MMA going mainstream is a huge boost for AMs

[AsianFighter]

Think about it....

Asian guys beating the sh*t out of white guys on national TV is going to debunk the popular stereotype of the AM being physical weak and inferior to whites.

The number of asian MMA fighters is disproportionately high. For many girls, fighters are a huge turn on, so not a bad group of role models to have.

Many asian MMA fighters have non-asian girlfriends\wives, Denis Kang, Joe Stevenson, Kid Yamamoto to name but a few. Another positive image for AMs.

All in all, I think MMA is going to help change a lot of negative perceptions about AMs.

Any thoughts ?

[yoMAMA]

what is mma?

[AsianFighter]

Mixed Martial Arts aka Ultimate Fighting (e.g. UFC).

I guess it's not quite as mainstream as I had thought.

[yoMAMA]

i've never heard of it.

but then again, i'm hardly mainstream-most of my TV viewing consist of youtube videos.

[pikachupacabra]

Chuck Liddell got owned.


There are a lot of Asian fighters but at least in pride it's always some goofy looking ex-wrestling japanese guy with overly blonde hair getting dominated in an embarrassing way. The lower weight classes have stronger Asian MMA fighters I think. In UFC, it's hard to say, I don't recall that many Asians.

[n3bulous]

i'm not sure about that. a few months back, there was a countdown show on fox sports net called "50 greatest knockouts" or "100 greatest knockouts," or something like that. a lot of the clips came from MMA fights, and of those, a lot of them were white vs asian. in every single one of those, the white dude gives a beat down to the asian dude. i started noticing the trend and got curious, so i decided to go ahead and watch the whole countdown to see if they show one single instance of an asian dude taking care of business. they didn't show one.

i was pissed, but not surprised. showing an asian dude beating a white dude's ass probably doesn't sell.

i don't watch mma much, but if you told me that it's rare for an asian fighter to knockout a white fighter, i would need to see hard proof before i'd believe you. i'd find it hard to believe that asian k-1/pride fighters are that incompetent. fox sports would have you believe otherwise. but, it's not surprising, they have to cater to their dominant demographic, which, like everything else in this country, is white dudes.

[mzhsacramento]

Think about it....

Asian guys beating the sh*t out of white guys on national TV is going to debunk the popular stereotype of the AM being physical weak and inferior to whites.

The number of asian MMA fighters is disproportionately high. For many girls, fighters are a huge turn on, so not a bad group of role models to have.

Many asian MMA fighters have non-asian girlfriends\wives, Denis Kang, Joe Stevenson, Kid Yamamoto to name but a few. Another positive image for AMs.

All in all, I think MMA is going to help change a lot of negative perceptions about AMs.

Any thoughts ?

Yep, I think you're completely wrong.

Dennis Kang and Joe Stevenson? lol.

[SunWuKong]

For many girls, fighters are a huge turn on, so not a bad group of role models to have.

my girlfriend thinks MMA is gay and boring because it's always a couple of sweaty guys hugging each other or laying on top of each other.

[AsianFighter]

Granted, Denis Kang and Joe Stevenson are only part asian (as are BJ Penn, Machida and Brandon Vera, also in the UFC), but still, some representation is better than none.

Hopefully some of the Pride lightweight guys will come over as that division is dominated by asians.

[kimpossible]

my girlfriend thinks MMA is gay and boring because it's always a couple of sweaty guys hugging each other or laying on top of each other.

I was gonna say, kinda nekkid and groping each other. Nopers.

[pikachupacabra]

i'm not sure about that. a few months back, there was a countdown show on fox sports net called "50 greatest knockouts" or "100 greatest knockouts," or something like that. a lot of the clips came from MMA fights, and of those, a lot of them were white vs asian. in every single one of those, the white dude gives a beat down to the asian dude. i started noticing the trend and got curious, so i decided to go ahead and watch the whole countdown to see if they show one single instance of an asian dude taking care of business. they didn't show one.

i was pissed, but not surprised. showing an asian dude beating a white dude's ass probably doesn't sell.

i don't watch mma much, but if you told me that it's rare for an asian fighter to knockout a white fighter, i would need to see hard proof before i'd believe you. i'd find it hard to believe that asian k-1/pride fighters are that incompetent. fox sports would have you believe otherwise. but, it's not surprising, they have to cater to their dominant demographic, which, like everything else in this country, is white dudes.

I watched the EXACT same show and I was totally disgusted. Not a single asian person won any of those "beatdown" matches. It's not like there aren't any dominating asian MMA peeps at all, there are tons of them (tho it seems skewed towards the lower weight classes)

[MD2020]

my girlfriend thinks MMA is gay and boring because it's always a couple of sweaty guys hugging each other or laying on top of each other.

It's about the most homoerotic thing since 300.

From what I remember, most fights usually end up with one guy trying to "mount" the other which leads to "ground and pound" and "submission." They should just go ahead and do nude Greek wrestling followed up with some wholesome pederasty.

[Deadpool]

i don't watch mma much, but if you told me that it's rare for an asian fighter to knockout a white fighter, i would need to see hard proof before i'd believe you. i'd find it hard to believe that asian k-1/pride fighters are that incompetent. fox sports would have you believe otherwise. but, it's not surprising, they have to cater to their dominant demographic, which, like everything else in this country, is white dudes.

Hayato Sakurai VS Olaf Alfonso
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9nwP3ARXyI

Sakurai VS Mac Danzig
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2ah0kl5Apc

Theres tons more examples on youtube and what not. If you are a K-1 fan check out Buakaw Por Pramuk. Hes the current K-1 Max champ, youngest K-1 Max Champ.

Yeah. People in the states don't like seeing white people knocked out.
Watched UFC last weekend. A couple of black guys won and they all got booed. Which is pretty disgusting and is a clear indication of general attitudes towards minorities.

Theres a lot more established and skilled asian fighters than white ones.
If you put in the entire Japanese Pride fighters line up in the UFC they would pretty much dominate.
UFC only has one Asian fighter in their line up right now. Yushin Okami. Hes a beast. He won his last match against some white dude in Austin TX. He got booed of course.

Unfortunatly organizations like pride like to stick in big goofy Japanese pro wrestlers in the fights and UFC likes to promote crappy inexperienced fighters especially ones from The Ultimate Fighter TV show. They're all ratings grabbers.

[Paradox]

Heh your typical UFC fan is kind of a redneck or fratboy type. A friend of mine who went to a couple of the shows in Vegas said there were better fights IN the arena stands than in the octagon. Right now the only asians in the sport to any competitive degree are the Japanese. They pretty much started the whole MMA craze but other asian countries haven't really gotten into it. There are lots of good Asian fighters but they are unknown to the North American audience.

Someone already mentioned Sakurai and Okami but there's also Kid Yamamoto, Misaki, Masato (who is a K-1 champ) and several others. Just watch some Japanese productions like K-1 Heroes, Bushido, etc.. to get a good idea on what the competition is like.

There's also a lot of racist fans in MMA. Just check out sherdog.com forums sometime. It gets really shitty with namecalling and everything especially since the last UFC where all the black dudes kicked the crap out of the white dudes. :biggrin: I think the rednecks and frat boys were initially thrilled to see another, what they perceived to be, white dominated sport like Hockey. I don't think that is going to last because there's a lot of different people from different countries competing now. Plus the black MMA athletes are making a big mark as of late.

Btw: fox sports net blows and so does the "best damn sports show" they cater completely towards their white middle class demographic. Just watch the basketball highlights sometime they enjoy replaying footage of Yao Ming getting dunked on over and over again even though he's the most dominant center in the NBA right now and even if the Rockets won the game.

[yoMAMA]

i'm all for mma as long as it helps me getting laid.

:cool:

[BigLew]

Oh jeezus are you serious

[RacerX]

i don't need mma to tell someone that if they fuck with me i'm going to throw my fist in there face, asian or not. but on a side note, i do enjoy cro-cop, fedor and shogun beatings as much as the next dude.

[grimfan]

Just watch the basketball highlights sometime they enjoy replaying footage of Yao Ming getting dunked on over and over again even though he's the most dominant center in the NBA right now and even if the Rockets won the game.

They enjoy showing those highlights because Yao is the biggest and most dominant center in the NBA. You don't show highlights unless it's special and worth watching.

[popculturepooka]

No he's not, and it's just funny to see a guy who's 7'6" get dunked on.

Tim Duncan is the best center in the NBA right now. Of course, he's listed as a forward, but realy, Duncan is a center. 7'0", 260pounds? Everything about Duncan screams center except for what's by his name on the roster sheets. He gets 2+ blocks per game, and he plays the low post. San Antoniopairs him with other 7-footers to take pressure off the him on defense. Former Houston Rockets' star Hakeem Olajuwon played alongside 7-4 Ralph Sampson in his earlier years, coining the term "twin towers," yet no one considers Hakeem Olajuwon a power forward for his career. Duncan IS a center and is the league's best center at that. He's great at offense, great at defense...and he has the rings to prove it.

[pikachupacabra]

Traditional center is usually the term used. Amare is sometimes a center. Duncan is sometimes a center. KG is sometimes a center. But none of them are what would be called traditional centers (a la Shaq or Yao or Big Z for example)

[popculturepooka]

Got ya.

[buttermilkwise]

problem with that is weight class limitations, and I think it's a fact that asians tend to be less bigger and weigh less in general so I don't see too many fighting against say Mirko Cro Cop, in K1/Pride.

Although i'd like to think Bruce lee or Buakaw can kick butt over someone larger, it's not about race so much as skill and physical build.

[grimfan]

Tim Duncan is the best center in the NBA right now. Of course, he's listed as a forward, but realy, Duncan is a center. 7'0", 260pounds? Everything about Duncan screams center except for what's by his name on the roster sheets. He gets 2+ blocks per game, and he plays the low post. San Antoniopairs him with other 7-footers to take pressure off the him on defense. Former Houston Rockets' star Hakeem Olajuwon played alongside 7-4 Ralph Sampson in his earlier years, coining the term "twin towers," yet no one considers Hakeem Olajuwon a power forward for his career. Duncan IS a center and is the league's best center at that. He's great at offense, great at defense...and he has the rings to prove it.

Describing guys like Duncan or Stoudemire as centres is kind of like describing LeBron or Carmelo as shooting guards. It sort of fits, but it doesn't quite capture their style. Yao Ming, on the other hand, is a perfect centre: tall, slow, and back-to-the-basket.

[Azn Retribution]

Proliferation of MMA is good in general.
and asians are actually quite respected in the sport and in the MMA community.

Check the 50+ page thread "War Sakuraba" on sherdog as an example.
that asians have never been taken for granted.

Remember that Pro-wrestling in Japan is actually alot more serious business. than the hollywood productionm style wrestling here.


Kazushi Sakuraba - Living Legend. One of his nicknames is the "Gracie Hunter" for christ sake. Submitted every single one of the Gracies. Quite Possibly one of the best grapplers in MMA period. His primary style is catch wrestling. Although he has decent striking too. See the Frank Shamrock knockout for a great example. Incidentally. He submitted Rampage Jackson in under 6 minutes despite a height, weight and strength disadvantage.

Takanori Gomi - One of my favorite strikers. His fighting methods are unorthodox and entertaining. an Iron chin and hits like a mack truck.
Check out how many of his wins were by TKO or KO.

Kaoklai Kaennorsing - One of my favorite K1 fighters. has gone up in "Freak matches" against opponents with as much as a 1 or 2 foot disadvantage and a 140lb weight disadvantage and whooped them.



The Rampage Jackson / Chuck Liddell fight showed that the Pride competition has a much higher level of skill than the competitors in UFC.

The Frank Zuffa Corp that owns UFC just bought Pride though.
So pretty much all the Pride fighters are going to own UFC imho.

[boondock]

i don't see how this is a 'huge' boost considering most of the identifiable asian people within mma are japanese who
A. are almost all in the lightweight and lower weight divisions and
B. with some exceptions (like gomi, whose crazy overrated), most the japanese fighters win solely through submission, not ass-kicking KOs or TKO's
now if okami kicks rich franklin's ass in the upcoming ppv *highly unlikely as okami is a replacement fighter*, then we'll see
but really, the japanese mma fighters just aren't on the level of say brazilian fighters

[Azn Retribution]

i don't see how this is a 'huge' boost considering most of the identifiable asian people within mma are japanese who
A. are almost all in the lightweight and lower weight divisions and
B. with some exceptions (like gomi, whose crazy overrated), most the japanese fighters win solely through submission, not ass-kicking KOs or TKO's
now if okami kicks rich franklin's ass in the upcoming ppv *highly unlikely as okami is a replacement fighter*, then we'll see
but really, the japanese mma fighters just aren't on the level of say brazilian fighters

Japanese grapplers are absolutely on the level with Brazillian grapplers

Although please do tell that to kazushi sakuraba who's fucked up many a famous brazilian fighter. ergo his nickname the Gracie Hunter.
The fighters he did lose to usually had significant weight advantages.

His loss to Crocop. (180ish to 225ish)
His losses to Silva ( 180ish to 210ish)
His loss to Arona (180ish to 210ish)

The degree of "striking" in MMA isn't very high in general.
The only skilled striking is usually boxing. You rarely see a MMAist who can utilize kicks effectively.

consequently many asian strikers don't take the cross over to MMA
where as many asian grapplers will take up striking.

Japanese MMA fighters generally tend to have Shooto or Catch Wrestling backgrounds which of course puts them towards a inclination for groundwork.

If you want to see asians scoring knockouts, Stick to K1 or Boxing.

[Azn Retribution]

Oh yeah.
Sakuraba's recent fight against Royce Gracie was a wash.
Win by a weak split decision.

He was fighting heavily injured and shouldn't have been cleared by doctors. ( There's something very fishy that it took until a few days before the event to get his medical clearance.)

and despite that Royce couldn't submit or KO him out.
Sakuraba had position on almost every clinch and tried way more submissions.

I think it's his last fight given his health and age.
This last fight was a bad one to go out on though =/

[AsianFighter]

Yeah, Saku should have got the decision against Royce. Hope he retires though. I'm glad Dong Sik Yoon won, that guy deserves a win.

I'd love to see Kid Yamamoto fight in the US, he'd definately deliver some KOs.

[BigLew]

It's past both thier primes.

Also a comment on Gomi, I don't care how many fools he knocks the fuck out or taps. Any dude that shapes his eyebrows aint doin shit for this "asian male image" of yours.

[deez nuts]

how is straddling another sweaty guy or wrapping your legs around another sweaty guy with the guy's head buried in your neck while you're lying on your back a huge boost for AM's?

[Space_Cabbage]

Think about it....

Asian guys beating the sh*t out of white guys on national TV is going to debunk the popular stereotype of the AM being physical weak and inferior to whites.

The number of asian MMA fighters is disproportionately high. For many girls, fighters are a huge turn on, so not a bad group of role models to have.

Many asian MMA fighters have non-asian girlfriends\wives, Denis Kang, Joe Stevenson, Kid Yamamoto to name but a few. Another positive image for AMs.

All in all, I think MMA is going to help change a lot of negative perceptions about AMs.

Any thoughts ?


Well, I hope you are right. But if you saw the Ultimate Fighter a few episodes back, the asian fighter got the crap beaten out of him by a white dude and to make it worse he cried like a little girl for 10 minutes. :frown:

[2nd yellow]

Think about it....

Asian guys beating the sh*t out of white guys on national TV is going to debunk the popular stereotype of the AM being physical weak and inferior to whites.

The number of asian MMA fighters is disproportionately high. For many girls, fighters are a huge turn on, so not a bad group of role models to have.

Which MMA are you watching? There hasn't been a dominant asian MMA fighter in a long time.

Many asian MMA fighters have non-asian girlfriends\wives, Denis Kang, Joe Stevenson, Kid Yamamoto to name but a few. Another positive image for AMs.

I'm curious how having a non-asian girlfriend or wife constitutes as a positive image for asian males. My girlfriend is white so I have no problems with mixed couples, but saying that having a white girlfriend is a positive thing is kind of baffling me right now.

p.s. I think Joe Stevenson looks more hispanic than asian.

All in all, I think MMA is going to help change a lot of negative perceptions about AMs.

I think all it's going to show is that asians can take a punch. Until there's an undisputed asian champ in either Pride or UFC, MMA isn't going to help our "image" at all.

[BigLew]

This thread is so doucherific.