Are jousting knights the new UFC?

The battle for control of the jousting market is getting personal.

On one side: Shane Adams, of Halton Hills, Ont., slated to hostFull Metal Jousting, airing in 2012 on the History Channel and produced by the same people behind the hit UFC series Ultimate Fighter.

On the other side: Charlie Andrews, whose six-show series,Knights of Mayhem, has been running on National Geographic since November.

Andrews, a native of Utah who sports many tattoos — “patriot” is inked on one pectoral muscle and a profile of a black warhorse on the other — describes jousting as a “kill sport.”

He launched his reality TV show before Adams, his teacher and (former) best friend, aired his own.

“I can’t wait till these (stands) are full of people and I come riding out on my badass warhorse, Jagermeister,” he says in one episode of his show.

The duelling knights are credited for introducing full-contact jousting — the emphasis is less on theatre than violently knocking an opponent off his horse — and freeing the equestrian sport from medieval history geeks.

But their friendship abruptly ended last year over the television series.

“I didn’t want to make jousting a documentary soap,” said Adams, 41. “He had different views and he went off and did his own show.”

Since their prime-time feud began months ago, the two haven’t talked.

“It probably bugs Shane that Charlie has come along and gone off on a bit of a tangent,” says Thom Barnett, a 47-year-old jouster and magician from London, Ont. “His student has gone his own way and become his competitor.”

Yet that’s not how Andrews sees it.