China is home to 1.3 billion people.
Is it possible that a gifted Chinese athlete who has been committed to kung fu since pre-adolescence and has blended a modern MMA game can become a paradigm shifter in the sport?
I don’t know, but as of two years ago, almost no one would have responded favorably to that question. After Lyoto Machida’s stunning performance Saturday, you’d likely get far more takers.
As globalization helps the expansion of MMA and the spread of MMA becomes part of globalization, the intersection of cultures, sporting and non-sporting, will produce admixtures in forms nearly impossible to predict at this intersection. But if Machida’s drubbing of Rashad Evans is instructive, it shows that dismissing any new MMA permutation as doomed to failure for being tethered to traditional martial arts is a recipe for unsavory blowback.
Your Kung Fu Is Good Here
China is home to 1.3 billion people. Is it possible that a gifted Chinese athlete who has been committed to kung fu since pre-adolescence and has blended a modern MMA game can become a paradigm shifter in the sport? I don’t know, but as of two years ago, almost no one would have responded favorably…
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