With the increasing popularity of Mixed Martial Arts, gyms/academies are springing up across South
Korea. Like most martial arts gyms, the members generally look for a fun way to
get some exercise while learning self defense. Very few people have any
aspirations of ever fighting; much less of being a world champion. They may not get magazine covers but regular Joes learning how to hip escape correctly and to pass a guard make up the richest part of the global MMA community. Friendships
develop from sweating with each other. They pay the dues that help support a coach
and his/her family. They train hard and eventually develop as partners for the
more advanced members. For big fights they split a case of beer and order Pay Per View. They buy tickets to watch their classmates or coaches fight in
a local show. And they also introduce the sport to their coworkers and friends;
thereby growing the community even more.
Such is the case in
South Korea; where MMA is practiced by people from all walks of life. Because
every gym in the world has its own unique training style and atmosphere, no one
can sum up the training environment of a whole country. But there certainly are
trends that Korean MMA gyms follow, and put against a cultural and historical
context, we see how training Mixed Martial Arts is a unique experience in South
Korea due to its history of martial arts, the nationalistic
emphasis on Olympic sports, and the youth of the sport.
Korean Top Team,
P.O.M.A. (Power of Martial Arts), Team MAD, and Team Posse are some of the more
established gyms in the country. For example, Korean Top Team in Seoul started
around 2003, and is home to some of the top
fighters in the country. fighters looking for top level sparring partners and
coaches tend to go here. But as fighters continue to grow and develop their own
unique style, they often branch out and start their own schools. Some of
Korea’s most popular fighters capitalize on their name value to draw in
students. Unfortunately, the challenge of juggling a gym and a career can be
overwhelming for most fighters; especially if they have a family and children.
Thus, most gyms have a supporting cast of capable coaches to help run things.
As I've explained
earlier, Korean MMA is still pretty new, but Korea has a long history of
martial arts that produced expert strikers, judokas, and wrestlers. Good stand
up coaches are easy to find. Champion boxers and K-1 level kickboxers have
emerged from this country. After all, one should expect plenty of proficient strikers given that Tae Kwon Do is the national sport. And in MMA, traditional
martial arts like TKD continue to
prove more and more relevant in the current era of MMA. Anthony Pettis
attributes his striking style to Tae Kwon Do directly, and Lyoto Machida gave
us MMA fans “Karate Kid” nostalgia with
his knock out of Randy Couture.
Furthermore, the benefit
of training TKD doesn't stop on the feet. The incredible leg dexterity and
flexibility required to be a good TKD fighter transitions easily into the
grapplling world. After spending your childhood learning how to kick people in
every way possible from both a south paw and orthodox stance, throwing your
legs up for a triangle choke is no issue. UFC Lightweight Champion Ben Henderson,
a Korean/American himself, exemplifies this point. Though today he is more
known as a wrestler/grappler, Henderson’s journey as a martial artist began in
a TKD academy. His flexibility was on full display in his fight with Nate Diaz,
when Diaz attacked a leg lock and had Henderson doing the full splits without a
hint of agony or discomfort from the champion. And his powerful kicking game
was on display when he found it easier to kick Frankie Edgar’s leg out from
under him than to try and take him down through his wrestling.
The nationalism that
exists in Korea puts a big emphasis on Olympic sports like Judo and wrestling,
two sports where South Koreans excel at. South Korean judokas brought home a
combined 40 Olympic medals with 11 golds. In wrestling, South Korea holds 35
Olympic medals, 11 of them gold. I've had the pleasure of being tossed
on my head plenty of times by former members of both the Judo and wrestling
national teams. These guys and ladies, that have seen the highest levels of their
sport, are being hired by MMA gyms around the country to coach the next wave of
Korean fighters. Not only that, but interest in fighting is growing among these Olympic level athletes. Don't be surprised if South Korea
started pumping out world class killers in a few years.
The fact that MMA is
still very new in South Korea acts as a benefit for aspiring fighters. It may
sound counterproductive, but because MMA was already starting to enter the
modern hybrid era, Korean fighters know the importance of a well rounded game
(being able to fight well both on the feet and on the ground). Rory Mcdonald is
the poster boy for the next wave of MMA fighters; the fighters that learned to fight
MMA by training for MMA. This approach differs from the past where fighters
learned different individual styles and then mixed them to the best of their
ability. Contrast that to the modern way that Koreans train. They learn
wrestling for MMA, striking for MMA, jiu jitsu for MMA, and ground striking for
MMA. It therefore benefits aspiring MMA fighters in Korea to have started late since they didn't have to go through a period of trial and error. Today’s cutting edge training methods arose from the trial and error of
the sport’s pioneers. By the time MMA was introduced in South Korea, all the work was
done. From day 1 Koreans learn the best stance that allows for both striking and wrestling, and after
running through the basics of both ground work and stand up, you begin training
“pure” Mixed Martial Arts. So essentially, Korea is developing a nation of Rory
Mcdonalds... scary.
All and all, Korean MMA
will quickly develop into a hotbed for future talent. World class training is
available in gyms all around big cities like Seoul, Busan, and Deajon. These
gyms hold fantastic coaching staffs that attribute cutting edge training
knowledge to the growing MMA scene. Even casual students looking for a fun way
to exercise get to practice all different parts of the game. Thus, never letting training run stale or become mundane since everyday there is something new to explore; be it on the feet or on the ground. And perhaps after
training for a while, a casual practitioner may find him or herself willing to
test their skills in a real fight. Should a person choose that route, Korea
offers a great fighting circuit to build their careers and gradually move up the
ranks. To be continued...
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