HUMAN WEAPON follows Jason Chambers, America’s own fighting Welterweight Champion & Bill Duff, former Pro Football Player & Wrestler, as they train with international hand-to-hand combat masters and learn the history behind the world’s most fascinating forms of combat… Culminating with a heart-pounding fight challenge.

KUALA LUMPUR, 28 February 2008 – This March The History Channel® will embark on a remarkable journey across the globe to reveal the history behind one of humankind’s most ancient skills: the art of hand-to-hand combat. Each week, viewers join hosts Jason Chambers – mixed-martial-artist and professional fighter – and Bill Duff – former professional football player and wrestler – as they explore the history and practice of these time-honored combat arts. Together, Jason and Bill fold back the rich historical and cultural layers of Silat, Muay Thai, Eskrima, Judo, Karate, Savate and more in the ultimate search of HUMAN WEAPON.

This journey of human experience is one the two hosts will take with their fists and their feet…with their sweat and blood. They will walk in the shoes of people of many cultures who used these fighting techniques – skills that were born out of each society’s need to defend itself. And at the end of each journey, one of these two warriors will face the ultimate test – he’ll try to survive a real fight with a true HUMAN WEAPON.

Their thrill-seeking quest takes hosts Jason and Bill to some extreme and exotic places. Each episode of HUMAN WEAPON charts an expedition through foreign continents, famous cities, exotic villages, back alleys and lush landscapes in their quest for a different type of combat. After learning about the history and culture, and training in it themselves, they will see if they have learned enough to take on one of the professional fighting masters in the discipline – and survive.

The first week of HUMAN WEAPON (March 13) takes the hosts to Malaysia to learn different forms of the ancient art of Silat. Beautiful, yet deadly, Silat, a Malaysian heritage was practiced in secrecy for centuries. Influenced by certain animals, such as the tiger, one will find the movements in Silat to be filled with explosive and aggressive bursts of attacks. Not only was Silat seen as a tool of self-defense but during ancient times it was also a platform of preparation for young men to move into adulthood. Although, deemed as one of the most intriguing fighting systems on the planet, this heritage is yet to be fully understood.

Fuelling this gruesome experience the two hosts will also face the ultimate test of survival on a pitched battle against six Silat masters.

In the coming weeks, HUMAN WEAPON takes the hosts to Bangkok to learn different forms of the ancient art of Muay Thai, also known as the “Science of Eight Limbs.” In this fighting technique the hands, shins, elbows and knees are developed into weapons designed to crush an opponent. As in every episode, the hosts experience the history of the art, how to train in it, and the culture it evolved from. In their journey through the exotic kingdom once known as Siam, Chambers and Duff discover the origins of Muay Thai in an ancient Buddhist temple, battle professional fighters in a hardcore rural gym and immerse themselves in the jungle camp of secretive Muay Thai Master Preang. They’ll become intimately acquainted with all eight limbs. Until one of them must use what they’ve learned in a fight against the Champion Yodecha.

Apart from that, the HUMAN WEAPON series, viewers will find the fighting pair battling an opponent in a jungle cockfighting pit, practicing ancient wrestling moves on a water buffalo and learning the secrets of a death strike in a Japanese temple. We follow Chambers and Duff as they travel the world from Japan to France, to the Philippines and Israel and beyond, absorbing each nation’s singular history and traditions, while learning how each individual location gave birth to its distinct form of combat.

Some of the topics covered in HUMAN WEAPON, in addition to Silat (Malaysia), are: Muay Thai (Thailand), Eskrima (Philippines), Judo (Japan), Karate (Japan), Savate (France), Pankration (Greece), and Krav Maga (Israel).