Watch: Tai chi ‘master’ get starched by MMA amateur

Fight Commentary Breakdowns / YouTube

Viral MMA star Xu Xiaodong mocked the elderly tai chi master for his performance. The world of pro sports may have been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it appears circus fights are still going …

Fight Commentary Breakdowns / YouTube

Viral MMA star Xu Xiaodong mocked the elderly tai chi master for his performance.

The world of pro sports may have been ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, but it appears circus fights are still going off without a hitch. Check out what happened on May 17th in Shandong, China (in video provided by Fight Commentary Breakdowns).

This latest style-vs-style fight saw Ma Baoguo, a 69-year-old tai chi ‘master’, take on an amateur martial arts hobbyist at least 20 years his junior. The fight went about as well as you’d expect for the senior citizen.

Ma shuffled towards his opponent and was knocked down and then completely out in less than thirty seconds.

After footage of this contest went viral Ma received some roasting from Xu Xiaodong; the man who started this new wave of stye-vs-style fighting in China.

‘Mad Dog’ Xu, a 41-year-old MMA trainer from Beijing, went viral back in 2017 when he beat-up a tai chi master in ten seconds. That fight came after a prolonged online argument where Xu claimed that traditional martial arts are scams when it comes to self-defence and unarmed combat. Xu has continued that argument over these recent years, fighting traditionalists whenever he gets the chance — despite encountering obstacles set-up by the Chinese government.

On twitter Xu said, “Shanghai’s Ma Baoguo knocked out by an amateur after four seconds. That’s what a ‘traitor’ gets.”

Xu and Ma have tangled in the past, well nearly.

After Xu blew up on the internet for his crusade against ‘kung fu fakery’, traditional martial artists across China began calling him out (some spurred by prize money put up by Xu and other benefactors).

Ma’s call out resulted in he and Xu squaring off in a gym in Shanghai ahead of what was planned to be a tai chi vs. MMA mass brawl. However, before fists could be thrown, police turned up and broke up the event.

Back then Xu claimed that a relative of Ma, who feared for the tai chi practitioner’s safety, had called the police.

“In 2017, he challenged me saying he had beaten a European MMA champion, but before the fight he called the police and I was taken away by the police,” said Xu of the incident.

“For three years, they called me a traitor,” added Xu. “This is the tai chi cheating master! Now … the truth has been revealed. I was right!”

Ma has also released some statements about his recent viral appearance. Online he complained about the rules of the fight. He said there should have been a ‘hit and separate’ rule. Ma said he would have broken his opponent’s nose if that rule was in effect.