Welcome to the Battle of Baltimore! Started in 1987 by Master John Burdyck, the Battle of Baltimore Open Martial Arts Tournament is perhaps the oldest continuously run tournament in Maryland. Master Burdyck ran this tournament successfully for 35 years before retiring from tournament promotion after passing the responsibility to his great friend, Shihan Marc Pamfilis. This year we are returning once again to the CCBC_Essex Campus for The Battle of Baltimore in the newly renovated Sports Center. On-site registration will close at 9:00 AM and we intend to begin the tournament promptly at 9:30. We will start with any Team Demonstrations so that the participants can then concentrate on their Divisions. We will attempt something new this year, we will only be running four rings, one for the Girls, one for the boys, one for the women, and one for the men. We hope this format will allow the divisions to run quickly and smoothly and all contestants will always know where they belong. We will have extra rings set up for practice and if we find that we need to open any of those rings up to move divisions we will do that. We have grouped beginners and intermediates in one division and advanced and black belts in another division so that we can have some robust competition. If we find that there are over 10 contestants in a division on tournament day we will split the divisions. We will also be recognizing Grand Master Jeff Smith with a Lifetime Achievement Award this year in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of his Fight with Grand Master Karriem Abdallah on the undercard fight in Washington, DC of the famous Thilla in Manilla fight between Muhamed Ali and Joe Frazier and for his ceaseless promotion of Martial Arts and Martial Art Schools across the country. Please join us as we rebuild this tournament to its former glory, all of the great champions of the past have competed in this tournament and now it is your turn! See you there.