Midnight Mania! Canadian Wing Chun artist targets Chinese MMA fighter after knocking out Vietnamese karate black belt

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

It’s a cultural mishmash of fighting styles hearkening back to the early days of Mixed Martial Arts, or even before, to a bygone era when karate and kung fu were thought to rule the streets. As reported by BloodyElbow.com, Canadian Wing Chun artist Pierre Francois Flores hopes to take on Xu Xiaodong, the Chinese MMA fighter who recently knocked out a Shaolin master, then was silenced online by the Chinese government. In a weird twist, Flores studies a martial art whose lineage is Chinese, while Xu Xiaodong practices the amalgamation of styles known as MMA, which was popularized largely in the West.

Pierre made his challenge to Xiaodong after this friendly “martial arts exchange”, in which he knocked out a Vietnamese black belt in karate, Đoàn Bảo Chau. Wing Chun practitioners are generally taught to use kicks below the waist, but Flores knocked out the much smaller Chau using a head kick and follow-up strikes. Flores trains at Shaolin Wing Chun Nam Anh Kung Fu – École mére in Montreal. The two martial artists went to dinner afterwards.

The respect he has is seen in this transcript from his Facebook post after the dinner:

These pictures represent the essence of a true martial art spirit. I was really impressed by Master Đoàn Bảo Chau’s noble attitude and great courage, two character traits in which he surpasses most of the practitioners that I have crossed path with. Before and after the fight, I had the chance to converse with other Masters who accompanied Master Đoàn Bảo Chau and I was equally impressed by them because of their profound understanding of martial arts. Through this exchange, I have gained new brothers and I have a great admiration for the martial art community in Hanoi. I would like to express my gratitude to all who were present on this memorable day.

Flores wants to take up Xu’s high-stakes challenge to traditional martial artists, as he feels Xu’s challenge was “necessary awakening in the face of a phenomenon that threatens the credibility of martial arts.”

It remains to be seen if the Chinese government, who shut down Xu’s social media account, will keep the fight from happening. They feel that Chinese martial arts are an important cultural export and have apparently decided that protecting the reputation of traditional martial arts takes priority over the spirit in which those martial arts were often developed, in challenge matches between representatives of various styles.

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Insomnia

Daniel Cormier points out how much Jon Jones enjoys trolling him.

This bad lip reading is hilarious

As insane and tiresome as it got towards the end, this was wildly successful promotion of a ridiculous fight.

Esther Lin is the best sports photographer in MMA, and possibly in all combat sports.

Did you catch Michael Bisping shutting down Karyn Bryant HARD on the Fox Sports desk after the fights on Sunday?

Speaking of Michael Bisping, he celebrated the return of Game of Thrones as only The Count would.

Angela Hill is wrong for this one.

This was truly a glorious and unusual knockout. I have a feeling Galore Bofando is going to be as fun as his name sounds.

In fight respect is pretty awesome to witness.

This was from Bellator 181

I still hope for the impossible dream that is this fight

I laughed out loud at Max Holloway’s nod to Swanson here.

Yeah, no man. That’s not happening.

Nate Diaz isn’t taking this fight, but its fun to dream.

He’s too busy enjoying the money he got after this

No.

This dude woke up ready to go.

This weekend in combat sports

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Slips, Rips, and KO Clips

This flying knee was truly scintillating

Ah, the classic “why are you hitting yourself” moment

That shocking power

The great Saenchai is great.

Here’s another look at that awesome flying knee in case you forgot it already

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Good Reads

• This piece on Neil Seery’s retirement by Peter Carroll might be the best thing I’ve read all weekend. Seriously, go read it now. It has so much wisdom for young fighters, and so much perspective on the life of a level-headed professional.
• It’s time to get rid of the win bonus in MMA. Just ask Gegard Mousasi and Benson Henderson.

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Podcasts and Video

The Severe MMA podcast

The Fight Society Podcast

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Random Land

Look at this old guy show the young man what’s up

That didn’t go as planned…

Derrick Lewis identifies with this hungry eagle. I had heard of eagles attacking mountain goats, but I had never seen it before.

Its a long Random Land today

Stay woke, Maniacs!