why so few Chinese in MMA tournaments?

Discussion in 'MMA' started by wazzabi, Apr 21, 2006.

  1. gr8moves

    gr8moves New Member

    China is so different

    I believe the Chinese Government is definitely a big reason why there are not many MMA fighters coming out of China. To be a fighter in Pride, K-1, UFC, etc. would require financing and/or sponsorship in order to train for such competitions. Without the backing of the Chinese Government or unless you are of the wealthier class the average Chinese citizen or fighter would lack the resources which would allow them to compete in the world of MMA.

    There may also be another reason to consider. Martial Art in China is extremely traditional and cultural. For example Shaolin 5 Animal Kung-Fu is traditional taught by Buddhist monks inside the walls of their temples. They select from among the children in the community to whom will learn the fighting art along with the teaching of Buddhism. In other words, in China, you don’t just go to the temple and request they teach you fighting skills for you to compete in sporting events. The Abbot would consider this to be a vain & selfish cause and therefore would not approve of such. However that’s not to say that there are not some Chinese MMA fighters in/outside of China. Just that there are few considering that it is China.

    It’s not at all like the USA or in other countries where you can just show up at a gym or dojo and pay to be taught & trained for competition.
     
  2. slipthejab

    slipthejab Hark, a vagrant! Supporter

    and in many respects - very far behind the rest of the world

    gr8moves brings up a good point. The Chinese government is not about to start sponsoring anything that might tarnish the tired ass cultural superiority line they tow all the time. They'd lose serious face if they started promoting fighters that were getting the snot beat out of them in MMA competitions... as the undoubtedly would until they got their fighters up to scratch.

    Now... that being said... China is full of people that are as hard as nails... spend some time in Fujian and you'll understand just what I mean. They have plenty of people game to train and game to fight... they have plenty of people game to fight with very little training... but... again they are for all intents and purposes cut off from the rest of the world.

    They by and large do not have the massive influx of media that we have in the west... heck they don't even have what we have in Hong Kong...

    if you don't believe me... consider the fact the number one source of information in this day an age is the internet - they employ thousands of people just to censor the internet that Chinese citizens receive... :eek:... that's right sites have to be able to get past government sensors!!!

    ... so they are severely limited in that sense. In many cases even if they wanted to fight their are just simply not the roads open to them for them to effectively compete... culturally or practically.

    China is a whole different ball of wax than the western world - despite all of the media hype it will take some time before we see any major Chinese MMA stars. As it stands now the CCCP is trying to push through a bill that makes it crime for not only local media but for foreign media to report any disaster or riot/disturbance in their country without the prior approval of the government. It's all very vaguely worded - which the Chinese government is very good at... so that at their wim they can lock you up.

    Look at the current state of their journalism... the number of journalist jailed in China is unheard of anywhere else in the world. Report on one bad loss by a Chinese MMA star and on your next trip to China find yourself sitting in jail for crimes against the state and upsetting 'social stability'.

    They are in many repsects - many many years behind the rest of the world.

    But I digress... I sure would like to see some Chinese MMA champs... if only they weren't hamstrung by their Keystone-cop government from the get go.
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2006
  3. TheMightyMcClaw

    TheMightyMcClaw Dashing Space Pirate

    Perhaps there are more than you think

    I found this link on a thread for a similar topic.

    http://www.mmachina.com:81/en/

    The Art of War FC. There are some videos on the website, and as you can tell, it's still pretty low-grade in terms of the fighters. Still, it is out there.
    I find the rules are very interesting.... it seems that there are no judges. Any fight that doesn't end in a knockout or submission is considered a technical draw.
     
  4. LiaoRouxin

    LiaoRouxin Valued Member

    First point is sound. Second point... not so sound. But it did give me a good laugh, which was well needed after yesterday.

    As for Chinese internet security, it's pretty effective, as Slip has said. Many expat Chinese, like myself, use complex computer software and proxies to access the internet from terminals in Taiwan, Japan, Russia, or America. We pay a lot of money for these services, but there is of course always a risk involved with it. Being Singaporean, and having influential local and some national family members really begins to protect me, but it's not airtight by any means. It means I do need to be careful about what I say regarding China, and I need to keep any criticism I might have pretty tame and certainly carefully worded. Just because I have lots of protections on my computer and I use an American terminal to access the net, doesn't mean I'm ever going to be anonymous from them, so I need to minimise my risk.

    It helps to be fluent in a second language, which I am in English, or a know a very rare style of speech, for me Singlish. I can use English for places like here, and to email my friends back on the island I use Singlish. Basically, the only people who could understand what I am saying would be a Singaporean urbanite...i.e., not the Chinese authorities.

    The strangest part is that the site censoring is not consistent, but rather a dynamic, changing beast. A few days ago, I could access MAP and Sherdog from a coffee shop's computer, but a week ago both could not be reached...
     
  5. TheMightyMcClaw

    TheMightyMcClaw Dashing Space Pirate

    The Abbot of Shaolin not approving of martial arts for vain and selfish purposes?
    Apparently you haven't heard of his new reality show.
    http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=54718
     

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