BJJ Asia

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.

MMA in Indonesia and Malaysia

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

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 ?

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

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

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.

[china mma] AoW 7 results

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)

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

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 ?

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 !

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.

Interview with Gracie China Instructor Chet Quint [Part 1]

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

Hero's Legends

I had the pleasure to meet Ding Zhaoquan yesterday. He is very involved with the Chinese MMA scene, and told me about an organization I hadn't heard about before. It's called "Hero's Legends" (英雄传说) and is a k-1 syle kickboxing competition organized by K-1's agent in China. I haven't seen any fights yet, but I'll keep you informed on any new developments.

Blogroll

I just noticed I was getting a lot of hits from the Ichiban Shigaisen blog. I'm not sure what "ichiban shigaisen" means, but it's a cool blog so go check it out.

While I'm thanking my "sponsors" (don't worry, I don't have as many as the average UFC fighter), most of my hits come from Fight Opinion. If you don't know that site, go check it out right now. It's one of the most comprehensive sources for everything MMA related.

[Article]Sports: Ultimate Beijing

I just came across this article in That's Beijing about Andy and MMA in China. It says pretty much the same thing Andy told me in his interview, but it's still a good read.

Art of War update

I just noticed Art of War have posted their schedule for 2007.I'll let you know when there's more info about the upcoming events.

Sanda/Sanshou

Sanshou/Sanda may not be as popular as other forms of kickboxing, but it also has its strong points. Although the rules may vary from one country to another, fights generally permit punches, kicks, knees, short clinch work, and throws, and prohibit elbows and ground work.

Sanda means something like "free fighting", while "sanshou" means "free hand" ("shou" meaning "hand"). In some places people have kept using older names, such as "Shoubo". And sometimes Sanshou and Sanda actually possess two separate sets of rules. I'm not going to explain the history of the sport this time, but I'll introduce you to a few examples of Sanda fighting.

One of the most famous Sanda fighters in China is Liu Hailong. He's taken part in a few "Sanda vs Muay Thai" tournaments. Since these tournaments usually end with the Thai boxer winning, he's famous for actually defeating his Thai oponents. As you can see in this video, Karo Parysian is not the only one who knows how to throw people around.

In the US, the big name in Sanshou is Cung Le. After you watch him destroy Shonie Carter, you can learn how to catch a leg and take someone down, Sanshou style.

With a little more emphasis on boxing, and some ground game, Sanda fighters could become pretty dangerous in MMA.

MMA in Taiwan and Hong Kong

Not everybody thinks that Taiwan is part of China. Some people consider the two countries separate. And other people even say that it's actually China that is part of Taiwan. Anyway, without going deep in geopolitics, I think since Taiwan is close enough to China and has its own MMA activities going on, it's only fair enough to include it in this blog. So here's a short list of places where you can train MMA and BJJ in Taiwan.

Taiwan Brazilian Jiujitsu Club

Evolution Combat Taiwan

Hong Kong has a lot of places to train:

Hong Kong BJJ Association

The One Martial Gym

Gracie Barra Hong Kong

Kylin Martial Arts & Combat Club

HK MMA

HK Jujitsu

Video Round-up

Since it's a slow news day, I tought I'd browse around Youtube and see what are the most interesting vids concerning the matter at hand (MMA and combat sports in China in case you've already forgotten).

First, to celebrate the Chinese new year, here's a great example of Chinese wrestlers using the "key stone" (although to me it looks more like a padlock than a key), which is a kind of square kettlebell. Remember this thing weighs 12 kg !!

You can check out more great shuai jiao videos on Ashwix's user profile page.

Second, Wohsai has assembled a compilation of training and seminar videos. Wohsai is one of the main Chinese MMA sites, kinda like the Chinese Sherdog (but on the average the forum members are much nicer).

Next, you can check out Art of War's video section to see some of their fights, for example He Peng vs Yang Jian Ping.

Interview with Andy Pi [part 3]

Here is the third and last part of the interview with Andy Pi. You can check out the first and second part if you haven't done so yet.

About China

China Combat: You have hosted seminars by a lot of famous personalities, including Rickson Gracie. How did you get in touch with them ? Was it hard to convince people to come to China ?

Andy Pi: I was introduced to Rickson through a mutual friend. He was able to establish a connection for me, and the rest they say, is history! It is not very difficult to convince people to come to China. China is a very hot topic in world discussion right now. People understand the business and economic potential of China. There is also a certain amount of mystery regarding China, which I think rouses people's curiosity. Most people when they get here, find that it was not at all what they expected it to be. They are pleasantly surprised.

Chinese Martial Arts have a very long history, but MMA practicioner often have a negative view of traditional arts and label them as "innefective". What do you think of the value of traditional Chinese martial arts (such as Shaolin Quan, Xingyi Quan, etc) in MMA competitions ?

It has been proven in MMA competition that what you train is really not as important as how you train it. How you train will dictate how you fight. I think most MMA practitioners and coaches are critical of traditional Chinese martial arts because most traditional Chinese martial arts lack proper training methods FOR COMPETITION.

Most martial artists are not training for COMPETITION. Rather, they are training for the love of the martial arts or self-defense. So the training methods are very different. When you are training for professional competition, your goal is to defeat your opponent, and you leave nothing to chance. Therefore, all aspects of the fight game should be studied, including nutrition, strength, endurance, psychological and mental strength, skills training including standup fighting, wrestling and ground fighting. If you have a martial artist who is training to defend himself, fight against a 24-year old professional athlete, who runs, lifts weights, and spars everyday, it is not a very fair fight. Of course the professional athlete is going to win, because it is his profession. All he does is train, full-time, to kick people's asses. It's not even a fair fight. It's not even a fair comparison. But that doesn't mean the traditional martial arts are crap.
The value of traditional martial arts should not be overlooked, because if there is just one thing that you can learn from a particular style, that will give you just a little bit of an edge, it should be learned and incorporated into your own training. I do not like to use the term traditional martial art, because it labels the art as a "non-progressive" martial art. All martial artists should strive to reinvent and improve upon what they've been taught. If you believe that only the old man in the mountain is the inheritor of real kung fu, then you are perpetuating a dying martial art, and your particular lineage will progressively get weaker and weaker. The key is to forget about the traditional aspect, and work on improving it.... "modernizing" the martial art style for 2007. All this means is to find more efficient ways to improve upon your existing training methods, so that you will fight or defend yourself more effectively.

What was the Chinese viewer's reaction when they were first exposed to MMA ? Was it positive ?

The Chinese viewers couldn't believe what they were seeing. They couldn't believe that they were watching one man sitting on another man's stomach, and beating the crap outta him. The overwhelming response... WHEN IS THE NEXT SHOW???

The Chinese love MMA and we feel that it will become the national sport, especially if we have anything to do with it!