year’s event features fighters from 32 nations, including 145 in 1v1, 43 teams signed up for 5v5, 32 teams for 12v12 and 10 teams for 30v30.
Singles events are point-based, timed rounds. The larger events take a little longer.
“Those can be grueling matches,” Miller said. “It is basically to hit your opponent to the ground until you get every one of your opponents down. You can do that by any means necessary as long as you don’t hit them in the back of the knee or the neck. Everything else is fair game.”
Buhurt athletes use armor from the 14th to 15th Century. Events include sword and shield, sword and buckler, long sword, polearm and pro fights, which is armored MMA.
Miller said he has fought in as many as 30 matches in a day.
“We fight in full armor with real steel weapons,” Miller said. “They’re dulled edges, but you’re still getting hit with a 20-pound piece of steel. It doesn’t feel great.”
Miller said injuries are rare in Buhurt.
“Your armor does it’s job,” Miller said. “Accidents do happen, but it’s very few and far between. In the four years I’ve done this, I’ve only seen about three injuries, and it’s been small stuff like sprains, no broken bones.”
A group meets for an indoor practice most Wednesday evenings in North Vernon and for an outdoor practice at Miller’s home off Talley Road most Saturday afternoons. Miller, who runs Indiana’s Buhurt chapter, has turned his backyard into a training facility.
“Basically, I moved into a new house, and once I moved in, I transformed it and started to grow Indiana’s team,” Miller said.
Miller graduated in 2010 from South Decatur, where he ran track and played football. He currently attends Ivy Tech and works as an assistant manager at Neal Tire in Columbus.
Miller has 9-year-old boy, who is learning the sport.
“He takes a very big interest in this,” Dakota said. “I have soft versions of these things, and he’s in my kids classes.”
At this year’s Carolina Carnage national event in February in Pendleton, South Carolina, Dakota Miller won the Sword and Buckler event. He also teamed with a group of four others from Michigan to finish third in the 5v5 competition.
Miller will compete in sword and buckler, which he won nationally, as well as 5v5, 12v12 and 30v30 events Thursday through April 30 in Prague.
“I definitely want to win the Sword and Buckler,” he said. “I know that our melee teams are very solid. So I see the United States coming back with gold.”
