[china mma] AoW 7 results

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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.

Art of War Highlight

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]

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]

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 !

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 !