MTV2's FINAL FU

[Fu-Pow]

Hey anyone remember when Ernie Reyes Jr. was on that show "Sidekicks" in the 80's....wasn't Chuck Norris on there also?

Anyhoo, this XMA type of crap will always end up on TV because it looks flashy.

"Real" martial arts is pretty boring to watch.

FP

[BigPandaBear]

"Real" martial arts is pretty boring to watch.

FP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ot7hB...earch=capoeira

[BruceSteveRoy]

yeah, i cant stop watching that stupid show either. i hate it but i cant look away which makes me hate it more. anyway, i finally understand why people think martial arts are BS. This is the what America sees when they think of MA. Its depressing. i cant believe they give more points for jumping spinning kicks. its such an impractical attack. i am going to go now. i am sad.

[Emeraldphoenix]

That was the worst i have ever seen.

Take some 10 year old kids put some gloves on them and you would have a more entertaining show of skill.

I cant even believe that it made it to tv, nor can i believe the participants would even show their faces.

I saw 1 episode. guy was rolling around like monkey. and they are saying wow check out his wonderful display of skill. Had to puke after that one...

[Pork Chop]

I still stand by my original comment on this show:

... but it's not like watching a car crash.
It's like watching 2 retards driving bumper cars made out of nitro glycerin with babies strapped to the front.... I just could not stop watching.

[Shaolindynasty]

If you win the courses, and the fights, you'll win the competition overall.

No you won't. That guy Matt came in first on one challenge placed high in the rest. Won all his fights but came in 5th place and was kicked off the show. Meanwhile the girl that placed in the top 4 pretty much lost everything she was in

[Banjos_dad]

Maybe grand prize for final foo' should be a spot in next season's "The Ultimate Fighter"

[BigPandaBear]

Maybe grand prize for final foo' should be a spot in next season's "The Ultimate Fighter"

You know, I'd actually pay to see that one...

[Banjos_dad]

you wouldn't even have to pay for that one my friend, i'd have a viewing party at my house & we'd all watch it together...bring your own bottle

you know it will never happen though, at such high levels of proficiency these guys can't break out their best moves: "our moves are t3h d34dly, way too intense for sport" It's for the good of humanity of course.

[JamesC]

So I just got through watching the fights on MTV Overdrive.

I've seriously seen better fights at point competitions. The only good technique in the entire show was the left hook to the throat. Dude went dooowwwwnn!

Anyways, i'll never watch it again. It's disgusting.

[David Jamieson]

craptastic.

I had to say it. But what do you expect from that outfit? something deep? lol
mtv doesn't do deep.

[GeneChing]

...I'm fascinated with all your comments. The one theme that has emerged is that the show sucks because the fights are bad. That seems rather silly and narrow-minded to me here as a detached observer. Obviously, the fights are not the focus. If you want good fights, that's what cage matches are for. That's a whole different market, a whole different entertainment media. What should make this show interesting or uninteresting would be the dynamics of reality tv - do the personalities work? Are there heroes and villains? Who's going to win? Also, the imaginativeness of the 'challenges' should be a factor. The youtube stuff seemed rather unimaginative. Like I said earlier, it reminds me of an old episode of Fantasy Island I saw. IMHO, one of the most interesting aspect of K-STAR was that the contestents where tested on CMA history. I'm told that many washed out here, which sounds hilarious to me personally, but that may be because I could rock that kind of test. Imagine if they did something like that for Final Fu.

Anyway, I get the idea y'all don't like the fights. What about the rest? I'll probably never see it so I'm experiencing it vicariously through all of you (and enjoying it!) Note that this is the longest discussion thread that we've had off an e-zine article so far, so props to author Melissa Leon-Guerrero Do for putting this piece together for us.

[David Jamieson]

~g

You should be proud that you're likely one of the only people on the planet that could rock a kungfu history test. I would put that in the arena of...oh I don't know, that's what you live breath and eat and have done so for a good many years?

For me, it's not so much the fighting, which is poor, yes, but the cheese. It's not nacho cheese, it's caker americana cheese and it blows the context of martial arts.

It has a real silly xma feel to it and once again makes martial arts enthusiasts to look like nutbags.

which maybe we are? I don't know. Lol, I don't have a proper reference except for that it seems most of the people in my neighbour hood are content with getting fat, watching tv as an activity , getting zero exercise and eating the wrong foods and an improbability of being able to defend themselves if need be.

It's that or jogging fanatics and yoga moms.

This is all good of course, but when we are a limited segment of the population and we are continually put forth to the wider public with all this cheesiness, it diminishes the overall value of traditional martial arts by turning people off to them or by misleading people into incorrectly perceiving what they are or have the potential of adding to their lives.

2 cents, I know it's a lousy tip, but its all I got at the moment.

[Eliver]

Alright, after checking out the show one last time last night, I really don't know if i want to watch it again. The fights have now digressed into people hugging their chests so they don't get tagged all the while poking away. This last fight had a super big Hung Gar dude vs. a 4'8" TKD girl. Here are my thoughts:

1. The girl was flopping her ass off even though she wasn't getting hit that hard. Well, it worked. It made the judges think the guy was using excessive force

2. No back contact? Even when under control? Are you kidding me? So technically, i could fight the whole match with my back facing my opponent and mule kick my way to victory and my opponent can't do jack.

3. Lastly, the Hung Gar guy got DQed when he barely touched her face. Hell, it looked like he punched her arm more than her face. Bull**** i tells ya.

[BruceSteveRoy]

amen. that was the biggest bunch of bs i have seen. what the heck do they expect when you put a 6' tall guy against someone that is 4'8 in a continuous sparring match where you have to keep your attacks between the knee and shoulders and cant hit the back. he has such an amazingly smaller target to hit than her. anyway, these fighters seem better than the last batch of retards they had on there. the hung gar guy is going to lose so bad bc he isnt flashy enough.
i have resorted to keeping myself amused trying to watch ernie reyes while he is reffing the fights. he jumps around like a little leprechaun in the back ground. its so funny to watch. i never had an opinion on him before this show and now my opinion is he is doing more to hurt the credibility and reputation of MA than all of the bs MA instructors in the country. he is a person in the spotlight and at the moment he is showcasing the worst side of MA.
there are a few guys in this new batch of fighters that look like they have a lot of skill though. sad part is they arent allowed to show anything real. i think they would have been better off putting foot, hand and headgear on these ppl and let them go at it. i mean its not like these ppl are fragile. they are martial artists. they are not made of porcelain. they all (more than likely) have had some full contact experience. if they havent then i have to say they shouldn't all be claiming to be all these different degrees of black belt. the show has a lot of potential and conceptually it is a great idea but the execution of the show is poorly done.