Road rage is now becoming mainstream.

Carjitsu, where professional fighters spar in the tight space of a sedan-sized car, is the latest bizarre combat sport to gain traction, with fighters on four-wheelers allowed to use everything in the vehicle to their advantage, even using seat belts to choke out opponents.

And while the claustrophobic concept may sound a little crazy, Carjitsu is burning virtual rubber on social media — it’s already averaging 5 million views a week, according to a report. Its celebrity fans include Keenan Thompson and Kevin Hart, New Jersey has approved it for gambling, and ESPN first aired the phenomenon on Sunday during Ocho, the network’s annual weekend celebration of obscure sports.

“It’s incredibly visceral to watch these men and women fight each other,” Mike Salvaris, co-founder of Pro League Network, which owns the rights to Carjitsu, told The Post.

“If you look at some of the footage, you’ll see some of the cameramen saying to the director, ‘Wow, this really happened,'” he said.

The sport was invented by Vik Mikheev, a Russian graduate student pursuing a PhD in mathematics at Kansas State University in the United States. Mikheev, who holds a black belt in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, first came up with the idea of ​​competitive grappling inside a vehicle in 2020.

The league, which features fighters crammed into seats and dashboards, was formalized two years ago and has been in full swing ever since, with 30 regular competitors.

The early games were often filmed inside a 2005 Toyota Scion — the Scion was chosen based on safety, size and affordability, according to league sources — inside a warehouse Branson, Missouri, but other locations and cars are now used as well.

Polish is applied, seat belt is removed

The rules of the shootout are pretty simple. The sport operates on a two to three round system where both fighters must start depending on their seats – a coin toss decides who takes the driver’s side and who takes the shotgun alternately in Round 2. The match begins when the competitors unlock at the same time.

If no winner is determined after two rounds within the three-minute time frame, the third round begins with both fighters tied up from the back row.

Carjitsu follows the rules of Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which does not teach punching or kicking. Instead, it focuses on painful choke holds and bone-twisting armlocks, among other grappling techniques.

“The idea of ​​being in such a confined space opens up a whole different strategy stream than you would normally see,” Pro League Network co-founder Bill Yucatonis told The Post, adding that safety modifications have been made to the car, such as removing the airbags.

Anything inside can be bought and sold for leverage, but tearing anything off to use as a weapon is prohibited.

Yucatonis admitted that “each round requires quite a bit of repair work for the vehicle.”

Often fighters will quickly push the front seats back to create a level environment.

And it’s pretty common to intentionally wrap a seatbelt around an opponent’s neck and make them give in. That was the case in the recent match between Rihanna Cardiel and Miranda Rae.

“Some of it isn’t even jiu-jitsu, it’s just trying to survive out there,” fighter Kyron Bowen, who also referees the bouts, told The Post.

Bowen recalled a recent struggle with CJay “Groundshark” Hunter that went from “the front seat to the passenger seat to the driver’s seat to the back seat and out the window.”

Fighters are allowed to hang out of the vehicle – the bout starts with the windows open – but they must not touch the ground outside the vehicle. Two referees then restart the bout.

There are also many unexpected situations that athletes have to adapt to on the fly, such as no air flow; air conditioning is not allowed.

“It’s 85 degrees outside, it’s a lot worse in the car,” Hunter, who beat Devon Johnson on Sunday, told The Post. “It’s tough, but I love the uphill battle.”

Seat belts can also lock themselves up at the worst possible time and trap a combatant. It’s quite common to be poked and shoved by vehicle interior features, and it’s also common for grab handles to snap during a fight.

As for the brutality of car-tial art, no one has yet suffered a debilitating groin injury at the mercy of a fixed-gear lever. However, a fighter’s uniform did once get caught in a PRNDL, forcing the referees to stop and restart the match.

Another challenge? There’s no specific training you can do to be ready for a fight.

“My mindset going into this is: I’ve been doing jiu-jitsu for years and I’ve pretty much got this down,” Hunter, who became the sport’s No. 1 prospect after Sunday’s victory, said.

After all, this still amounts to “squeezing someone in a way they don’t want to be squeezed.”

Bowen largely agreed.

“The biggest difference is being on a couch rather than having a flat floor,” he said. “So it’s really about feeling how that changes things. Once you really get a handle on that, it’s pretty much downhill from there.”

A real hit

Of course, such an unusual concept brings with it shock and entertainment value.

Announcer JT Tilley certainly has fun with his commentary, making tongue-in-cheek comments about butts flying out of windows to kick the audience, but Carjitsu is not amateur hour, he argued.

At a time when Carjitsu is rapidly gaining traction, the promoter said of hardcore active athletes, “A lot of UFC veterans are interested.”

Alongside Tilley is UFC legend Mark Coleman, who balances his realistic perspective with lighthearted commentary on this unique fight.

Coleman loves Carjitsu and even gives motivational speeches to motivate participants to bring out their inner warrior. He notes that a fighter’s ordinary skills can only get them so far here.

“It’s not about your belt ranking,” one reporter told The Post.

And because this concept is so new and widespread, it is not yet fully known what the best formula for victory is or what sitting position gives the fighter the upper hand.

“It’s about how you can adapt, think outside the box and come up with ways to win this game,” Coleman said.

Bowen says there’s another aspect that makes car fights such a “raw” experience: a dose of reality.

He explained that growing up in a not-so-good area meant always looking over your shoulder when getting into a car.

Recalling recent carjackings across the country, Bowen said that drama aside, these fights offer valuable self-defense lessons.

Coleman agreed, calling the sport a “useful skill” for anyone who drives for a living.

“Uber drivers and taxi drivers,” he said, “They need to watch this.”