[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).

[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.

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!

Interview with Andy Pi [part 2]

Here is the second part of my interview with Andy Pi. In it, he answers question about China's young MMA scene.

link to first part

About MMA

China Combat: Can you explain how you created the Art of War organization ?

Andy Pi: At the time, I had already been training BJJ for close to 10 years and I had seen the development and trends of martial arts in China. I knew that the Chinese would enjoy a tournament which was fair and open to all styles of martial arts. My brother has also been training BJJ for just as long. One day we were talking about how China should really have a homegrown MMA tournament, and how great it would be if we could see Chinese fighters competing against world-class fighters. There was a bit of Chinese nationalism speaking from inside our hearts, and rather than waiting for it to happen on its own, we decided to take the initiative and make sure that we were the ones to make that happen. We already had a training center established. It was a logical next step to move into promotion as well.

Does China have any upcoming MMA or BJJ stars ?

China has many upcoming MMA and BJJ stars. We have been working very hard to prepare our stable of fighters, to train them and get them ready for international competition. Some of the outstanding fighters we have now are Zhang Tie Quan, Dai Shuang Hai, Ao Hai Lin, and He Peng.

Have you been approached by bigger organizations (Pride, UFC...) to sendbthem some of your Art of War fighters ?

We have been approached by several international organizations to send Chinese fighters to their events. I feel that these organizations are curious about the MMA situation in China and the technical level of our fighters. From a business standpoint, the major organizations see the revenue potential of having a Chinese fighter appear in their promotion, especially if this Chinese fighter was very skilled and very talented, and could REALLY FIGHT!!! This will also help them carve out a niche in the very large Chinese market, which is currently a huge and untapped source of potential. We have seen almost every country represented inside the MMA ring, with the exception of China. It is our goal to produce a Chinese MMA champion capable of challenging guys like Wanderlei Silva, Emeliananko Fedor, etc...

Have Chinese fighters competed internationally ?
We have brought Chinese fighters to compete internationally. In Dec. 2005, we brought 4 MMA fighters to compete in the Philippines, and all 4 of our athletes won by either KO or TKO. 2 more of our fighters just returned from the USA last week, where they participated in a kickboxing event and defeated their American opponents by KO.

How do you see Chinese MMA's future ? Do you think China will become an important market and talent pool for MMA ?

China will be the largest market for MMA in the world in the next 4-6 years. You can believe that. There will be more fans in just 1 province of China, than all of the entire world MMA market combined. Chinese love martial arts. It is an inseparable part of our culture. China has produced so many great athletes. The fastest hurdler in the world is Chinese. One of the tallest basketball players in the world is Chinese. China holds multiple world records in Olympic power-lifting. China has over 1 billion citizens and I am sure that we will find a Chinese superstar athlete capable of becoming the next big thing! As for MMA, we still have a long way to go, but Chinese martial artists will take to MMA like fish to water. In the not so distant future, some of the best fighters in the world will come from China. You can bet on that!

third part

Interview with Andy Pi [part 1]

Andy Pi was nice enough to answer a few questions. He was the first person to open a BJJ class in mainland China, as well as the creator of China's main MMA venue, Art of War Fighting Championship. Here's what he had to say on topics ranging from MMA's future in China, to Rickson Gracie (ok, I admit that last bit was just a shameless attempt to draw people in).

About BJJ

China Combat: How were you introduced to BJJ ? Did you have any previous martial arts training before that ?

Andy Pi: I was introduced to BJJ by my younger brother. It was 1995. He showed me a tape of UFC4, where Royce Gracie fights Dan Severn. I saw the fight and thought to myself, it was the most incredible performance that I had ever seen from a martial artist. I had to learn it right away. As I child, I studied a variety of martial arts, from kung fu, to karate, to taekwondo. However, BJJ was the one martial art that I truly fell in love with and have been training since 1995.

How did you decide to open a BJJ school in Beijing ? What made you think it would work ?

I opened a BJJ academy simply as a way to continue my own training. I moved to China in 1997 and at the time, I couldn't find any other BJJ practitioners in China. So as a way to maintain my own training, I needed to have training partners. So I started teaching BJJ to my friends, just so that I would have some training partners. My friends would bring there friends to class, and the word started to spread around the Beijing community that BJJ was available in Beijing. I had not considered it to be a money making venture at the time, and I was doing it for the love of the martial arts, and also as a way to introduce BJJ to the Chinese martial arts community. Nobody in China had really seen BJJ in person, except for maybe some downloaded UFCs or some black belt magazines. But there weren't any Chinese martial artists who had gotten on the mat and rolled with any BJJ practitioners before or seen the art up close and personal. I wanted to change that.

Are there any Chinese BJJ championships ?

At the current moment, there are no BJJ tournaments in China. There have been some tournaments organized in Hong Kong and Taiwan, but none in mainland China. I am working closely with the Chinese sports administration to change that. We are currently forming the China Federation of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, and this organization will be fully sanctioned by the Chinese government. Hopefully by the middle or end of 2007, we will see the 1st China Brazilian Jiu-jitsu Open Championship.

Do you have any plans to open BJJ schools in other cities ?

We have plans to open BJJ academies in all of China's major cities, and also in the more impoverished areas of China. Martial arts are a great way to discipline and challenge the human spirit and also educate the youth. There are so many martial artists in China and they are all potential practitioners of BJJ. We hope to give the masses a chance to learn this great martial art. Some will decide to get into professional competition. Others will decide to get into coaching. Regardless of their chosen path, we believe that martial arts has a lot to offer the Chinese public. The knowledge to defend oneself and the confidence gained from learning jiu-jitsu is very empowering. It should be available to everyone in China who wants to learn, and for free if need be. Again, we are closely working with the Chinese government to make sure that instructors are properly trained and that the spirit of both Chinese martial arts and the Brazilian martial arts are well-preserved and passed on to successive generations.

second part