Tainted Taekwondo Reputation

Is taekwondo seeing a tainted reputation?

It may actually be that the martial art of taekwondo is starting to see a bit of a bad rap, at least far when it comes to the Korean mainland (South-Korea).

It appears evidence is emerging, showing how taekwondo matches are being fixed and the results are being rigged in favor of one of the fighters. A former executive of the Seoul City Taekwondo Association is reported to give an interview with a South-Korean radio program where he talked rumors about bribery to manipulate the results of taekwondo matches.

"Bronze medal costs 10 million won, silver 20 million won, gold 40 million won…"
"(It is) just a tip of iceberg." (from english.donga.com)

One report talked about a father of one taekwondo fighter, a high school student. The judge in one of his son's matches clearly made a lot of bad and highly suspect calls - something which led to the opponent being declared winner of the fight.

A month later, the father committed suicide as a result of the important match in his son's career, writing:

"My son lost the match because of those warnings and he now wants to quit taekwondo. I cannot sleep and I don't want to eat .?.?. and now I am exhausted in the end."

Even though it is quite something else killing yourself over this, it get's worse... 

The father's suicide prompted taekwondo officials to carry out an investigation. It was concluded that the 47-year-old referee had evidently made a number of wrong calls. Then, a year later, authorities announced new findings clearly showing the match had been fixed. The father of the other fighter, as well as officials from the Seoul Taekwondo Association was behind the scandal.

Tainted taekwondo reputation in Korea - Image from Flickr.com

The Suck-Factor in Traditional Martial Arts

Traditional martial arts sucks? From Flickr.

I'm sure you have heard a number of times how the suck-factor in traditional martial arts (TMA) can be very high?

It goes without saying that such statements in general comes from the people who don't do TMA, or who have done some bullshido/McDojo variety of it before - typically when they were children.

Those of us who find it very meaningful to do the more traditional arts like karate, taekwondo, judo and ju-jitsu, knows that there are lots of benefits associated with this type of training. Also, it should be quite self-explanatory that not everyone aim at being MMA fighters, or train the latest and greatest "street-approved combat style of self-defense.

That's all well and fine, but there still may be some elements of truth about the suck-factor in traditional martial arts. It appears that this is more than anything a problem in the USA, and you can read more about it here.

MMA Zombie Film

A zombie film/movie with mixed martial arts action..? Apparently that's what you get with 'Zombie Apocalypse'. Not at all sure if I'm ready for an MMA zombie film.

Just a bit curious whether it's zombies turning fighters or fighters turning zombies. It may be argued that some fighters are close to that state already...

MMA Ref Lost His Cool

MMA referee - Illustration from Flickr.com

First off, I briefly want to remind you all to check out our new site regarding martial arts news related stuff, found here.

Any feedback and comments - positive or negative - is highly appreciated.

Upwards and inwards... Apparently a MMA ref lost his cool when a cornerman got angry about his fighter losing an amateur bout in

Here's what nbcsports.com has to say about the incident - do remember to check out the whole piece.

The rise of Mixed Martial Arts fighting across this fair nation has spurned the creation of many smaller MMA events that pit rogue fighters against each other.These matches resemble more along the lines of street fights than MMA matches but occasionally you see something that makes the fight worth the watch. Check out this MMA referee trying to calm down this corner man after a knockout of his fighter at a small event in Texas.

And here's a video of the knockdown:

MMA License Reinstated

MMA fighters - Image from Flickr.com

Well known MMA heavyweight fighter Josh Bartlett failed a drug test back in 2009.

Since then he have been fighting to get his California mixed martial arts license back.

Well, it now appears he's back into the game. It is said that the primary reason is that California "needs good fighters." Mmamania.com reports:

Strikeforce heavyweight attraction and former PRIDE FC star Josh Barnett had his mixed martial arts (MMA) license reinstated today (March 5, 2012) during a special hearing in front of the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC).
But not without provisions.
"The Warmaster" must consent to "random biological fluid testing" at a time and place determined by the commission prior to his participation at any event held in the state of California.

MMA Madness, TV Style

TV - illustration from Wikipedia.org

Here comes some instant MMA madness, TV style for you.

And we apparently won't need the real life - and out there - nutty mixed martial arts fighters when we have the couch potato variety to carry the flag of splendid madness for all the world to see.

Enter this 19-year-old TV inspired MMA crazed nitwit from Phoenix, Arizona.

When he found that his girlfriend "didn't respect him" (I do wonder why...), he allegedly incorporated some MMA moves he had learned on TV to beat her up in front of her three children, before he choked her to unconsciousness.

When Snyder was interviewed by officers, he had the woman's cell phone and admitted to choking and hitting her because she was "disrespecting him," a police report said.
Snyder told officers he only meant to cause his girlfriend to lose consciousness for a "couple of seconds" and said he tried to mimic what he learned from a mixed martial arts television program, a police report said.

 No respect? That's bad ... that's really bad.

Robber Picks Wrong Hotel

California -- Below is a surveillance video from a hotel in Los Angeles. It shows a 31-year-old would-be robber being taken down and held by two MMA fighters from Eugene, Oregon.

The two Good Samaritans were guests at the hotel and had been to a martial arts tournament in the city when they came out of the lift and encountered the robbery in progress.

They both sprang into action when they heard the clerk's cry for help. After a few moments of tussle, they were able to take the gun-wielding robber to the floor. The robber was held there until police arrived.

The two MMA fighters reportedly received lots of well deserved praise from police. Kudos to you guys!

Taekwondon't

Update, August 27:
The 16-year-old boy from Florida has been sentenced and ordered to serve up to eight months at a youth correctional institution following the assault at a local martial arts competition.

Update, July 7:
It was originally thought the fight broke out prior to a match. However, it has emerged that there was no "fight", but an outright assault - and that it happened after a bout.

The attacker, who just prior to the incident had lost his match, went over to the winner and delivered a vicious kick to the head of the totally unprepared victim.

A witness said that neither the assailant, nor his father, seemed to have any remorse (why am I not surprised...)

Read more mercurynews.com - a nasty story for sure!

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California -- In San Jose, two juvenile competitors - aged 15 and 16 - got into a brawl prior to their scheduled match at the USA Taekwondo Junior Olympics, according to examiner.com.

As a result of the violent fight, one of the boys were arrested and the other was taken to a medical center, a police spokesman said.

Shameful and stupid behavior if you ask me.