China Combat: MMA, BJJ, Sanda, Shuai Jiao...

BJJ Asia

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 10:33:00 +0000

My friend Ben just pointed out to me this great blog: BBJ-Asia

It's a great ressource for finding BJJ academies all around asia, and even has news and videos of seminars.

Hero Legends 2007: International K1 Style Fighting Championships

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 09:15:00 +0000

(thanks to Michael for this guest post ! If you want to read about martial arts in China on a blog that's updated more than twice a year, go check out his site Shuaijiao.tv !)

October 13th in Shenzhen Coliseum was a landmark in the development of professional fighting sports in China. Hero Legends, China’s first privately run professional K1-style event was broadcast live on Guangdong Satellite TV to an audience of millions.

Held in Shenzhen Coliseum, Hero Legends started with some sensational choreographed martial arts performances that left the audience feeling as if they had just been digitized and were inside a martial arts video game. The fights proved to be equally entertaining.

The card was a solid line up of talent from all corners of the world.

Saiga Kizaemon (Japan) – Chandi Sarawut (Thailand)

The undercard was equally exciting with Japan’s Karate prodigy Saiga Kizaemon fighting Sarawut in his first professional fight. Six-time world Karate Champion and already identified as one of tomorrows stars by the K1 organization, Saiga fought the more experienced and battle scarred Sarawut with a tremendous amount of heart.

Saiga attempted several rolling kicks in an effort to surprise the Thai. He succeeded in his effort to surprise but was rewarded with a kick in the head as he was landing on the ground. That fueled some heated exchanges between the two that the referee quickly halted. A little bit of anger between the fighters made the following 2 rounds even more exciting with Saiga repeatedly trying to land his rolling kick. Sarawut, in typical Thai-fashion, stayed with what he knew and worked the low kicks and rear hand. Saiga was on the painful end of most of the exchanges but did manage to show the audience his skill in kicking with some wild spinning kicks that missed their mark. In the end, Saiga proved no match for the more experienced Sarawut. Sarawut won by unanimous decision

Joey Pagliuso (USA) vs. Xu Yan (China)

The second bout of the afternoon saw Chinese athlete Xu Yan systematically take apart Joey Pagliuso a Karate fighter out of California. Xu Yan was taller but thinner than Joey and used that reach advantage to keep Joey from implementing his plan to close the gap and work the inside. In what turned out to be an uneventful fight we saw Joey looking weary at points, either frustrated by being unable to implement his strategy or at his conditioning. The fight went the distance and Xu Yan won by unanimous decision.

David Morrow (USA) vs. Han Yang (China)

This bout was a comeback fight for David who was fighting his first pro event in 4 years. Han Yang a last minute replacement for David’s Ukrainian opponent who didn’t make weight was an unknown quantity who proved himself very quickly after the first bell. David’s speedy boxing-based style of fighting proved easy to evade with Han Yang keeping David at a distance with round kicks. We saw David receive a standing 8 count after a vicious exchange against the ropes that dropped him. He came back with some tremendous Navajo spirit to push Han Yang to his limits and give the crowd a great show. Once again it was a lightening round kick to the neck that finished David’s Hero legends experience. Han Yang by KO.

Ayron Howey (Canada) vs. Hou Xu (China)

Howey, a Sanshou fighter from Canada with an impressive record, wowed the crowd with an impromptu Xingyi demonstration on the runway as he walked to the ring. The fight started quickly with Ayron showing his power but not managing to land anything damaging to the well-conditioned Hou Xu of Beijing. Hou Xu nervous in his first appearance on a televised event calmed down in the 2nd round and began picking away at the now tired Ayron. Ayron who’s training leading up to the event was mostly MMA-based was not in the habit of checking the low kick and went down twice due to well-placed low kicks to the inside front thigh. In addition he went down 2 more times with not-so-well placed low kicks that found their way to Ayron’s groin. Visibly tired, Ayron’s rear hand started to drop and Hou Xu in control by that point picked his shot and floored Ayron with a well placed round kick to the neck. Hou Xu by KO

Kang En vs. Tatuya Ishda

Kang En is perhaps the most accomplished international standup fighter in China today. With KO wins in all 4 of his last fights, Kang En was confident that he would win this fight too. His prediction of a KO fell short as Tatuya in only his third pro fight proved to have heavy hands, a stone chin, and a huge heart, well worthy of K1’s strong interest in this young fighters career. Kang En’s usual explosive style was continuously shut down by pressure from Tatuya’s forward moving Karate-style of fighting. Although he consistently had Kang En on his back foot, Kang En was consistently inflicting more damage on Tatuya. Disappointingly for both his fans in China and Kang En himself, he failed to knock out Tatuya and won by unanimous decision.

Dong Jiangtao (China) vs. Wichanrit Trakanchan (Thailand)

This was the main event of Hero Legends and it proved to be a rollercoaster bout between 2 strong fighters. Jiangtao being a young and inexperienced fighter with limited international experience up against Wichanrit who has never been beaten by a non-Thai boxer. Wichanrit, a former Rajadamnoen Champion fighting out of Japan, dominated the rhythm of the fight from the outset and consistently scored damaging blows with his simple and beautiful kicking style. After 2 rounds, which I had scored to Wichanrit, he let his guard down and began putting on a show for the television audience, dropping his hands and smiling at his opponent at times. Jiangtao with some quick boxing and good luck managed to score enough for the judges to give him the third round. The third round was definitely entertaining with Wichanrit thinking he had the fight in the bag, so it was a surprise to see that the judges ruled a draw and a 4th round to decide the bout. In the 4th round Wichanrit perhaps didn’t give his opponent enough respect and once again was not 100% focused on the destroying he has become known for. Jiangtao stole the last round and the fight in what I thought was a controversial call. Kudos to Jiangtao for asking the audience for another round as he felt that Wichanrit had outfought him and he didn’t deserve the win.

Hayden Brooks (USA) vs. Vitali Fedorenko (Ukraine)

Hayden fighting out of Hermosa Beach, California faced off against the challenge he was looking for in Vitali Fedorenko of Ukraine. Vitali seemed in top form as the bout started evading some powerful kicks in dramatic Khaokolai fashion and following up with some heavy hands. His arsenal seemed limited though for someone who had practiced free-fighting since the age of 3 with virtually no round kicks during the first round.

By the second round the more technical Hayden had figured out that Vitali was not going to try to kick let alone knock him out with the devastating round kicks we had seen earlier in the evening.

Hayden found his rhythm and consistently punished Vitali with solid combinations that left him on the back foot with nothing to return. Hayden couldn’t put him away though and the fight went to a unanimous decision for Hayden.

Hero Legend’s promoter Zou Guojun, himself a 7 time national Sanda Champion, credits Hero Legend’s success to the fighters, and teamwork between organizers and promoters inside and outside China.

Hopefully, the success of Hero Legends is a turning point for fighting events in China. Hero Legends received strong support from Japan’s K1 organization, and other prominent promoters in the US and Thailand and many expect this precedent to herald the coming of overseas promotions such as K1 and UFC to 1.5 billion Chinese consumers very very soon.

Can’t wait for that!

MMA in Indonesia and Malaysia

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 08:17:00 +0000

Everybody hates this kind of post. You know, the kind where the blog hasn't been updated for months, and then suddenly your RSS reader lights up. You go check it out, thinking that your favorite blog has finally been updated with new content.

But instead you find a lame series of excuses where the blogger explains how his cat died and he was so sad that he couldn't find the strength to write a word for half a year.

Well, this is not this kind of post. Well, not quite. The truth is that since I'm not in China for the time being, it's harder for me to come up with fresh info. However, I'm not giving up just yet. I've decided to give the blog a second chance with a fresh new redesign. But first I want to recruit some new writers. So if you're interested in writing for this site, drop me a line in the comments.

Second, I'm thinking about extending the reach of the blog to cover other asian countries (just not Japan, which is already covered well enough by other blogs). I've set up a poll in the right column for you to tell me if you're interested or not.

To give you an idea of what's happening in those regions, and if it's worth reading about, here is a blog about Indonesian MMA (in indonesian, but you can check out the vids):

Position first, then submission

A BJJ school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: (under John Wil and the Machado brothers)

KDT Academy

And one in Jakarta: (under Helio Soneca)

Synergy Jiu Jitsu

And a jiu jitsu blog (with techniques vids, in english)

Niko's Blog

[MMA China] Art of War 8

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 07:28:00 +0000

The next Art of War event, titled "Worlds Collide", is scheduled for September 22nd. The theme this time is international battles, as "24 Warriors from China, Russia, Italy, Canada, South Korea, Uzbekistan and Indonesia, will be facing each other". Let's hope the foreign fighters provide competitive match ups this time.

Can you guess the next MMA hotspot ?

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 20:37:00 +0000

Right now, Macao is probably one of the hottest place to invest in on the planet. It's Asia's Las Vegas, and if you've ever been to China or watched Hong Kong movies, you know Chinese like to gamble.

Ever since the Fertitas brought the UFC, MMA and Casinos have gone hand in hand, for better or for worse. Don't forget Bodog is primarily an online betting company. At one point, Pride was also considering holding events in Macao, but in its current state I doubt Pride will ever hold an event in Japan again, much less abroad.

Now Art of War might be entering the battle for Macao too, with this announcement that "guests from Macao" working for Macao Studio City attended the last Art of War event. The announcement doesn't say much more than that, but if MMA events are to be held in Macao, Art of War seems like a good candidate.

[Taiwan MMA] Why you shouldn't hate Andy Wang

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:09:00 +0000

You might not know Andy Wang, of TUF fame. And even if you do, well, you might wonder what he has to do with MMA in China apart from his last name.

For those who don't know him, he got famous on The Ultimate Fighter (a reality tv show where upcoming MMA fighters compete for a UFC contract) for apparently disregarding his coach BJ Penn's advice and implementing a very bad game plan in his fight. A lot of people got very angry, as they thought he threw his chances away by refusing to bring the fight to the ground and insisting on a stand-up war.

Well, since then I learnt that he is actually the head instructor of Taiwan BJJ. As you all know, Taiwan is actually a province of China (or is it China who's a province of Taiwan ?) so it stands to reason that I should cover Taiwan's MMA and BJJ scene even if I don't know anything about it.

On top of that he has his own blog, where he comes across as a pretty nice guy. For starters you can check out his post on wrestlers, with which I agree 100%. When he's in Taiwan I'd advise him to go check out Taiwan's Shuai Jiao if he hasn't done so yet.

Edit: I almost forgot what made me think about Andy Wang in the first place, he's interviewed in episode 59 of the excellent Fight Opinion Radio podcast. Go check it out ! (unless you're already coming from FightOpinion like 90% of my readership).

MMA Beijing Trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 11:11:00 +0000

Here is a cool trailer for the MMA Beijing academy that I talked about some times ago. As you can see they use a lot of catch/japanese-style submission wrestling moves.

[mma tv] Art of War on GoFish

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 11:46:00 +0000

I just noticed that some Art of War videos are avaible on GoFish, in their MMA fights section. Those are the same videos avaible on chinese sites like Tudou.com, but hopefully they'll reach a wider audience here.

K1 Hong Kong results

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 08:05:00 +0000

results here

Chinese fighter Wang Qiang made it to the finals after beating Randy Kim and Musashi, but lost by KO to Fujimoto.

update: I watched the fights, and here's what happened. During the second semi-final match, Wang Qiang kneed Musashi in the groin, and Musashi's corner threw in the towel because he was unable to go on (he had already been kicked in the groin multiple times in a previous fight this evening). Wang Qiang was declared the winner, but the decision was overturned moments later and they decided to let the match continue after a 3 minutes rest period instead. But apparently no one decided it was important to tell Wang Qiang (who probably doesn't understand either Japanese or English) because he left the ring, leaving Musashi to be declared the de facto winner.

However, since Musashi couldn't recover in time for the final, it was still Wang Qiang who fought Fujimoto. He was actually doing pretty well, and had Fujimoto running away before getting knocked down.
I have to say I wasn't very impressed with the level of the tournament, but then again I'm a MMA fan first, so I don't know much about K1.

[china mma] AoW 7 results

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 10:19:00 +0000

Results here

There were so many draws because if a fight went the distance it was automatically declared a draw.

[shuai jiao] Wrestling King (Jiao Wang)

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:40:00 +0000

Thanks to Michael and his great blog Shuaijiao.tv for pointing out this new Chinese show: Wrestling King *. Basically it's about a Chinese wrestler confronting the evil Japanese and using his martial arts skills to defeat the bad guys. So ok, it's the same plot as every other Chinese series ever written, but this time it's about wrestling. Can you imagine a show about a special forces agent using BJJ to fight terrorists ? Or a unit of crime fighting Sambo experts ? Or what about a special squad of MMA fighters that go around fighting demons and solving mysteries ? (mysteries such as "can you choke out a vampire ?")

Here are episodes 1, 2, and 3.

*ps: I don't necesarilly agree on Michael's view on wrestling and its potential influence on Chinese gender perception. In my experience, Chinese female wrestlers don't look that feminine either...

[China MMA]: Art of War 7

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:07:00 +0000

You know, when I first had the idea of writing this blog, I figured it would be easy enough. Companies would want free publicity and would send me info about their MMA events, BJJ competitions, or exciting new V1agr@ discount without even having to ask.

But as I found out, things are not that easy. So I actually had to type in "mmachina.com" myself and press enter with my own index finger to bring you this hard-hitting news update: Art of War 7 is taking place on July 28. The event is titled "谁主浮沉", which you could translate as "Sink or Swim".

This time the theme is "Thailand Fighters vs Chinese Experts". I'm a little bit disapointed that the "thailand" fighters are not actually from Thailand, but rather Chinese Muay Thai fighters. But since they have competed (and probably trained) in Thailand too, you can expect their skills in the striking department to be up to par. So it will be a good occasion to test Sanda fighters' standup skills, or, if they are found wanting, to test their takedown and ground skills.
I still see most Sanda fighters winning by double leg + ground and pound, but it should make for interesting match ups.
Another new participant is Ba Te Er (巴特尔) (you can watch him here, black trunks at 0:40), the reigning 80kg Sanda Wang (King of Sanda). Apparently there's another Ba Te Er who plays basketball, so don't get confused.

UFC in China ?

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 07:23:00 +0000

ChinaCombat exclusive: the UFC has plans for an event in China, with the main event being a superfight between action superstars Jackie Chan and Tony Jaa !
Also on the card: Chuck Lidell, Tim Sylvia, Nick Diaz, Diego Sanchez...

At least that's what you might think after seeing the image above, which is actually the cover of a fake DVD for the movie "Long Zhong Shou" (龙中兽, you could translate that as "the beast among dragons"). If you've bought pirated DVDs in China before, you know not to judge a DVD by its cover. So the movie probably doesn't include Chuck Lidell or Tim Sylvia, and it wouldn't surprise me if neither Jackie Chan or Tony Jaa were in it.

But anyway, thanks to chinese pirates we now know that Chuck Lidell and Jorge Rivera are known in China as the "Twin Monsters from Hell".

Article about China's MMA in Fightsport !

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:25:00 +0000

For those of you living in France, Fightsport (the number one MMA magazine here) has a great article on Art of War. I had the pleasure to contribute to it, too !

Here is a translation from my small interview:

Sacha Greif: "it's very hard to get permission [to hold an MMA event] in China "

He trains jujitsu at the Sankuno when he's in France, but he's been living in China for almost one year. Over there, he discovered fresh and almost unexplored grounds for MMA and grappling. He follows the local scene through his blog, ChinaCombat.

Why did you come to China ?
I originally studied Computer Science, but I also studied Chinese for 4 years. I graduated last year, and I decided to spend this year living in China to put my language skills to use. I spent 4 months in Guangzhou before coming back home and then coming to Beijing to work as a web designer.

What's martial arts and MMA like in China ?

MMA and combat sports are not that developed in China, so it's easy to quickly meet a lot of the scene's main figures .

How do you see MMA's chances of developing in China ?

Frankly speaking, a lot of people are doubting that MMA will explode here anytime soon, because it's hard to change the mentalities. Add to that the fact that in order to hold any kind of event in China, you need to go through a long (and costly) process to obtain the necessary authorisations.

How woud you describe the current MMA scene ?

Andy Pi is probably the only one who really got his name out. The Sanda fighters that he trained in jujitsu are starting to have a pretty decent understanding of MMA. And Art of War events may not possess a very high level of competition, but they're still fun to watch.

Art of War Highlight

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 05:37:00 +0000

Here is a very nice highlight of the last Art of War event (also includes older fights).

You can't really see that most fighters have no ground experience (except for a few times) and they selected really dynamic moments (then again, most fights were action-packed) which makes for a pretty good highlight.

Interview with Gracie China Instructor Chet Quint [Part 2]

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 10:11:00 +0000

read part 1 here

You have a very successful academy in Beijing, where I had the
privilege to train during 4 months. While I was there I could see new
students were coming in all the time. What are your plans for expansion
? Do you plan to open new schools in other cities, or maybe hold BJJ or
submissions grappling competitions ?

We enjoyed having you here, my friend. Now I have schools in Beijing and Shanghai. I also have an affiliate school in Hong Kong so I'm very busy. My plan is to keep doing what I'm doing. We teach authentic Gracie Jiu Jitsu and authentic Muay Thai (my partner is former world Muay Thai Champion, Vince Soberano). We just focus on the quality of our classes and the quality of our students. It took me 10 years to earn my Black Belt and I am very proud of my lineage. When a teacher promotes his student to Black Belt, he not just saying that you have mastered the art's fundamentals but also says that you have the skill and authority to teach and promote others in the system. That's why only a Black Belt can promote students and why it takes so long to earn a Black Belt in Gracie Jiu Jitsu. The Jiu Jitsu we practice comes directly from Helio and Carlos Gracie. When a student takes a class at our school he can immediately see the difference.

Since we trained Shuai Jiao together, I know you have a lot of
interest for this art. What do you see as the strong points of Shuai
Jiao ? Do you think it's a good complement for BJJ, compared to say Judo
or Freestyle Wrestling ?

Shuai Jiao is a great style and works together perfectly with BJJ and MMA. I don't think that you should try to make an "either-or" question out of Shuai Jiao. Judo is a great stand-up grappling style, but Shuai Jiao is ANOTHER 3000 year old study in grappling and the jacket we use requires completely different grips and strategies. A judo champion won't be able to beat a Shuai Jiao champion in a Chinese Wrestling competition and a Shuai Jiao Champion won't win in a judo competition. Both styles have strong and weak points. The rules create the environment and from the environment the art evolves.

I would like to finish by saying it is a pleasure to be here in China spreading Jiu Jitsu and Muay Thai. Every day I get to put on my kimomo and teach the art that I love and help other people understand it and also understand themselves. But this relationship is symbiotic. As you have said, we have trained Shuai Jiao together, so I also have been very lucky to find Master Li Baoru, our teacher. Li Laoshi has helped to give me a great insight into the rich martial art of Shuai Jiao and into Chinese culture as well. This interaction between teacher and student is unique in the martial arts and it should never be taken for granted.

Interview with Gracie China Instructor Chet Quint [Part 1]

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:00:00 +0000

Chet Quint is the BJJ instructor at Gracie China, and currently the only BJJ black belt in China. He also has an academy in Shanghai and an affiliate school in Hong Kong. As a key figure in China's rapidily developing BJJ community, I asked him to answer questions on topics ranging from his own personal background to his insights on China's young MMA scene.

You are the first Brazilian Jujitsu black belt in China. Before we talk about what made you come here, can you talk about your background ?
How and why did you start BJJ, and did you study other arts ? Who did you learn BJJ with ?

I first heard about Jiu Jitsu back in 1989 when Rorion Gracie produced the "Gracie in Action" video. There. for the first time I got to see real footage of martial artists fighting each other. At the time I was boxing and was training Muay Thai and Kali. I also had black belts in Taewondo and Goju Ryu. My Goju Ryu teacher was heavily influenced by judo and Japanese Jiujitsu so I had a lot of exposure to those styles as well. I guess I was sort of a martial arts junkie, because I trained anything I found interesting. Like many of us, I was very interested in Bruce Lee and his philosophies about martial culture. Along with TKD and Goju Ryu I have a Black Belts in, of course, Gracie Jiu Jitsu, Chinese Shuai Jiao and I am a Full-Instructor in Muay Thai. I didn't get a chance to actually experience Gracie Jiu Jitsu until 1996 when I moved to Salt Lake City, Utah and met Pedro Sauer, my teacher. Pedro was 65 kilos and despite the fact that I was already an accomplished fighter and was 40 kilos heavier and 10 years younger he tapped me out like I was a child. I couldn't believe it. I signed up that day and haven't stoped training since.

What got you interested in China ? How did you decide to come here, and what made you think at that time that there was a future for BJJ in China ?

When I was living in Brazil I trained with Rilion Gracie at night and with Rolker Gracie during the afternoon. It was at the Gracie Academy in Centro, Rio de Janeiro that I met an Australian guy named Aaron Gardiner. He told be about the BJJ club he trained at and explained that they only had a blue belt there. They were pretty much trying to figure out things on there own.

Mitsuyo Maeda left Japan to teach Jiu Jitsu in Brazil. [...] So, I feel that teaching the art abroad is kind of a tradition in this style.

I spoke a little Chinese and always wanted to live in Asia so a year later I went out there to visit him. The guys in the club were all nice guys, but they didn't really have an idea what was going on. They lacked an understanding of the basics. I liked Beijing, so I decided to move here and teach Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Mitsuyo Maeda left Japan to teach Jiu Jitsu in Brazil and the Gracie brothers along with Pedro Sauer left Brazil to do the same in the United States. My other teacher, Rilion, just left Rio to teach Gracie Jiu Jitsu in Miami. So, I feel that teaching the art abroad is kind of a tradition in this style.

What do you think of the rising Chinese MMA scene ? Do you think China is a promising place for MMA to develop, and do you think Art of War
(arguably the best-known MMA org in China right now) is doing it right ?

It really isn't my place to say what is right and what is wrong. We all do the best we can so you have to appreciate their effort. I think that the MMA scene here is still very much in the beginning stages. The Art of War guys have a very difficult task because of the way that entertainment and sporting events work here in China. Currently there is no real mechanism that allows a fight promoter to make good money in China. Pay-Per-View doesn't exist here and the Central Government controls the media. If it weren't so hard, the big players like the UFC and Pride would have been here a long time ago. Anyone can set up shop and put on an event if they have enough money. The trick is to make the event profitable. Why isn't professional boxing here? It's because they still can't make good money in China. Once that bridge is crossed, the real fight organizations will be here in force but I don't think China is ready for that just yet. Not when you can set up a multi-million dollar event in Japan or Korea with a phone call. So things have to change here first. That kind of change will happen in small steps. I sympathize with their problem and I wish them luck.

part 2

Goodbye China !

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 07:37:00 +0000

I'm back in France, but that doesn't change anything for this blog. It will still be updated aproximatively once every three months with a post promising "big things soon".

But this time it's for real ! An interview with the only BJJ black belt in China is coming soon ! Stay tuned !

MMA Beijing Training Report

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:35:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of trying out a class at MMA Beijing. The head instructor is Laurent (or Along as he's called here), and the classes include groundwork, MMA, boxing, wrestling.

The gym is beautiful, with a big area, mats on the wall, two heavy bags, a speed bag, wrestling dummies, tires... The only downside is that since the bags are in the middle of the rolling area, I kept bumping my head into one of them.

The class I tried out was focused on stand-up wrestling. We started out with a pretty dynamic warm-up, including one of those horrible drills where everybody hops around in a squat trying to be the last one standing.
We then did simple "swimming" and arm dragging drills. After a while of this we did some sparring.
Laurent's students were pretty good, and I could see they had a MMA approach to wrestling, using the thai clinch a lot and keeping an upright posture.

The same remark applies to their groundwork. It was very MMA-oriented, and Laurent admitted to being influenced by Erik Paulson and Catch as Catch Can. His ground style was an interesting alternative to pure BJJ, incorporating Catch, BJJ, and Judo techniques.

For example he used a very effective head and arm (kesa gatame) position (he told me he injured people with this by crushing their ribs, so he had a student do it to me instead), whereas most BJJ people will tell you it's not a good control position. He also twisted the wrist on the americana lock, and a few other small details that seem to come from Catch wrestling and Japanese style submission wrestling.

If you want to train MMA or no-gi, and especially if you're a student living in Wudaokou (the universities neighborhood in Beijing where Laurent has his gym) I encourage you to go pay them a visit.

Summer Blogroll

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 08:28:00 +0000

Now that it's summer and the sun is shining, what better way to spend your afternoon than staying home with the A/C on and the curtains drawn and look at some good MMA blogs ?

Here are a few blogs that have in common that they all link to here, and also happen to be awesome.

Fightopinion.com
Fightstalker
Nightmare of Battle
Bloody Elbow
MMA Review
Mad Squabbles

Keep tuned in, as I will be having some training reports and interviews up here soon, as well as a surprise if you happen to live in France...

K-1 in Hong Kong

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 02:57:00 +0000

Fightopinion reports that K-1 will hold an event in Hong Kong on July 29th.

As far as I know this is the first event of this kind in Hong Kong or China. I will keep you updated if there are any news of Chinese fighters participating.

Art of War Comes to Video Games

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 05:19:00 +0000

Art of War is coming to a console near you !

[...] the game will use likenesses of the current and future stars of the ring in new and fantastical ways, extending their capabilities beyond that of mere mortals [...]

This means you can expect Zhang Tiequan to throw fireballs and Dai Shuanghai to invoke an eagle that rips his oponnent's heart out.

Since this is a chinese game, you can also expect you'll be able to play with Wonderlai Silvo and Fodor Emelieko...

EDIT:
Always check your sources. This is the first thing you learn when you go to journalism school, but since I'm a blogger, I tought I could afford not to. Well, turns out the AoW image on the site I'm linking to is misleading, as the game actually concerns the other, Texas-based Art of War. Anyway the good thing to come out of this is that I noticed that they're advertising a "USA vs China" Art of War event. I don't know if there's gonna be any real chinese fighters from China, or just "chinese" fighters like Cung Le ("Vietnamese ? that's good enough for me, you're hired !").
I'll keep you posted as soon as I get more info.

Art of War 6 vids

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 04:33:00 +0000

You can check out the latest Art of War fights here:

http://sports.qq.com/bojidasai/bojidasaimedias/mediamore/more.htm

The first one is the best ( 武田雪马VS杨建平 ), but they're all worth watching.

Be warned that the video player doesn't work that well in firefox, at least for me.

Art of War 6: global thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Sun, 27 May 2007 03:45:00 +0000

read the event report: first part / second part

This event made me realize why China might have a much better chance on the international MMA scene than most people think. Almost all of the chinese fighters fighting today were profesionnal Sanda athletes. They were already spending all their time training kickboxing and wrestling before having ever heard of MMA. Sure, Sanda rules are different, you can't get guillotined or kneed when shooting for a takedown, there's no ground game, the list goes on. But that's simply a matter of adapting to new rules and new techniques.

The invaluable asset that the chinese Sanda fighters already have is just that: they're fighters. They already have the conditioning, the heart, and the intensity required for MMA. No matter how good your jujitsu or boxing is, if you can't keep up with the pace, you'll get overwhelmed and knocked down. Almost all the foreign fighters looked tentative and lost once the bell sounded, while the chinese fighters were focused and clearly knew what they were there for.

The reality of Sanda in China is that you won't earn that much money competing in it. Plus, it's a strictly Chinese sport. MMA offers so much more opportunities, like going abroad and earning a whole year's salary in just one night. You better believe that more and more Sanda fighters are going to make the switch just for that reason.

This event was a good showcase of China's top fighter's abilities, even if it was mixed in with sub-par performance from fighters who were obviously not prepared. The drawback to this was that all the fights were pretty one-sided, with the designated winner clear even before the bell rung. This is because the organizers want to protect the chinese fighters, as they are probably afraid that the public will lose interest if the chinese guys are not winning. The organisation was pretty good too, except for that one reffing mistake.

Altogether Art of War is shaping up to be a pretty interesting organisation, but it now needs to recruit higher level fighters and put on more competitive match ups.

Art of War 6 Report (fights 8 to 12)

noreply@blogger.com (Sha) — Sun, 27 May 2007 03:13:00 +0000

read the first part of the report

8th fight: Il Kwon Kim (Korea) vs Dai Shuanghai

Dai Shuanghai came out wearing the traditional mongolian wrestling outfit, a leather shirt with feathers, which would look a little ridiculous if not worn by such a badass (his nickname is "the fire wolf king"). He also did the traditional mongolian dance, symbolising an eagle spreading its wings and flying around. It was pretty exciting to see the spirit of hundreds of years of wrestling tradition chanelled all the way into an MMA bout.
Dai Shuanghai got a quick takedown, and then ground and pounded Il Kwon Kim with knees and elbows from side mount. Il Kwon Kim displayed either a huge heart or a complete lack of ground experience, as he took it all without tapping or defending, even when Dai Shuanghai transitioned to mount and started pouding him with forearm strikes.
Dai Shuanghai finally got the tap with an americana from side mount.

9th fight: Mario "token big white guy" Mazzocca vs Zhao Zilong

Not much was known about Mario Mazzocca except that he's Italian, big, and looked more than a bit out of shape. Maybe that's why Sanda champion Zhao Zilong underestimated him. In any case, after getting the better of the exchanges (even unloading a pro wrestling style grabbing the ropes sidekick) he got a little bit too cocky and had no answer when Mario unloaded with a flurry of punches that caught him square on the jaw and dropped him. Mario won the fight by knock out, scorring the upset of the night, and proving to everybody that he was more than just another big foreigner guy put there to be steamrolled by the chinese athletes.

10th fight: Sang Min Lim (Korea) vs Saiyinjiya

Saiyinjiya got all the takedowns on his korean oponent, but the Korean didn't loose heart, and used a fresh start after a stand up to overwhelm his oponent and drop him with strikes.
He then threw his trunks in the public (he was wearing a second pair under, thankfully). Some disgusted guy picked them up and threw them back on the ring.

11th fight: Robert "token crazy black guy" Sothman (Canada) vs Bao Ligao

Robert Sothman's ring entrance was pretty intense. He came out to heavy metal, yelling, even kneeing one of the ring posts. Bao Ligao on the other hand came out calm and didnd't seem phased by his oponent's antics. Once in the ring, he immediately knocked down his oponent, and then proceded to soccer kick him while he was in the process of standing up. Sothman's corner threw in the towel, but neither the fighters or referee saw it. It was finally pointed out to the referee, who had to stop the fight even though Sothman appeared to be able to go on.

12th fight: Alan Fernandes (India) v Ao Hailin

The last fight featured China's answer to Genki Sudo, Ao Hailin, a charismatic fighter with blond hair and jaguar trunks. Fernandes went for a takedown, but Ao Hailin's wrestling experience showed when he promptly reversed the takedown and landed in north south. As his oponent was getting up, he proceeded to knee and soccer kick his head, which prompted the referee to stop the fight even though the Indian fighter was still able to defend.
This bad call provoked an uprising in the public, and everybody, including the fighters, demanded that the fight go on. The organiser finally decided to overturn the ref's call and let the fight go on. This didn't change the outcome, as Ao Hailin quickly got a takedown to mount, and then after some g'n'p got his oponent in a tight armbar. It wasn't clear if he tapped or not, but his arm was already hyper extended, so the ref stopped the action to prevent any harm to the fighter.