Art of War 6: global thoughts

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)

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.

Art of War 6 Report (fights 1 to 7)

The 6th Art of War event took place on May 26th 2007, in Beijing. It included fighters from China, India, Korea, Japan, Canada, and Italy.

1rst fight: Zhang Jianjun vs Zhong Yu

Things kicked off with a classic grappler vs striker match. Judo champion Zhong Yu scored a quick trip takedown against Sanda stylist Zhang Jianjun, and then quickly transitioned to the mount. Zhang Jianjun fought off his submission atempts for a while, even getting a reversal. After the two fighters got back to their feet, Zhang Jianjun was getting the better of the standup exchanges, but Zhong Yu got another takedown, got back to the mount and finished off his oponent with an americana.
After the fight both fighters were so gassed that they stayed laying on the canvas for a while.

2nd fight: Tala vs Yang Yingchun

Both Sanda fighters were skilled on their feet, but Tala had no answer for the Muay Thai clinch and knees of Yang Yingchun. After punishing his oponent for the better part of the first round, Yang Yingchun snapped his head down, and then surprised everybody by securing a guillotine, and then dropping back to finish Tala from the half guard.

3rd fight: [name missing] (Japan) vs Jiang Longyun

The Japanese oponent appeared to be a replacement for another Japanese fighter that was supposed to fight, and appeared very young and inexperienced, as well as not having eaten in a few days. Provincial boxing champion Jiang Longyun put on a boxing clinic on him, and after frustrating his desperate takedown atempts, knocked him out in less than 20 seconds.

4rth fight: Buhejiya vs Liu Wenbo

Liu Wenbo came in wearing a gi and a black belt, which is rather surprising as the announcer introduced him as a boxing champion. The gi didn't make a lot of difference, as his Mongolian oponent brutally slammed him down and then proceded to ground & pound from the guard. The whole fight went the same way, with Buhejiya scorring takedowns at will, and Liu Wenbo defending strikes from the bottom. Everbody was surprised when Buhejiya gave up during the second round, apparently too gassed to carry on.

5th fight: Shashi Sathe (India) vs Zhang Tiequan

This was the first truly international fight, if you except the japanese guy who got smashed in 10 seconds. Sanda and Brazilian Jujitsu trained Zhang Tiequan came out swinging and got a flash knock out on his unprepared oponent. Sashi Sathe was holding his arm after the fight, aparently having injured his shoulder.

6th fight: Dai Yingqiang vs Aotegen

The second Judo stylist to fight applied pretty much the same strategy as the first one, as he quickly got a takedown to mount. Sadly, either he hadn't trained Brazilian Jujitsu and didn't know that mount was the best position to be in, or else he had just bad control, as his oponent was able to power out a reversal to guard. He then proceded to ground and pound his way to a tap.

7th fight: Takada Setsuma vs Yang Jianping

This was without a doubt the fight of the night. Takada Setsuma is a Brazilian Jujitsu blue belt and MMA veteran, and Yang Jianping is a greco roman wrestler and Sanda fighter. It was clear for the outset than none of then would be willing to back down, and Takada opened up with a high kick. This proved to be a bad strategy as Yang Jianping immediately grabbed the leg and took him down. Yang Jianping showed a good enough ground game to frustrate Takada's guard game, and started picking him up and slamming him. He then stood up and started kicking at Takada's legs, before the referee stood Takada up. Takada again tried a few high kicks, and got caught with a few punches, before jumping guard, even though his guard game had been inefective. Once again Yang Jianping neutralized all of Takada's attempts, and after the stand up scorred a big knock down with a punch that forced the referee to call an end to the bout.

Art of War 6

It seems that Art of War 5 was just yesterday, but apparently Andy Pi is hard at work because the next Art of War event is happening this saturday !

You don't want to miss this event, as fighters are coming from Japan, Korea, and even India to compete against the local Chinese fighters.

More info on the chinese and english AoW sites.

This time I'll go, and try to do a proper report, including blurry pictures and misspelt fighter names !

Wohsai 7th MMA Amateur Competition Videos

Enjoy ! If you only want to watch one or two, I'd say the first two are the best ones.

Hao Miao (浩淼) VS NEIL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3otGsII-BI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVFaQka-NjA

Wen Dayong (温大勇) VS Steve

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LneSBwVS5kA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FD_wn9gtT8c

Laofu (老付) vs Zhang Pengming (张朋明)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYEFWACHVoM

Wang Fei (王斐) VS Tianya (天涯)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZE4XPHN4eM

Chiwei (迟威) VS Siro

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPt1FuCnXbM

Wohsai MMA Event Short Recap

The event took place one week ago, last Tuesday, but since I was away for the Chinese holidays of May 1rst I'm only now finding the time to do a small event recap (pictures/videos should come later once the organizers give them to me).

The setting for the event was an old factory converted into an art gallery. Not ideal for fighting, but it looked nice. The only problem was the lack of seating which meant that everybody stood and people in the back had to climb on boxes to see anything at all, and that most people couldn't see anything as soon as the action hit the ground.

Besides that problem, and a late start due to some fighters being late, there was no notable glitches in the organization.

The fights were good, but the level of the fighters was very low. It would be stupid to expect high level jujitsu from an amateur competition, but most of the fighters didn't even think about keeping their hands at face level. Thankfully the gloves were thick enough that they weren't punished too harshly for their mistakes, and they all displayed a lot of heart.

The highlight of the show was the fight between Steve, from the Black Tiger Academy in Beijing, and a Chinese Guy (I guess I should look up his name...). It was a 10 minutes war where Steve kept looking for the takedown, and Chinese Guy kept punishing him for his unsuccessful attempts. Finally Steve got a nice trip takedown and could finally use his jujitsu (he's a solid blue belt) but it was too late, and since the fight went the distance (the only fight that didn't end in tapout actually) it was automatically ruled a draw.