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.