Are we going to see a change in the landscape? Will more SE asia fighters get a chance via more focus on lower weight classes?
Maybe in 5/10 years we'll see a 115lb weightclass in the UFC. Johnson looks like it's his class now! Will China be all that great at it? Where do they place in Olympic sports, because Kung Fu is no base for MMA ;-) They had that big Olympic boxer a few years back. I guess if they get good wrasslin' and BJJ coaches there'll be some interesting wushu fighters.
They can build good boxers there and san shao is a much more likely base than wu shu which is basically dancing. It all depends on how much they care about it. Brazil is P4P king of mma because they're really into it and have been for years. That's more important than how many people you have. Like soccer in the US.
Got a mate out there at the moment. Decent boxer compared to other casual fighters but no fights and not all that committed. He went to the local boxing gym, got on the pads with the coach and everyone stopped and watched him ooohing and ahhhing at every straight right and double jab. I actually meant to ask this on another forum because I dont understand why they dont love boxing. Communist countries typically love it as a sport although I know boxing was banned until relatively recently. You'd imagine they'd do well at it, more so with MMA. Anyone know why they havent embraced professional combat sports?
Whta's ironic is that Chinamaight be the birth place of martial arts, and they're not involved in mixed martial arts.
China loves MMA lol I expected a Chinchecker thread atsch [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VctpA3sliEM[/ame]
Err...based on what? I think you're giving China way too much credit it doesn't deserve. As I understand it they do have regular boxing and Thai boxing shows. The boxing shows regulalry draw 10 million viewers as they are shown on national TV. Chauncey Welliver the heavyweight lump spends alot of time out there fighting where he is a bit of a star known as the Panda. Skill level is developing, check out the coming Olympics we may all be surprised. In terms of Muay Thai it is a fast growing sport in China, I know a ranked aussie Cruiserweight that can't get fights in Thailand due to his size that has alot of stuff lined up in China. MMA is a hard one to guage but there is no reason to believe it won't catch on as the country has an insatiable appetite for everything, especially things it feels it can or could compete in to gain more flag waving triumph for the national cause, especally considering the Martial backgound of the country.
sanda/ wushu seems like a great base actually. striking transitioning to takedowns is probably one of the best striking bases for mma. Of course you need some skills once you get the fight to the ground... [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBKJA4-fZbQ&feature=fvst[/ame]
They have a widespread Sanda scene and hired a bunch of Thai trainers to develop their fighters. Seems the next logical step is for this base to be used as a springboard for MMA.
