China sends martial artists to disputed border with India

FILE PHOTO – Members of India’s Security forces behind barricades in the Galwan Valley.

Trainers from Enbo Fight Club, known for its orphan MMA fighters, are reportedly heading to the disputed Galwan Valley.

Last month at least 20 Indian troops were killed during clashes against Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley, a disputed tract of land between Indian-Administered Kashmir and the Tibet Autonomous Region.

The fighting between the troops was reportedly hand-to-hand, with weapons such as stones and iron bars being used. Though soldiers on both sides of the contested border were armed, an agreement from 1996 prohibits either side from using firearms or explosives.

These deadly clashes mark the first time there have been recorded fatalities in incidents involving China and India in almost 50 years. It’s unclear what caused the recent skirmishes, with both India and China claiming each other was the aggressor.

After these deadly incidents the Indian government has decided to equip its border forces with spiked clubs and riot gear. According to the BBC China’s response to the deadly close quarters combat is to send in a team of martial arts trainers.

Citing a report from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV the BBC claimed that the martial arts trainers had been sourced from EnBo Fight Club.

Bloody Elbow readers may recall EnBo as the organization that ‘adopted’ hundreds of orphan children and trained them to be MMA fighters. The young boys, who were taken in by the mysterious gym leader En Bo, competed in MMA fights across Chengdu, China.

According to former TUF contestant Jeremy May, who spoke to BE about training children at En Bo’s gym, many children work for En Bo as security personnel or join the military when they become adults.

Photo by TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP via Getty Images

En Bo is Tibetan and many of the children he ‘adopted’ were from minority groups from in and around Tibet. A large portion of the children were from the Yi ethnic group, a marginalized group that is often targeted by human traffickers.

In 2017 it was reported that many of the students at EnBo Fight Club (who lived and went to school at the gym) had been removed by authorities and sent back to their home provinces to attend public schools. Authorities claimed that En Bo had not legally adopted any of the children who were living at his property.

Along with training children, EnBo Fight Club also works with elite MMA fighters. Before heading to Team Alpha Male, top UFC prospect Song Yadong trained with En Bo.