The Mysterious History of Vietnamese Mixed Martial Arts

[VNFighters]

http://www.vnfighters.com/2016/02/the-mysterious-history-of-vietnamese-mixed-martial-arts/

Mixed martial arts are sort of a mystery in Vietnam to both foreigners and natives alike. To elaborate, many historians believe that martial arts in its ancient form originated in the Wudang mountains of China. Vietnam, having been under Chinese influence as a tribunal state (or some say independent province or municipality) for over a thousand years should at least in theory carry a lot of the same volumes of martial arts knowledge passed down from China, known as the middle kingdom, to the southern kingdom of Vietnam. There is a mountain of geographical and regional arguments to be made for why mixed martial arts in Vietnam should be well developed and well documented.

But this is simply not so. Very few people outside of Vietnam know the history of this Southeast Asian nation’s martial matters. There are few credible and authentic books written on the subject, and many sources are passed down from generational grandmasters.

As a native and professional on the subject, I will explain. A history teacher once explained to me that in the very ancient days, Vietnam developed many many styles of martial arts. These styles all developed differently and did not share any core concepts. For example, some styles were learned by watching animals and mimicking their movements. There is even one rumored ancient style called “demonic possession” where a martial artist allows spirits to enter their body and control their fighting movements. These are all “tall tales” or fairytales in modern day Vietnam, which now embraces modern Vovinam, which I will not explain in this particular article.

One thing is for sure in Vietnamese mixed martial arts history. Vietnam is a large country divided into 58 different provinces. Historians believe that each of Vietnam’s provinces (formerly having over 60 provinces) had its own style of martial arts. This is shocking to hear that one country could have 60 different martial styles. It is truly a wonder in the world of martial arts.

Both historically and today, the province of Binh Dinh is known as the capital of martial arts in Vietnam. It is the meeting place for all provinces to come and bring their best fighters, and individual styles. Because of this fascinating history, mixed martial arts is a good bet for Vietnam in terms of future potential.

 

[ill0giKaL]

On that note, VietNAM Phan bless.

 

[ninjatoekick666]

vietnam's war resume is pretty good too. > china,mongolia,french, and america (technically)

never forget.

 

[eseseses681]

I have a question: was it really 60 different styles for each region with the disparities being, like, Karaté and Jūdō, or was it more like how Chinese Kung Fu had different styles-- like, one place had Mantis style, the other had Crane style, another had Tiger style, and another had River Dolphin style-- but it was all still Kung Fu? Or like how a lot of regions in India have different styles of folk wrestling, but they're all still folk wrestling?

 

[SH10151]

the new breed of fighters comin up. I have been excited of the few VN fighters I seen.

 

[mbach4307]

vietnam's war resume is pretty good too. > china,mongolia,french, and america (technically)

never forget.

Depends how you define success. Fact is, for the first time in its history, America actually wanted kills rather than advancing position. We would take a hill, kill a few thousand, and then relinquish the ground back to them. America could have kept it up forever, but why? The south werent particularly helpful. Plus once the handcuffs were off for a short period of time, America started rocking them. When infantryman were ordered into cambodia, we were able to disrupt and destroy several of their supply routes. But the s back here in America wouldn't allow us to continue our covert missions. The problem with defining success by kills is that you have to esssentially kill all of them. Instead of pushing into the north and taking ground that way, we simply killed their soldiers. A few million iirc.