TRIQUEST MMA Goes to Foshan

Sometimes the smallest pebbles dropped into a sea can cause ripples that reach far and wide. Triquest MMA Hong Kong's Coach Thomas Fan, the HKCMMA Association President and Founding Member, has been making forays into South China gyms to introduce MMA. This past weekend, organized by Mark Houghton, he took a group of students to Foshan's Fo Men Wu Guan, where they practice traditional Chinese kung fu, sanda, and Muay Thai. It is an extremely delicate effort, as traditional schools in China think of visiting schools as challengers, not ambassadors.

After Bernard took a bit of enthusiastic pummeling by the Foshan boys, Coach Thomas and the students gave a short introduction on MMA takedowns, the differences in Thai versus MMA clinches, establishing position on the ground, and basic submissions.

Thomas explained to them that with the explosion of MMA in Asia, and the opportunities growing in China such as Legend FC (of which he is Head Referee), RUFF, and the many MMA competitions springing up, expanding their fighting skills will give them greater opportunities for success. China has a throwing art, Shuai Jiao, and is well-conditioned in Judo, however ground fighting is still seen as somewhat demeaning and dishonorable. The more they are exposed to it, hopefully the less these conditioned beliefs will be retained.

 A very big thanks to Thomas Fan for tirelessly promoting the sport of MMA even in the smallest of corners.