Hwaighting! Pt. 4: A People’s History of South Korean MMA

Today, Korea is flourishing with talented Mixed Martial Artists. The most famous being “The Korean Zombie,” Chan Sung Jung. Fans like him because of his aggressive, wild fighting style, and his awesome nick name doesn't hurt either. Jung holds a special place in MMA history; he was the number 1 contender for Jose Aldo’s Featherweight Strap, the first Korean fighter to ever compete for a UFC title. Jung represents the best that Korean MMA has to offer right now, but he isn't the only world class Korean fighter. Dong Hyun Kim, Kyung Ho Kang, and Hyung Gyu Lim also compete in the UFC, and Korean talent fills the ranks of One FC, Asia’s top MMA promotion. As a matter of fact, Soo Chul Kim will unify the One FC Bantamweight title when he fights interim champ Bibiano Fernandes. Clearly Korean MMA is making big waves on the global circuit.

But before cracking the international scene, most Korean fighters fight their way up in the local shows. At home, Road FC is the dominant MMA league (the only other league right now is TOP FC, which just hosted its first show). The structure set up by CEO Moonhong Jung not only showcases top Korean fighters, but also helps build the national talent by giving amateur and rookie Mixed Martial Artists a platform to compete. He originally set up Road FC as a way for Korean fighters to be able to earn a living and build experience. Today his vision has extended beyond just MMA. “Cage Grappling” matches, held in the Road FC Central League (a league for fighters to compete in grappling and striking matches but not MMA), are jiu jitsu matches that take place in the cage. Though there is no striking, cage grappling allows aspiring fighters to get comfortable maneuvering and wrestling inside a cage. After gaining experience competing in a cage, a novice fighter can compete in the Road FC Amateur League. This league gives new fighters a chance to showcase their skills before entering the professional circuit. Moonhong Jung not only helps promote the top Korean athletes, but also gives new fighters the chance to blossom slowly and develop their skills.

Production wise, Road FC looks a lot like Pride, but on a smaller scale and with a cage. Lazers shine on a big stage where the fighters emerge, and a long ramp brings them to the cage. Pyrotechnics along the ramp are used as the fighter’s names are announced, blowing flames 6 feet high that follow both sides of the ramp. Before the start of the main card, K-pop singers and dancers perform to warm up the crowd. It’s a giant spectacle that includes some of Korea’s biggest stars.

Once the fights start, it is again similar to Pride. Like Japanese fight fans, Koreans sit quietly while the fights go on, and only occasionally break into chants or yells. One can easily hear the corner-men shout instructions, and every big punch pierces the silence that surrounds the cage. Only after a big exchange on the feet or a transition on the ground do the fans slip into a burst of applause.

The fighters on the card are mostly Korean, but the promoters bring in some big name international fighters to build interest. Melvin Manhoef, Ikuhisa Minowa, Thierry Sokoudjou all competed against Korean Fighters under the Road FC banner. Though there are Korean on Korean fights, the shows are generally lined up to showcase Korean fighters against foreigners. This plays to the strong nationalism of Korea. Shouts of “Korea Fighting!” are heard throughout the night, and a Korean win is celebrated with roaring applause. Even so, the crowd behaves very respectful of foreign fighters; especially big names coming from overseas. Despite fighting a local guy, Sokoudjou got a big round of applause when he beat Team Posse coach, Seung Bae Whi. Sometimes being a fight fan is more important than sharing a national identity.

I was lucky enough to watch the finals match of the Road FC Lightweight  tournament; pitting South Korea’s Yui Chul Nam against Japan’s Takasuke Kume. Kume was rumored to have been scouted by the UFC, and a win that night would bring him up to the big leagues, while Nam was relatively unknown outside the Korean fight scene. The fight lived up to its main event status. The two put on a thrilling back and forth battle that after 15 grueling minutes was called a draw, which then required a final 4th round to decide the victor. Kume took the first advantage in the overtime round by getting a takedown, but Nam got back up and got a takedown of his own where he tried to advance position. Kume blocked his opponent’s offense and was able to get back to his feet. They exchanged strikes on the feet and in the clinch, and Suddenly with only seconds left, Nam shot in for a takedown and stole the round. The horn sounded and Nam raised his arms in victory while the crowd went wild. The judges announced him the victor and confetti poured down into the cage while fireworks erupted along the ramp, and then lazers brought the crowd into even more of a craze. It was pretty freakin cool.

In its short history, Korean MMA already produced a strong stable of world class fighters. In a country where MMA is still looked down on by a significant portion of the population, Korean Mixed Martial Artists continue to fight on. In only ten years Korea produced a worthy challenger for a UFC world title. “The Korean Zombie” will forever be the first Korean national to earn a shot to be the best. And his fight with Aldo follows a similar narrative to the fight his fellow Korean fighters are currently waging. Few people gave Jung a shot at beating Aldo, and for a while he seemed content just being there. But after his ring rust was shaken off, he attacked the champion with every weapon in his arsenal, and I bet you the whole Korean MMA community went ape shit when he landed that flying knee in the 3^rd round. In the end, Zombie was too tough for his own good. Even after having his shoulder dislocated, he tried to pop it back in and continue fighting, and the ref mercifully stopped the fight.

The bar has been set by “The Korea Zombie,” and it is now up to the next generation of fighters to surpass it. Given the growing social acceptance of MMA, the fantastic training environments available, and the well structured local circuits for fighters to build their careers, I have to believe that Korean MMA will only get better. I’m sure there were plenty of young Korean fighters inspired by Jung’s heart and determination in that fight. These new fighters can look up to Jung's toughness, and they can look up to their parent's hard work ethic. From a war torn nation to an emerging global power, and from MMA obscurity to producing title challengers, Koreans know how to fight.

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Hwaighting! Pt. 3: A People’s History of South Korean MMA

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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Hwaighting! Pt. 2: A People’s History of South Korean MMA

Previously on “Language Fight:” South Koreans work hard, they’re tough, mentally strong, and they are starting to fuck people up with their jiu jitsu. And like jiu jitsu, Korean MMA is still relatively new; in terms of producing talent in MMA, Korea does very well. There are Korean fighters competing in local organizations like Road FC, international organizations like One FC, and even in the UFC. Korean fighters are representing their country abroad and at home, but how are Korean sport fans receiving their athletes? How closely do Koreans follow the sport of MMA? And how many Koreans are joining MMA gyms to train as a hobby? What of Woman’s MMA? And What is the experience of training and fighting in South Korea like?

Just like BJJ, Mixed Martial Arts has a rich but short history in South Korea. MMA communities around the world are a complex ecosystem made up of fighters, fans, promoters, managers, trainers, students, and their families. An athlete could compete on TV one day, go home the next morning, do an interview for a magazine, pick up the kids from school, take them to the gym, teach a boxing class, take the kids back home, finish their own training session, and then talk to his or her manager about the next fight. To truly analyze the global expansion of MMA, I have to present it through the eyes of not only the fighters, but also the newbies in the gym, the fans, training partners, family members, and coaches that make up the MMA scene. This being my 3^rd post, I’ve learned to narrow my topics a little better. This post deals with how well the Korean public socially accepts the sport of Mixed Martial Arts, and the potential of South Korea as a future market for MMA.

Interest in MMA grew when the Action Channel began broadcasting King of the Cage and Pride FC events in 2002. A year later Daehwan Kim was hired on as an announcer for free televised live events. "There weren't many people that could commentate this kind of shit... at the time the sport itself was really new. And before I went [into] the army i ran a website dealing with MMA... While I [was in] the army, the broadcast station [SBS] started showing MMA... They wanted to find a commentator and they found my website... I [had] and audition and they liked me" says Kim. Since then, MMA fights have drawn good ratings; especially among young males.

“I was thirteen [the first time I] watched King of the Cage,” says Korean MMA coach Taemin Kwak. King of the Cage was a mid level organization at that time, and the UFC was in its dark ages while the Japanese organization, Pride FC, ruled the MMA world. At the time most Korean fans looked up to Pride stars like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Fedor Emelianenko, and Kazushi Sakuraba, from Brazil, Russia, and Japan respectively. When asked what made him want to start training, Kwak answered, “Sakuraba [made] me [start] training.” It is interesting that a Japanese fighter inspired a teenage Korean kid considering that Korea and Japan have an uneasy history of war, colonization, and oppression.

It is also interesting that, one of the biggest MMA stars in Korea is Sung Hoon Choo, better known by his Japanese name, Yoshihiro Akiyama. Born and raised in Japan, but of Korean decent, Akiyama had a difficult upbringing. He was bullied in school, and even after starting his MMA career, he was initially boo’ed by both Japanese and Korean fans for never being quite Japanese enough or being Korean enough to be accepted. Despite all this, Akiyama is now a household name in both countries. Through the sport of MMA, Akiyama was able to bridge cultural and political differences between two peoples. His exciting fights helped both Korean and Japanese fans look past their personal issues with his ethnicity or nationality and embrace him as their own. Today, Akiyama not only fights for the UFC, but also models designer clothes, holds sold out concerts in sport stadiums, is an actor in TV and films, and promotes everything from hand soap to chewing gum in both countries.

At first, it may seem that MMA and its athletes are widely liked by the Korean mainstream, but MMA is just another part of Korea’s wide generational gap. Only 60 years ago, Korea was a nation in ashes. Thus, the Korea experienced by the older generations was very different from Korea today. One older Korean man told me he worries about the youth today. To him, young people are lazy, overly sexual, and disrespectful. He can’t relate to Korea’s youth culture, and MMA is just another part of something he sees strange. “Many people think it’s not a sport, [they think] it is just a fight,” says Hyungsu Kim. Almost every MMA coach I talked to expressed an initial tension between them and their parents over their chosen profession.

Gender also plays a big role in the acceptance of MMA. From a young age girls are taught to be gentle, cute, and submissive. While women who train are usually fans of the sport, generally speaking cagefighting and Korean femininity don’t go together. For example, Taemin Kwak had to break up with his a girlfriend over MMA. She couldn’t get into the sport, and believed he cared more about training than his relationship. Turns out she was right, but there are Korean girls out there for Taemin. I brought some female Korean friends to watch the UFC, and a lot of them enjoyed the action. And when a big Korean name fights in the UFC, it is common to see at least a few female fans watching at the local bar. Still, most Korean girls I’ve met aren’t fans of the sport.

But in spite of the generational and gender gap, the Korean public is embracing MMA. Like I said before, BJJ is growing fast and with it generally comes an interest in MMA. With every jiu jitsu gym that opens, the market for MMA grows. And with young people continuing to follow the sport, South Korea can become a big market for the UFC.

As it stands right now, Koreans are not laying down their money to buy MMA merchandise and media. Furthermore, the largest Korean organization, Road FC, still has trouble selling out tickets. But, a look deeper into who is attending the fights proves the audience is made up of people who train MMA. The potential market for MMA grows as the number of people who train grows. If there is any indication as to how far MMA can go in South Korea, it’s the fact that MMA gyms are opening all around the country. Dong Hyun Kim just opened a very successful gym in the city of Daejeon. And “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung is now the proud owner of the newest MMA gym in Gangnam. A gym that had over 250 enrollments within the first few weeks of its opening. That makes 250 new people who will buy tickets to events, 250 people that will buy mouth guards, rashguards, gloves, and fight shorts, and 250 new people who will introduce the sport to their friends and families. Even K-Pop singers, TV actors, and film stars all took advantage of the one-on-one private lessons offered by Jung; bringing further mainstream attention to MMA.

But it’s the regular people who are training that will make up the first markets for MMA. Those gym newbies still falling over when throwing a jab are the ambassadors for the sport. They will be the ones who will wake up Sunday mornings (because of the time difference) to watch live UFC events. They are the ones who will talk their friends and family into watching the fights together. They will be the ones explaining the action to their coworkers, boyfriends, and girlfriends, and it is exactly those people that I will discuss in my next segment.

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