Here is another heat from the 25th.

Both fighters are good, but watch the blue fighter. He is a Mongolian once again and he dominates with some incredible reversals. At one point, i almost stopped recording this fight as i thought it was a bit boring, and then it exploded with one of the best reversals of the entire Championships.

Enjoy!

Michael

China’s MMA scene is exploding and Shuaijiao is leading the way. As you know Shuaijiao is an integral part of the Chinese Martial Arts, including Sanda. At Saturday’s event we had some of China’s best Sanda and Wrestling fighters proving that they will be an international MMA force to be reckoned with very soon.

Of the 12 mostly international fights(you can see the card and results here), only two ended in draws, the rest either explosive knock-outs or equally exciting submissions. The submission skills of Chinese fighters have progressed tremendously since the first Art of War in 2005. Zhang Tiequan and Ao Hailin both submitting their opponents with textbook precision and technique.

One exciting fighter we meet at Art of War 8 was International Sanda Champion Nemat Bobomuhamedov of Uzbekistan. He showed that his title was not anything to be sneezed at. A thinking fighter, capable of quickly becoming a mini-Fedor, he dismantled his opponent in a state of complete tranquility with a right hand followed by a knee to the face, followed by a soccer kick.You can see that fight here.

You can see some of the fights broadcast on Sohu here.

If you have some time, watch the fights and im sure you will agree that we have some raw MMA talent here. Watch here for more information about Art of War 9, scheduled at this stage for November 24th.

You can see Adoria Entertainment’s Art of War highlight reels of previous events here.

This is a photo of me (right) with CCTV English sports anchor Alistair Shrewing calling the fights. This has to be one of the greatest jobs in the world!

Hi!

Save this image. It makes a great desktop picture.

This is the promo poster for the Chinese TV series “The Wrestling King” . I have blogged about it before but could never get this picture to load properly. Now, thanks to Photobucket, you can see it and download it…

Right click on the image and select save image or view image and then save image. Then set as desktop.

Enjoy

Michael

Here is the first installment of videos from the Champs here in Beijing held over the last couple days.

This fight was interesting with the Mongol fighter in the red looking relaxed, and taking it easy in this heat trying to conserve energy for the finals the next day.

I only managed to get to one day and it wasn’t the finals, which always rock. I did manage to catch a few good fights on tape, and some amazing throws. I will post them in installments as i have soooo much other stuff to do before National Day holidays here - October 1st through 7th.

I left the event feeling great. The level in the lower weight classes was sensational. At the higher weights as usual the matches were not so explosive or exciting. It was encouraging for me at 105kgs at least. I wouldn’t make it past the first or second round, but i thought that i could put on an exciting show with some of the fighters. But as i mentioned before, many of the top fighters didn’t come because of tight competitive schedules across China.

Hope you enjoy them.

Also, Li Baoru mentioned that he had a couple of dvds to give me of the Nationals in Inner Mongolia, and the Minority Nationals in Xinjiang…so i should have some sensational footage for you real soon!!!!! i can’t wait.

Keep Smilin’

Michael

I have no idea what AAU means…. perhaps American something Union. Anyway it is an organization in the USA that promotes Chinese Martial Arts events and the arts in general.

Their annual competition - the AAU Chinese
Martial Arts National Championships - was held in Brushy Creek Community Center which is located between
Austin and Round Rock, Texas, on Saturday, September 8, 2007 and attracted approximately 200 athletes,
in a variety of divisions.

Here are a couple of videos of the Shuaijiao fights posted by a practicioner and teacher from Baton Rouge Chinese Pugilistic Arts. You can check out his Myspace page here and his Youtube page here.

Of course it is positive to see Shuaijiao competitions being held outside of China, but it seems to me that the general level of competitor is relatively low. Of course, that is to be expected.

One exciting piece of news that is forming as we speak is to do with a China certification in Shuaijiao coaching. If we could get fighters and coaches from the US and Europe as well as other parts of Asia to come and get certified I think that would help raise the general level of competition and facilitate meaningful international exchanges. I will let you know more about this as things progress.

Enjoy the fights!

Michael

Actually there were 3 characters… the “Something something cup”. Needless to say that i only recognized the last character “cup”.

I’ll figure it all out real soon and let you know.

Well this event is still on now. Held in a military sports facility in the Badachu scenic area of mountains to the west of Beijing, this year’s event saw fewer competitors than usual turn out. One reason was that there have been a quick succession of high-level events in the last month and it has forced competitors to choose their focus.

As usual, there was a positive vibe happening and the audience made of mostly competitors were vocal at times, and snoring at others.There were a few personalities in the audience too. The Mongolian Wrestling King i posted about in my post on Boke fashion - Tie Mu Er- was there. The 2005 National Shuaijiao King was there too. Both in coaching capacity.

The Mongolians were a force to contend with, and i suspect that the results tomorrow will reflect that. There were also some skilled fighers from Xingzhou in Shaanxi too. Obviously not tired by last week’s Shaanxi Shuaijiao Festival.

Unfortunately, I was only able to attend yesterday’s matches. Of course the heats are never as good as the finals, but i did manage to see some great stuff. Better than that: I caught some awesome throws on camera and will share them here as soon as i have a chance to upload it.

Come back soon and check out the footage and results!

Keep Smilin’

Michael

You Tube is a wonderful thing.

Hooters is a wonderful thing.

Youtube and Hooters conspired to faciitate a meeting between myself and Mr. Mike Martello of New York, USA.

It is not often that i meet someone who has real passion for anything. Mike has real passion for Chinese Martial Arts and the brainpower to translate that passion into tangible results and development. So, we have a common mission… but we had trouble focusing on the topic of conversation due to all the Hooters (Hooters just opened their first Beijing location on Friday).

Never the less, it was a pleasure to meet Mike and learn of the success he is having teaching real Chinese Martial Arts in the west.

Mike has just organized and run an amazing martial arts experience here in Beijing. The Beijing Camp 2007, where he bought 75 CMA enthusiasts here to learn from some of Beijing’s best masters in a sensational temple-like atmosphere in the suburbs of Beijing. This concept is so new in China that China Central TV Station ran a news story on the event. You can see a highlight reel here.

You will see that part of the program was Shuaijiao, along with several other arts: Chen Style Taijiquan, Preying Mantis, Baguazhang, Tongbeiquan, Yiquan, and Qigong. People were up at 6 in the morning and trained for 8 hours a day. A tough but rewarding schedule in the sometimes 36 degree Beijing heat.

The first camp was a great success, and the 2008 one promises to be even better with more people, more teachers, and a festive Olympic atmosphere.

If you are looking for a great (and safe) Chinese Martial Arts experience - and there are a lot of nightmare stories out there, my own included - Mike Martello’s Beijing Camp 2008 might be just for you! Check it out

Keep Smilin’

Michael

P.S. Mike lives and teaches in Belgium and Germany. Check his website out here

Shuaijiao - Chinese Wrestling - has been acknowledged as the origin of Chinese Martial Arts. It has been around for thousands of years. It seems that in other parts of the world the same form of combat was evolving at the same time.

Did you know they wrestle in Burma?

Did you know they wrestle in Africa?

This one might be a surprise for some of you out there… Did you know they wrestle in Brazil?

How about Finland & Sweden?

How about France?

Wrestling it seems, evolved naturally and independently in each culture, and beat Soccer by a few thousand years in being the world’s first “global” sport.

If you want to see more make sure you visit this excellent resource: Wrestling’s Best by Tom Fortunato of Rochester New York.

Keep Smilin’

Michael

New Macbook Pro. 20,000 plus RMB for this thing and can’t transfer my Outlook email to Entourage, and now i cant even open my Shuaijiao DVDs so i can edit them into a clip for you all!

Who do i bitch too?  Or better still… any ideas? How do i get these DVDs into iMovie so i can edit them?

In the meantime, we are on a minority theme it seems, with the Nationals just held in Inner Mongolia, and the National Minority Champs being held in Xinjiang this week.

So, after some poking around I managed to find some fascinating photos of the clothing that Boke fighters wear. I don’t know too much about the details, if you do then leave some comments. I am particularly interested if anyone can tell me the difference between these outfits and the typical shoulder jacket and briefs. I know there are several styles of Mongolian Wrestling… is it anything to do with that?

Also, if you know where to buy any of this stuff, then please please please leave a comment :-)….Galu, any ideas?

Enjoy

Michael

these look like they have been passed down a few generations

This is Tie Mu Er. He has been crowned champion over 115 times. Has won  15 Gold Medals, 1 Silver medal, and 5 Bronze medals in the National Minority Games, National Peasant Games (not sure if that is how it is translated - might be National Agricultural Workers Games or something PC like that), etc…

Some other achievements:
1993年全国中国å¼?摔跤比赛排å??第一，è?£èŽ·é‡‘æ?¯ - Gold Cup Winner in 93 National Shuaijiao Champs
1994å¹´è?£èŽ·ç¬¬ä¸€æžšé‡‘牌获得“国家级å?¥å¥–â€?称å?· - Won first gold medal in ‘94 along with the “National level Sports Award”
1997年在内蒙å?¤è‡ªæ²»åŒºæˆ?立五å??周年典礼è?£èŽ·â€œå›½å®¶çº§å?¥å¥–â€?称å?· - Won the same award again in ‘97
1999年全国首届“金腰带â€?中国å¼?摔跤比赛，è?£èŽ·é‡‘腰带；获得“跤王â€?称å?· - Won the first “Golden Belt” Shuaijiao Championship and the title “Jiao Wang” or Wrestling King
2004年在内蒙å?¤è¥¿ä¹Œç? ç©†æ²?旗举办的2048å??摔跤手å?‚加的创å?‰å°¼æ–¯ä¸–界纪录的那达慕会上排å??第三 - 3rd place in the 2004 Guinness Book of Records record-setting Wrestling Competition with 2048 fighters attending
2005年在西乌ç? ç©†æ²?旗那达慕会上排å??第八 - 8th at the 2005 Nadam Festival in Xiwu,Inner Mongolia

These are his pants!

I got all these photos from a latent website for the Nomadic Games. If any of you Shuaijiao nomads out there find your way to Beijing, be sure to look us up

Keep Smilin’

M

If you are reading about Shuaijiao and you don’t know who Rickson Gracie is, then its time for me to put things straight.

Rickson is a warrior. And warriors can learn things from warriors regardless of their background or discipline. Rickson happens to be a Gracie Jiujitsu warrior and if you google him, you will realize that he is slated to become a MMA deity very soon.

This is an except from the movie Choke and it is inspirational to watch, as is the whole movie, as is the real live Rickson.

In 2005 i had the good fortune to meet Rickson in Beijing and spend some time with him. He left me with a thought that i take with me to every Shuaijiao training session, and i want to share it with you (these are my memories of Rickson’s words to me):

“We are all equal on the mat. It doesn’t matter if you come here on an old bicycle or a Porsche, once you put on your gi and get on the mat we are all equal. Every time you step on the mat you are faced with a tremendous opportunity and challenge: What type of person do you want to be today? Every time you step on the mat it is your challenge to be the person you want to be, to express that ‘you’ with real action. Do you choose to be a quitter, do you choose to be timid, do you choose to be afraid of losing, do you choose not to take any risks and settle for the little that you have? Or do you choose to keep striving, to be bold and courageous, to take risks and learn and grow? Every time you get on the mat, that is your choice to make.”

Next time you are looking at the ceiling with the wind knocked out of you… ask yourself  Rickson’s question: “What type of person do i choose to be?”

Keep Smilin’

Michael