Mixed martial arts brought many combat styles and techniques together. Although
it is so rare that you see Chinese Kung Fu and other Eastern practices applied in MMA fights.
But people always ask themselves questions like: who’s better a boxer or
a kung fu master. And maybe this is the reason why Yi Long got so popular lately.
. I think a lot of you guys saw videos on YouTube with a clean shaved monk in orange pants kicking
the crap out of western kickboxer fighters. He applies his super shaolin wushu skills to
beat his opponents and proving his dominance over them. So who is this guy and where he came from?
There is little information about him on the net but what we know for sure is that he calls himself
Yi Long. And his real name is Liu Xingjun. He was born Dezhou in Shandong on the 1st of April
in 1987. He is 5 foot, 9 inches tall and weights 162 pounds. He’saShaolinKungFumasterandakickboxer.
He studied at theShaolin Monastery and started to fight in 2009.
He had the total of 73 fights with 61 wins, 23 by knockout. And he lost only 11 times.
. AlotofMMA fans say that Yi Long is a very unpredictable fighter and that he’s got some real
interesting moves. They say that his tactic is most peculiar. Every fight for Yi Long is a way to
surprise the audience. Sometimes he would surprise everyone by deliberately letting his opponentshit
him. And after receiving a few dozens of hits he would sort of activate himself and start to attack
his bewildered opponents. He would often run around the ring, waving his hands left and right.
Experts note Yi’s incredible physique and his outstanding tactic. Yi is
known for being a great tactic who knows a way to predict his opponent’s moves.
. Marketing move.
The most common version. A lot of people think that Yi Long is a Muay Thai boxer and that he
especially adapted his technique for Shaolin Kung Fu. In the late 90 it was hard to see the
difference in the artist’s performances but now we begin to see a reverse process taking place.
Now people want to know the answers to the kinds of questions they had when they were little kids:
who’s tougher? A Shaolin Monk or a professional boxer? And the thing is, even if Yi wasn’t
originally trained in Kung Fu, and that he’s using kickboxing and muaythai, well, we still should
give him some props for the way he engages in a fight and the way he moves about on the ring.
. Staged fights. There is another version that states that most of Yi’s fights are staged and
that people are willing to pay good money to see a show like that. So it’s kind of like wrestling,
only a bit more serious. They say that Yi’s opponents just play along and that’s what lets
him win all the time. They say that Yi makes money with his acting skills. But it’s kind
of hard to believe when people say things like that. I mean when you look at what this crazy
monk does on stage, you don’t really feel like this is something you can compare to wrestling.
. He get weak opponents. Another theory says that there’s an obvious reason why Yi stays in Asia.
Like if he was to fight Conor McGregor or Khabib he would definitely loose. Like right away. Some
say that the fact that Yi won many times doesn’t prove anything but the fact that his opponents
simply don’t know how to fight. And that his entire image is build on smoke and mirrors.
Although it was fun to see Yi fight the giant Hong Man Choi, who by the way was two times heavier.
And the fact that he beat Buakaw Banchamek proves that
he has some serious skills in his possession and that he’s a legitimate fighter.
. He’s a real monk. You just sort of want to believe that Yi is a real monk and that he
studied at the Shaolin Monastery where he honed his skills for many years practicing Kung Fu
and meditating all the time. So why is it that Yi does MMA fights then? Who let him do that? Perhaps
it’s a kind of question that we’ll never find an answer to. Yi is too much of a mystery person.
Well, maybe that’s for the best. After all, there should always be room for a mystery.
. Yi Long isn’t the only extraordinary fighter out there. There are many more athletes
and so let’s talk about some of them. This is Tracy Telligman. They call him Trauma.
He’s a retired mixed martial artist and a professional boxer. He was in a car accidentwhen
he was one and a half years old. As a result of that he lost half of his pectoral and his right
lung. But despite that he bagan training in karate and got addicted to boxing at the age of 13.
And then he started to get interested in Jiu-Jitsu. So he applied all that knowledge
and that let him become a high class fighter. Tracy says that he doesn’t fight to win,
he fights to show people that a human body is a very flexible and capable thing.
And this man certainly deserves respect for that.
. Matt Hamill is an American mixed martial artist. He looks healthy and normal but the fact about
Matt is that he is deaf from birth. But that not an obstacle for matt. He fights anyways. His
condition was never a problem for him when it came to practicing his moves and improve physically.
It was his stepfather who introduced him to the world of wrestling. Matt quickly acquired some
basic skills and even trained kids for some time. His first ever fight happened in 2006.
Back then he defeated his opponent in less than half a minute. After that he got noticed
by the UFC and so he signed a very promising contract. He had 16 fights and won 11 times.
. Nick Newell is perhaps one of the most unique figures in MMA. Thing is, Nick was born with
congenital amputation and it’s almost like he lacks an entire left hand. Still, Newell
was always a good fighter. And right now he’s still an active MMA member. Till the age of 24,
Nick was only watching UFC, only dreaming about taking part. It was very clear that it’s going to
be hard to find an equal opponent for him. Because nobody would want to brag about defeating a
one armed man. That would be kind of a shame. While losing to a man with one arm would also
be kind of annoying. Still, Newell managed to arrange six fights and he won all of them.
. Garrett Holeve. This man has a down syndrome, which isn’t very typical for an MMA fighter.
Still, he doesn’t let his disease stand in the way and he participates in all sorts of fights.
Garrett was born in Florida in 1989. He’s not very tall, he’s got slanted eyes and short fingers.
But he loves kickboxing very much. His parents once took him to see a fight and ever since then
he decided that he was gonna be a fighter himself. He trains every day and he shows some good results
but unfortunately, they don’t let him fight. For obvious reasons of course.
Still, the will of this man is something that a lot of people can gain inspiration from.
. Alright and so lastly, the previously mentioned Hong Man Choi aka Choi Hong-man aka The Techno
Goliath aka Korean Colossus aka the Che Man. Possibly the most popular South Korean fighter
with a very rare genetic disorderthey call acromegaly. This disease makes his body grow
constantly. It makes bones thicken all the time. Especially the skull. Hong Man Choi is currently
retired. When he left MMA he was 7 foot, 2 inches tall and weighed 350 pounds! Just imagine that.
He used to be the tallest fighter in the world. He had his first fight on 20th of March in 2004
in Seoul. One time Choi defeated Semmy Schilt – one of the best kickboxers in the business.
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