China MMA

[Syn7]

hey, thanx...

[Syn7]

So Tiequan Zhang did well this weekend... the wolf is back, i guess... it was disappointing to see him lose to Downes last fight... He came out with crisp fast boxing and finished it quick with some grappling... it was fresh... 45 second fiight... tight guillotine... im glad the UFC has feathers and bantam now... i`d like to see a 125 division aswell... and the heavyweight division split in at least two, 205 - 230, 230 - 265 or something...heavyweight and super heavyweight... and to be honest i think their should be a cruiserweight too... i guess if they could afford it they`d have 8 pound divisions like boxing... anyways, rant... good to see the mongolian wolf back on his feet...

[GeneChing]

The article I posted on the Zhang Tie Quan - Chinese Fighter in MMA said "The Chinese fight fan market is also untapped and a big reason why UFC put Zhang's fight on Facebook."

"Facebook is blocked in China and not widely used by Chinese."

[bawang]

i feel very happy for zhang and wish him good luck in the future. im very happy china finally entered ufc.

[GeneChing]

Peter Chernin Purchases Stake in Hong Kong’s Legend Fighting Championship
By Andy Fixmer - Jul 13, 2011 7:30 AM PT

Peter Chernin, News Corp.’s former chief operating officer, is investing in the Hong Kong-based mixed martial arts promoter Legend Fighting Championship.

CA Media LP, the Asian division of Chernin Group, and Diamond Ridge Ventures LLC are making the investment, the companies said in an e-mailed statement. Terms weren’t provided.

Legend will vie for fans with Ultimate Fighting Championship and World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (WWE), which also hold events in Asia. WWE and UFC are weighing whether to start their own U.S. TV channels. Their matches draw some of the biggest audiences on cable TV and pay-per-view.

“We are committed to helping Legend develop its high- quality MMA offering into the leading and most exciting martial arts franchise coming out of Asia, the original home of martial arts, and onto the world stage,” Chernin said in the release.

Founded in 2009, Legend will host its fifth championship on July 16 at Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (MPEL)’s City of Dreams casino in Macau. The event, with tickets priced as high as HK $1,280 ($164), will feature events with welterweight champion Rod MacSwain of New Zealand and Chinese title holder Yao Honggang. Bouts are carried on television networks including Kix, owned by Haim Saban and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF)

Legend, co-founded by managing directors Michael Haskamp and Chris Pollak, marks Chernin’s first Asian investment. CA Media Chief Executive Officer Paul Aiello, former CEO of News Corp.’s Star TV service, and Josh Swartz, managing director of Newport Beach, California-based Diamond Ridge, are joining Legend’s board, the companies said.

Chernin, 60, founded Chernin Entertainment and Chernin Group, both based in Santa Monica, California, after leaving News Corp. in July 2009. Chernin Entertainment makes TV shows and films, while the Chernin Group manages, operates and invests in media, entertainment and technology companies.

Hong Kong-based CA Media in November was created to oversee investments in India, China and other parts of Asia. Diamond Ridge Ventures is a music, consulting and sports management company.

WWE needs to start gyms like UFC.

[GeneChing]

Asia takes on the best in mixed martial arts
AFP
Sunday, 24 July 2011

It has taken time and a few false starts but Asia, the spiritual and physical home of martial arts, now seems ready to take on the best in the world of modern mixed combat.

When Bae Myung Ho raised the Legend Fighting Championship welterweight title belt last Saturday night he showed it briefly to his fans and then the South Korean mixed martial artist went straight for the television cameras.

Bae fought in front of around 1,500 people inside Macau's City of Dreams casino complex - but an estimated 150 million households across the globe watched on TV.

Mixed martial arts incorporates the skills of everything from Brazilian jiu-jitsu, through judo, wrestling, karate and Muay Thai kick-boxing.

From the sold-out ringside in Macau it was easy to see why MMA has become so popular.

Fight fans were treated to everything from a knockout to a submission and, finally, Bae's high-octane display in wresting the welterweight crown from New Zealander Rod MacSwain through a unanimous points decision over three rounds.

The fighters enter the ring through smoke, lights and pounding beats. There are rules, of course, including no eye-gouging or blows below the belt, but pretty much everything else goes.

For Bae that meant making use of his superior strength over MacSwain and dumping him to the canvass for long periods in both the second and third of their five-minute rounds.

Once pinned, MacSwain could do little more than try to cover up as his opponent pounded knee after knee into his head and upper torso.

"We are experiencing a tonne of momentum now," said Legend co-founder Chris Pollack. "You have to have world-class fighters and we have that. We now think we are producing something that is as good as anything you will see."

In the United States, mixed martial arts - primarily through the Ultimate Fighting Championship - has long been the most-watched sport on pay-per-view television, a feat it first achieved in 2006 when its bouts generated more than $200 million in revenue over the year.

The sport also has a long and successful history in Japan but the rest of Asia has struggled to consistently organise and market its major events internationally.

A spate of failed ventures and cancellations culminated in the debacles of the "Fury 2" and "Mayhem in Macau" cards, planned for October 2010 and January this year respectively.

Both events were axed at the last minute after poor ticket sales, rumours of internal wrangling and negative press.

But organisers of Saturday's event signed previously unmatched broadcasting deals throughout North America and beamed the event live from Macau into the rest of China, a market even the wildly successful Ultimate Fighting Championship has struggled to pin down.

"It's a sport where athletes can draw on the best from so many sports from this region and they now have a chance to show them to the world," said Pollack.

The fact that Asia finds itself at the forefront of the sport has, for some, been a long time coming.

"It seems to be turning full circle as it can all be traced back to one man - Bruce Lee," said Hong Kong-based film director/producer Bey Logan, who specialises in martial arts films and wrote the script for action icon Jackie Chan's "The Medallion".

"The first filmed MMA match was the opening scene of 'Enter the Dragon' - 38 years ago. Bruce Lee has the trunks and the gloves, he is fighting on a mat and takes the guy down and makes him tap out. It all goes back to that."

He pointed to the upcoming release of Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh's production "Haywire" - which stars American mixed martial arts star Gina Carano - as further proof that the sport has gained wide acceptance.

Pollack and his Legend Fighting Championship have three more events set for Macau in the next 12 months, as well as others in Hong Kong - all to be beamed across the globe.

"A lot of our guys are still coming from single sports - they are learning all about what you can use in mixed martial arts," said Pollack. "They are learning about the sport and now the world is learning about them."

Legend Fighting Championship official site

[GeneChing]

I just got this press release

DramaFever and Hulu Strike Legend Deal for MMA

Legend Fighting Championship World-Class Mixed Martial Arts Events Stream Online for Free on DramaFever and Hulu in US, Canada and Latin America

HONG KONG / NEW YORK [January 15, 2013] – For the first time, millions of mixed martial arts (MMA) fans in the USA, Canada and Latin America will be able to watch some of the Asia-Pacific’s most elite fighters compete for free and online. New York-based DramaFever and Hong Kong-based Legend Fighting Championship have teamed up to make Legend’s Asia-Pacific Championship MMA events available online exclusively through DramaFever, starting January 15. Fans can catch up with all previously televised fights in high-definition as originally televised on Pay-Per-View, online and for free.

All past and future Legend events will be streamed in their entirety on both DramaFever.com and a dedicated Legend-Hulu channel, which DramaFever is creating as part of a recent content deal. On DramaFever.com, each event will appear as its own series, giving viewers the option to watch the whole event, individual bouts, or highlights. Viewers will find information about the events and fighters in both English and Spanish via a bilingual player. Future features are being added to enable deeper fan engagement, such as adding photos and comments to videos or athlete pages.

Backed by AMC Networks, Bertelsmann, co-founders of YouTube and Machinima, MK Capital, and NALA Investments (the investment vehicle for the family that created Univision and Televisa), DramaFever’s global digital entertainment platform specializes in primetime television from around the world. DramaFever co-founder Suk Park went to Columbia Business School with the co-founders of Legend, Michael Haskamp and Chris Pollak, who have created the largest and most popular international MMA competition in the Asia-Pacific region.

“More Enter the Dragon than Mortal Kombat-style bloody slugfests, the Legend fights have very broad appeal, reaching the merely curious about MMA, true martial artists, and Bruce Lee fans, as well as hardcore fans, we hope,” said Suk Park, co-founder of DramaFever. “By making the fights available online and for free, on demand, US viewers and MMA fans gain some variety and a world-class, yet affordable, alternative to relatively limited choices that exist now.”

Co-founder of Legend, Chris Pollak added, “Sports fans will discover masters in non-traditional MMA fighting styles such as Sanda (“freestyle kung fu”), Wushu, and Shuaijiao, as well as the styles you see all the time in MMA, such as Muay thai, Brazilian Jiujitsu, boxing, and wrestling.”

Starting January 15, DramaFever and Hulu will stream over 17 hours of fight entertainment not previously available online to US consumers. The events include plenty of drama and reasons to root for the fighters’ personal stories, the countries they represent and their fighting styles. Each event is approximately two hours in length (110 minutes), featuring current champions from South Korea, Japan, Mongolia, China, and 10 more Asia-Pacific countries. In 2013, Legend Fighting Championship plans to hold six events, with a new event televised and then distributed over DramaFever every two months. Viewers will find Legend featured prominently on the main page of DramaFever.com, or can use the Search fu nction anytime. Existing and future Legend events will also be added to a Legend Fighting Championship Collection on DramaFever.com and Hulu.com.

If someone notices when these go live on DramaFever.com, please to notify us here. Right now, it's just got of Korean dramas.

Perhaps I'll split Legend into it's own thread soon.

[Lucas]

Thats good news. I like the variety of styles that get to fight. For me personally UFC has gotten stale and stagnant. Its like watching the same three fights over and over almost. I think breaking away from the repetition is important. Sport fighting , after all, is entertainment. Lets spice it up a bit!

[GeneChing]

This perspective is a tad skewed, but quite relevant here.

Modern martial arts
Ain’t that a kick in the head
New forms of martial arts are catching on, despite the nostalgia of filmmakers
Feb 9th 2013 | HOHHOT

Zhang’s no kung fu panderer

THERE are now many ways to become a millionaire in China, and for Zhang Meixuan, the route has been through martial arts. In 2011 Mr Zhang, the son of poor farmers, was jailed for assault. On February 2nd in the grimy northern mining city of Hohhot, he became flyweight champion of China in mixed martial arts (MMA) and collected a cheque for 1m yuan ($160,000). His rise from the paddy fields of dirt-poor Guizhou province mirrors the rapid rise of more modern forms of martial arts such as muy thai and Brazilian jiujitsu and their challenge to traditional forms of Chinese kung fu.

Partly responsible for the shift is the Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation (RUFF), a China-based promoter run by Joel Resnick, a Canadian businessman (pictured, behind Mr Zhang). RUFF has been awarded the only permit to hold MMA events in China. The first, in 2011, was seen on television by perhaps 100,000 viewers. The Hohhot event was beamed to millions across China.

Traditional kung fu, incorporating different styles such as Wing Chun, Shaolin and tai chi , though still popular, has been in decline for decades, because of a one-two to the head, first from Maoism and now from commercialism. Youths with smartphones and short attention spans have no time for breathing exercises and meditation. The MMA crowd also accuses kung fu of being useless in an actual fight, and believe even Jet Li and Jackie Chan, two fighting film stars, are more like dancers than real toughs.

Into this debate has stepped Wong Kar-wai, an award-winning director from Hong Kong. His new film, “The Grandmaster”, opened the Berlin International Film Festival on February 7th. For many, Mr Wong’s film is just another kung fu epic. In China, however, the film has sparked further debate on the connections between traditional martial arts, beautifully portrayed in the film during the 1930s, and more modern forms.

A behind-the-scenes documentary, that shows Mr Wong’s largely unsuccessful search for kung fu masters of the old school to help train his actors, has been an online hit. Many Chinese people, including practitioners of MMA, still have a soft spot for the history and discipline of traditional kung fu. But, as in many areas of modern China, the new, the brash and the million-yuan cheque pack a bigger punch.

[GeneChing]

The Evolution of Modern MMA in China by Gregory Brundage

[GeneChing]

Anyone been to a RUFF event?

Mandt Bros. Gets RUFF in the Land of the Dragon

Company to Develop Groundbreaking Mixed Martial Arts League and Events in China with Exclusive Government-Sanctioned Professional MMA-Rights Holder, Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation (RUFF)

SHANGHAI, Jan. 19, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- In the birthplace of kung fu and such action fighting stars as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, the still-nascent sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) gained some muscle today when RUFF (Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation), the first government-sanctioned professional MMA organization in China, announced a strategic partnership with L.A.-based Mandt Bros. Productions. RUFF and Mandt Bros. will collaborate on the creative development of the league and live events, with Mandt Bros. leading all television production, from one-off specials to a potential reality television series.

"This is a huge opportunity to help grow MMA in the most populous country in the world, where martial arts is already popular," offered Neil Mandt. "Mandt Bros. has strong expertise in sports and reality television, with deep relationships with networks, sponsors, athletes and others, and we are thrilled to team with RUFF to bring all of our creative and production skills to China."

In October 2010, after four years working with the Chinese government, RUFF founders and entrepreneurs Joel Resnick and Saul Rajsky secured the exclusive rights to produce and stage live, government-sanctioned, professional MMA events in China. RUFF produced its first two events in late 2011, which garnered television viewership of close to 20 million and 27 million, respectively. They anticipate that their third MMA fight, scheduled to take place in Chongqing on March 24, will reach a TV audience in excess of 60 million people.

Working with RUFF to engage investors, sponsors and other partners in gaining further traction across China, Mandt Bros. will help execute at least a half-dozen MMA events in 2012, which will include the crowning of official Chinese national champions across all weight classes.

For now, says Joel Resnick, it's about developing Chinese fighters for Chinese fans. In the past, he says, "nobody was willing to build the fighters, give them a personality, and make them fan-favorites. It's about showing ordinary kids that they can be the fighter, and you don't have to be the biggest or strongest guy to win."

About Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation (RUFF)
Headquartered in Shanghai, Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation (RUFF) has the exclusive rights to produce and stage live MMA events as a sanctioned sport in China, by permission of the General Administration of Sport of China Wushu Administrative Center. Its first two MMA events were produced in late 2011 in Shanghai; a third event is scheduled take place on March 24 in Chongqing. For more information, please visit www.ruffchina.com.

About Mandt Bros. Productions
Brothers Neil and Michael Mandt are partners in the Los Angeles-based production company Mandt Bros. Productions. Between them, they have earned four Emmy Awards, nine Emmy nominations and a Cable Ace Award, among numerous other accolades. Their projects include the critically acclaimed feature film Last Stop for Paul, its TV adaptation "Next Stop for Charlie" (Showtime) and other television projects which have included "Destination Truth" (Syfy), "Jim Rome is Burning" (ESPN), "Ice Brigade" (Food Network), "Strangers in Danger" (Fuel TV) and "The Car Show" (Speed Network).

SOURCE Mandt Bros. Productions

[Yung Apprentice]

What ever happened to the Art of War Fighting Championships? I thought they would be the big dogs in China, since they seemed to have had some pretty good cards, and then they just fizzled out? I was hoping they would become what Pride FC was to Japan. Haven't heard much from them, or they officially done?

[LeeLi]

it is the common perception that Art Of War gained a big sponsor with the assistance of Renzo Gracie: Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi. the Sheikh's dual investment in Zuffa would supposedly help the UFC gain inroads to China. it didn't fast-track, and the Sheikh stopped sponsoring the Art Of War. Co-Founder Andy Pi still insists he will resume producing events one day.

currently there are are only a few promotions in China which the outside, English-speaking world knows about: Top of Forbidden City, Ranik Ultimate Fighting Federation, and Legend Fighting Championship. TFC is co-run and sponsored by Bokesan and the Chinese government. RUFF is privately run and sanctioned by the Chinese government. Legend FC is privately owned and run. there are many regional fly-by-night shows going on all over China, but the MMA culture isn't developed to the point that anyone sees longevity in being a promoter. there's a complete list of promoters all over China and Asia - past and present - here on my website.

Legend FC has an event this weekend. you can watch the undercard streamed live and free on their YouTube channel. international PPV and broadcast information cab be found on their website. their are six Chinese athletes on their card, and one of them is from a Chinese Shuai Jiao background, Yao HongGang of China Top Team. he's being challenged for his Bantamweight title by Jumabieke Tuerxun of Xian Sports University. CTT is a private sector team, whereas Xian Uni is part of the government-sponsored athletics scheme.

there's a very good podcast interview with Mike Haskamp, Co-Founder of Legend FC with Eddie Goldman, "the Godfather of MMA Media" on No Holds Barred here. Haskamp gives a thorough explanation about MMA in China - he's like an encyclopedia on it. really worth your time if you want to understand how MMA is developing in China.

i will be at this weekend's Legend FC 7, so if you're interested in what's happening on the ground from weigh ins to after party, check out my website, MMA-in-ASIA.com and Facebook page!