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In reply to: MMA in Chengdu and China
Quote:So how and why is BJJ more popular than most martial arts out there?Sparring is really important, BJJ in general is so much safer to practice than other martial arts. I got elbowed in the face while rolling with a white belt in Chicago and bled profusely but everyone in BJJ seems to joke about white belts being the most dangerous because they have no control of their body. With higher level BJJ guys, it’s very elegant and graceful compared to other martial arts. Human chess, they call it, which you can clearly see at higher skill levels.
Quote:Is this ‘Macho’ in a sense? Of course, it’s a dude trying to break limbs (either standing or on the ground), which in turn tries to end the fight as quickly as possible.What I meant was I noticed a huge difference in MMA gyms and in BJJ gyms. Within the MMA crowd they tend to be more confrontational, have more tribal tattoos, and there are a lot of bully-types. In contrast, basically all of the BJJ gyms and people that I met were very warm, friendly, and humble. Even guys at the highest level of the sport like Marcelo Garcia (that guy is as deadly as he is warm and friendly – incredible).
Quote:The biggest gyms in the world is BJJ based (Renzo Gracie in NYC).Just a quite side note… Marcelo’s gym blows away Renzo’s in NYC. A much friendlier and more encouraging place.
In reply to: MMA in Chengdu and China
My theory on BJJ is this: BJJ consists of: 25% sport (tournament stuff), 25% self defense (use for street), 25% MMA/Vale Tudo and 25% recreational BJJ. Those who train bjj on average do it about 2-3 times per week, which is at 1.5-2 hours per session. A vast majority of BJJ practitioners are recreational BJJ. These guys have full time jobs and uses BJJ as an outlet to relieve stress and gain back their sanity. There is a saying; ‘Jiu Jitsu Salva,’ or Jiu Jitsu Saves. This martial art is a great outlet for everyday people. Also gives them the sense to kick ass when needed.
So how and why is BJJ more popular than most martial arts out there? Well sparring for one. Not sure in other martial arts, but rolling mimics real life situations and in a controlled class room setting, it is very safe. Not only that, with each blood and sweat that is dripped, this creates a bonding between teammates, sense of commendatory. Is this ‘Macho’ in a sense? Of course, it’s a dude trying to break limbs (either standing or on the ground), which in turn tries to end the fight as quickly as possible.
How is BJJ different from other ‘Chinese Martial Arts?’ For one BJJ is an art that is hard to master. Missing a week of class can really set you back vs other teammates. While not training from a few months could bring you down a stripe or two. Also, BJJ encourages one to improve and ‘letting ego go.’ Sure there will be douches in every gym, those people you tend to avoid. Also BJJ brings people together from different classes, i’ve trained with hedge fund managers, to policeman to out of work 20 something year old’s! You can see why how great his martial art is and why people train it (i been doing it for 12 years).
Which is why i think BJJ will succeed in China. A few schools in Beijing has over 60-80 monthly members.. A good income for a full time BJJ instructor. Of course that is my main goal in the end, to have 100-200 students in Chengdu. Will i reach that goal, prob not, but i am near on my goal for this year, 30 total unique members for bjj! Small progress baby, 95% locals and 5% foreigners! Also those who are under me progress pretty fast and has high regards to how i teach, while the people who trains are very friendly and courteous (they better be or risk having a broken limb :P). There is no competition yet, but that will change in the future. With me being at the bottom now, i am creating a brand for myself. I highly doubt a Brazilian will come to Chengdu… Why leave Rio for.. This?
As for Chinese Martial Arts Kung Fu based.. It’s a fantasy, a romantic obsession that is nothing but theatrical parlor tricks (that is portrayed in the media). It creates a mentality that ‘i am better than you and i already won without fighting you.’ Same goes for many other martial arts as well. People can either love this or be turned off by this. Watch the ‘Iron Ring’ on BET, a shitty excuse for an MMA program that tries glorifies ‘Chinese Martial Arts’ in an MMA setting, but fails because the instructors are too cool to fight. When i do research on martial arts in NYC, i am always directed to some kungfu site and how xyz African American went to China to learn Kungfu or some shit. A romantic obsession that is created by dubbed kungfu ‘Iron shirt or Deadly 7 fist panda strike’ movies. That’s just ‘Martial,’ different story if it’s the ‘Arts’ side (healing aspects of Tai Chi and Kung Fu ect).
As times change, so does perspective. The only way i see Chinese Kung Fu or Sanda or Krav Maga or XYZ martial art to flourish (in today’s world), is to see how effective it is in the cage, with rules that protects both fighters. Of course there will be backlash like ‘oww we cant do that, because our art is too deadly and it’s made to kill and maim.’ Well, how would you know if it’s effective if you never fought? Doing ‘Kata’ 1 billion times makes you good at that move, but how can you replicate it when your heart is beating at 150-80 beats per minute, when your cardio is being pushed to the max, when your opponent is dancing around looking for an opportunity to strike and when fighting is changing levels (ground then standing up)? Am i knocking those marital arts? A little, but i really do want to see new styles in MMA. Spice things up a little and change the course for MMA!
Joe Rogan said it best that MMA would be great for China, because he sees the different styles infusing with current MMA standing. Lyoto Machida uses his Karate style quite effectively in his fights. Anderson Silva uses his Muah Thai beautifully to demolish his opponents. Damien Maia uses BJJ to destroy his opponents. Sakuraba with his Japanese base catch wrestling. Junior Dos Santos with his boxing.. And the list goes on! Once that barrier is broken, then the love obsession will continue for Eastern Martial Arts! I really do want to see telepathic no touch chi kung in the cage.. Esp vs Jon Jones.. Hate that guy!
And the only way for MMA to succeed in China (my opinion) is for the govt to be fully behind it.. Which in turn will lead to private entities to create their gyms. Quite the opposite from the US, where it’s all private funds.
Also.. Donnie Yuen is a purple belt in BJJ under Thomas Fan (?) In Hong kong. I trained at Thomas’ gym in HK two weeks ago, they welcomed me with open arms! With Donnie being a big movie star, it shows the small progression on how BJJ/MMA is having on Chinese movies today!
In reply to: MMA in Chengdu and China
Despite China’s relationship with martial arts it’s hard for me to picture MMA really taking off here. If something like Pride in Japan can’t be profitable it’s hard to imagine that a profitable fighting league could even exist in China, which then brings us to the question if the state will sponsor an unprofitable league. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.
In the US there are people passionate about martial arts and MMA basically wherever you go. Los Angeles is filled with BJJ, Minnesota is filled with wrestlers, NYC has everything, etc. But even in the little places like Wisconsin you can find black belts who run gyms with serious fighters training there. Most of the people training are middle class folks who are just passionate about training and fighting, they’re friendly people but this is just what they’re into – it isn’t about money at all.
How many people are there like that in China, that are that passionate about training martial arts and competing against others? We have been struggling for years to even find simple things here in Chengdu like a muay thai gym, and this is a city of 14 million.
MMA is very much a macho sport of tough guys. Those kind of personalities in China are extremely rare – the biggest domestic role models and celebrities are people like Jay Chou and Andy Lau, there are no equivalents of macho Western personalities like Vin Diesel or Jason Statham. Just an example, but the difference between Western and Eastern culture insofar as tough guy culture is very apparent.
Quote:Chinese sports areChina is very corrupt in generalFixed that for you
Quote:Money is a big issue, as always, and is probably the #1 factor for the decline of kungfu. And MMA, according to what you are talking about, faces the same issue.That is interesting – there isn’t much money in other martial arts around the world, but many of them like BJJ are flourishing. What do you think makes kung fu different? Why do you think kung fu hasn’t caught on overseas? Can anything be done to cause it to rise again?
To me, our entire (Western) understanding of kung fu is a remnant of the kung fu film era of the 70’s. Bruce Lee, Shaw Brothers, etc. Cool stuff, but definitely from a bygone era. These days you mostly see other martial arts in action films like krav maga and kali/eskrima, etc (the Bourne movies and others, a lot of weapon-based combat).
In reply to: MMA in Chengdu and China
Ruff could be here to stay, they are a good company vs ‘local mma events,’ which is a sorry excuse of fighting and just glorifying the Chinese fighters vs D ranked foreign fighters… Ruff is already on CCTV in Chongqing, broadcasting to the city peoples. Like every new organization there will be trouble and problems, hope them the best to ‘ruff’ it out heh. Infact, i wouldnt mind being a ref for their fights. All i see is the one dude who always reffing fights. Once my contract is up for my current job, ill spend more time dedicating to spread of bjj/mma in Chengdu.
Treating international crowd is a priority, Chinese based fighter.. Not so much.. Could be the same in many schools in China, if there is a foreign teacher, you bet your ass he/she is being treated like a king vs other Chinese teachers. But Ruff is giving these guys (Chinese fighter) an opportunity. Fight for money, win and get treated well, lose and you’re on your ass. Very similar to fighter in the UFC.. They just cut 15 people today…
That is why i focus on the recreational side of martial arts/bjj. Everyone loves it, those who come trains with me has high regards. First and foremost is safety for others. I cant stand if someone gets hurt, ill hurt the dude who did the hurting :). Recreational Martial arts is for all ages and classes.
In reply to: MMA in Chengdu and China
As for the ‘Millionaire’ money prize from Ruff, one has to go through a tourny and win every fight to do quite well. And fights prior to reaching the championship, they range from 5k rmb to 20k. And of course Ruff isnt sponsored by the Chinese gov’t. I think they are a priv entity that has contracts with the gov’t.
As for people coming to China coaching for as being sponsored, it’s tons of misses than hits. A great example is a 3rd degree Carlson Black belt (bjj based) teaching in Beijing (China Top Team). He saw an opportunity and been here since 2007, he thought he could make a good living here.. Bought his entire family from Rio… Of course in Beijing on a gov’t salary isnt a going make ends meet (6k RMB per month). This is the guy who trained a fighter, first ever Chinese fighter in the UFC mind you. He left China and did not tell his team, hell he told me when i first met him at a Ruff event. His words “Chinese people are cheap.”
Fighters in the west BARELY make enough to survive, being an MMA fighter is a lifestyle, glorified by the media, harsh by reality. That is why i didnt pursue it (that and losing brain cells while getting my head bashed in isnt a smart move long term). Something to ask, what does Sanshou fighters do after they graduate from Uni? Will they work in a professional club that just trains and teaches or will they do something else for work? Had a few fighters come to the club and train, they expressed interests in BJJ, but couldnt train often because they had no money and work was hard to find… 30 RMB per class btw…
Also the diff between Chinese gyms and priv gyms is that Gyms in China are all inclusive, everything is housed in one stadium. They pay trainers to come teach, from all over the world. At most probably 10k per month? Prob less. The turn rate for coaches staying is quite low.
Another example of this is when 2 bjj black belts were sponsored by a gym in China, govt gym. These two black belts are pretty good, but left due to the terms in their contracts and were asked to do ‘shady’ things. Like promote 2 Chinese fighters per year to ‘Black belt rank’ in bjj. They disagreed on those terms (and more) and left China, also gave warnings to future coaches for that gym.
As for CTT (China Top Team), they are for front runner for UFC to be in China. Andy Wang is their head bjj and mma coach now (i think). Since trying to break the market in China is near impossible, the UFC decided to go to the Philippine, but will also do events in Macau.
One final note for the ‘millionaire’ prize money from RUFF.. While my trip last week to HK, i met a trainer who knows the winners of Ruff’s competition. He said RUFF has yet to pay the 1mill prize money to the fighters based in HK. With that.. I would take everything with a grain of salt while training/fighting in China… It’s still backwards here and lacking….
In reply to: MMA in Chengdu and China
Yea see ya sunday.
MMA is very small here in China and will it grow big? Not sure, in the US it is big, but due to the UFC and other martial arts (BJJ, wrestling boxing gyms ect ect). Yet the people who runs these gyms/schools are private entities, with no backing from the US govt. UFC almost folded if it werent for the Bonner/Griffin fight… Also Pride folded too (private/backroom deals that fucked them over).
As for China, in order for something to be ‘famous’ or become popular is the backing from the Chinese gov’t. I do not see MMA becoming too big here. Even if MMA becomes big, private MMA gyms don’t do quite well in earnings and in attendance. Been in this game for too long to know how gyms work and operate. Which is why BJJ is a good. The biggest gyms in the world is BJJ based (Renzo Gracie in NYC).
Will MMA in CD become huge? Not for a few years. For every MMA fighter there has to be a ‘base.’ Im leading the BJJ base here and Moko is going to create a team with a Muah Thai base (and hopefully me being lead BJJ instructor/MMA coach).
These are my feelings for MMA. Infact, MMA is kinda declining now. Not as popular as a few years ago. Just not enough money in it and recycling of fighters…
In reply to: MMA in Chengdu and China
Is this event 23rd or 24th? Dates matter. If it’s 23rd, then we will try to find a place. Already this has gained interests with some members of the club.
Even though it’s last minute, i believe we can accommodate the needs. Not sure if it’s the same person, but someone approached an Admin for the bjj club to do a seminar, we were not able to do it because the club is small and primarily bjj (sport and self defense). But if it’s open to a greater community, then that’s a different story! A common ground with different groups is best i believe.
In reply to: MMA in Chengdu and China
I have to teach BJJ class on the 24rd. Is there a venue for this to be taken place at?
This is very last minute, ill try my best. The possible location is 25 hours, we can hold it there form 11-1pm, which is the time i teach, but people come there for bjj. Ill talk to my guys thurs to see if there are any interests.
As for the fees, i charge 30 rmb per class, open to everyone. Those who comes travel great distances and of ‘ALL’ classes. So the price reflects what they are able to afford. Pretty low yes, but thats how i roll… For all people to train. But since it’s going to be a seminar, we can try to work something out, which all proceeds goes to him (taking away my lunch money!!:P)
And also note since it’s the first sunday back from spring fest, i believe most of my guys would just want to roll and train, shaking the cobwebs off. Like i typed, this is a last minute seminar… As of this moment, the bjj club has been planning to bring a black belt from HK over to do a 3 day seminar, been in plans for a few months before everything is finalized….
Topic: MMA in Chengdu and China
Vaughn Anderson, an Asia-based MMA fighter and trainer at the Xi’an Sports Institute, is coming to Chengdu on the 23rd to hold an MMA seminar. He’ll talk about MMA in China and in Asia in general, demonstrate some techniques, and most likely roll with a few people if it comes to that.
Here is some basic information:
Height: 180 CM
Weight: 78 KG
Style: BJJ/ Muay Thai/ Boxing/ Sanda
K-1: http://www.k-1.co.jp/k-1gp/fighter/vaughn_anderson.htm
Sherdog: http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Vaughn-Anderson-14732
Vaughn Anderson is a professional fighter with knock out wins in Japan’s K-1 promotion, Muay Thai events in Thailand, Sanda events in China, as well as KO wins in MMA. Of Vaughn’s 18 MMA fights he has 1 loss with 1 draw, and all by 2 of his 16 MMA wins have been finishes. He is currently listed as 6th in Canada’s middleweight rankings:Vaughn often accepts fights outside of his weight class winning two open-weight MMA tournaments. He prefers to fight at welterweight (77kg) where he remains undefeated. Vaughn has fought in U.A.E, Australia, and everywhere in between.
Vaughn is currently coaching China’s largest MMA at Xi’an Sports University:
We will need to pay for the man’s flight out here as well as fees for the seminar, together that fee should come to about RMB2500-3000. We have 10 people signed up already, just via word of mouth. The more people that come out, the less each person has to pay. I think this would be a great opportunity to bring the MMA crowd in Chengdu together for a little conference.
If you have any questions, please respond in this forum thread. The exact time and location is yet to be determined.
Thanks,
Sascha
In reply to: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Chengdu
That is the website.
In reply to: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Chengdu
You can train No Gi on sunday’s but its preferable to bring a gi.
You can get a basic gi on Taobao. You mentioned it to me last year (with the Chinese characters), so i searched for it and bought it. A generic one is about 460 RMB. It’s best to get one from the states, since they are higher quality.
Once this club starts picking up, i will find a supplier and try to get my own brand of gi’s. Still 460 for a ‘Koral’ is quite good, not the real thing, but still useable and durable.
As of right now, the average is 10 peoples per class. Not bad after a year with me as head. 2013 looks like it’s going to be a fantastic year for me and BJJ!
My friend has a really good black Gi, price is 800 RMB. Very good Gi, it’s just too big for him and he needs to get rid of it.
In reply to: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Chengdu
Quote:Sunday: 11-1PM, GI BJJ at25 Hours Fitness Club
25小时健身俱乐部成都青羊店
I was hoping to do no-Gi but I can’t make it to that location by 7pm on Thursdays. What’s the deal with Gi’s here – do you get them on Taobao or something? Any suggestions Jerry?
In reply to: Sichuan University hiring English teaching staff
Heh, she is true with her words. I am studying marketing now for BJJ and how to generate more students, well.. Not needed for this moment, but when the time is right, i will launch one of those cheesy websites/infomercial type thingy.
It’s kinda sad that we do not do the work in the field that’s in conjunction with our majors… Sad… :'(. I wanted to study Native Americans in a natural setting on how ‘high unemployment and alcoholism’ is hindering them to cope with modern society, or some shit like that.
In reply to: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Chengdu
Heads up for those who are still following this thread.
There will be one more class added per week, but dates are now changed. The schedule looks like this (effective January 8th 2013);
Tues: 7-9 PM, No-Gi BJJ/MMA at
Guangda Guoji Mansion 4th Fl., 2 Caoshi Jie, Chengdu
成都草市街二号成都光大国际大厦四层
Thurs: 7-9 PM, GI BJJ at
Guangda Guoji Mansion 4th Fl., 2 Caoshi Jie, Chengdu
成都草市街二号成都光大国际大厦四层
Sunday: 11-1PM, GI BJJ at
25 Hours Fitness Club
25小时健身俱乐部成都青羊店
All classes are 30 RMB, first session is free. That averages about 15 RMB per hour! Come train, OSSSSS!
Hi guys,
i am new in this forum, so firstly hello to all of you! now my question soon i am on the way to chengdu and in advance i want to check some contacts for local gyms. i want to start learning boxing and escrima maybe some bjj too. it would be great if someone can give me some advice.
peace
In reply to: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Chengdu
Quote:heh yea, spelling isnt my forte.It’s cool. I expect to be choked out for correcting you if/when we spar. I made several comments about how BJJ looks gay at gyms in the US and paid dearly for it.
In reply to: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Chengdu
成都长顺中街98号少城府邸3楼, 30 Rmb per class Wends night.
Probably next month or Feb there will be another class added. Right now for no-gi MMA/BJJ, it’s just Wends nights 7-9pm. The first 30 min are grueling crossfit style workouts, then boxing/mma/muah thai for another 30. Next 30 min are me teaching No-Go BJJ. Last 30 min we just roll. Average is abotu 10-14 students, quite packed for a small space.
Not bad, 2 hours for 30 rmb, can’t beat that!!!
In reply to: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Chengdu
Come train. I am head of the bjj scene here, also brown belt, 11 years exp. 3 blue belts and rest whites. Can’t really get better training with whites and blues, but the core group of guys here are getting better.
PS: It’s my future goal to make BJJ a huge thing here, aka, ill be here for many many years :).
Hi All, i’ve heard about somebody named “Jerry” who is involved in teaching brazilian jiujistu in Chengdu? Just wondering if anyone has any info regarding his contact details or knows of any opportunities for training or teaching BJJ. I’m a brown belt in BJJ with 7 years of training and competition experience and i’m looking for some training partners or opportunities to teach BJJ (i’ll arrive in Chengdu in February) Thanks!
In reply to: Krav Maga in Chengdu?
