Will an Asian fighter ever hold a championship belt?

[Rum]

Pretty sure Weidman is Asian.

 

[dissufc]

Half asians aside, there will be an asian champ in a non-heavyweight category within 3 years I suspect. I feel that the Korean Zombie and Hyun Gyu Lim have the best chances but we'll see. A lot of asians pursue other careers that are not pugilistic and are not meant to give you potential brain damage. The parents definitely don't condone it as they view it as brutal and non-intelligent.

That being said, an asian will take title one day, like the female Korean golfers ruling the LPGA. Who woulda thunk?

 

[ChickenBrother]

Asian Americans are "like half the population of the U.S. West Coast"??? well, unless Washington and Oregon are 100% Asian, I seriously doubt that...considering Asians aren't even 15% of California's total population.


While you're right about CA population overall, I was talking about coastal towns, and was only a very slight exaggeration. Here's the transfer rates to UC schools by race:

The general population by race of UCLA and most UC schools is similar. UCLA is sometimes called the "University of Caucasians lost Among Asians." Also, CA is a hotbed of Judo and BJJ and because it's such a large state, a lot of elite HS wrestlers come out of CA to wrestle there or at other colleges.

 

[asdf122345]

Maybe in the next 5 years.

 

[ChickenBrother]

They have the skillz but the lack that X-factor. They just aren't explosive and athletic enough.

Bullshit. If east asians can win gold medals in wrestling and olympic weightlifting, they are athletic enough for mma you fool. Its the culture that is preventing an asian champ.

Yeah, was going to say Kid Yamamoto disagrees. That guy had some 18" schlong level explosiveness. In his prime I say he would have wrecked TJ/MM/Dodson. Crazy that he was KO'ing top 155'ers even though he was 20 lbs undersized.

 

[Paradigm]

Lyoto Machida doesnt exist anymore?

he's half Brazilian...

Asian Americans are "like half the population of the U.S. West Coast"??? well, unless Washington and Oregon are 100% Asian, I seriously doubt that...considering Asians aren't even 15% of California's total population.

While you're right about CA population overall, I was talking about coastal towns, and was only a very slight exaggeration. Here's the transfer rates to UC schools by race:

The general population by race of UCLA and most UC schools is similar. UCLA is sometimes called the "University of Caucasians lost Among Asians." Also, CA is a hotbed of Judo and BJJ and because it's such a large state, a lot of elite HS wrestlers come out of CA to wrestle there or at other colleges.

UC schools? i went to one...probably the one with the most Asians out of all of them. using UC schools is a bad example, as it is a state university system where intelligent people tend to go (ahem)...of course it is going to be weighted heavily towards Asians.

what do the stats look like for CSU schools?

as far as coastal towns...what coastal towns are even 50% Asian?

Santa Barbara: 3.5%
Newport Beach: 6.9%
Manhattan Beach: 9.1%
San Francisco: 33.3%
Monterey: 9.3%
Santa Monica: 10%
Santa Cruz: 4.3%
San Diego: 16.4%

even pulled Seattle because it's not in California and has a good amount of Asians...14.1%.

http://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Overview

i was just pulling data from coastal cities off the top of my head.

either way, your whole theory is off. i live in a beach city these days and let me just say...its mostly white people.

Yeah, was going to say Kid Yamamoto disagrees. That guy had some 18" schlong level explosiveness. In his prime I say he would have wrecked TJ/MM/Dodson. Crazy that he was KO'ing top 155'ers even though he was 20 lbs undersized.

Yamamoto comes from a wrestling family. His father Ikuei Yamamoto representing Japan at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich and his sisters Miyu and Seiko both won world championships in freestyle wrestling. Kid received his education in the United States and wrestled at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Arizona, capturing three state championships (with a third place finish as a freshman). During that time he lived and received training from Townsend and Tricia Saunders. He also trained briefly under Choi Mu Bae.[1].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norifumi_Yamamoto

so while he came from a wrestling family, he also wrestled in Arizona in high school and was a 3x state champ.

 

[uWot]

Doo-ho or Kyoji have hope if they leave Korea and trained at an elite team in the West. I really feel like Asian fighters not branching out and training with major camps really hurts their chances.

 

[MMAart]

Complex question because race is more about social than genetic differences these days. If you go back far enough, everyone is mixed race something.

No it's not. It's genetics...

Pretty much everyone from Eastern Europe or the 'stans are part central Asian, so guys like Khabib.

I think both you and I know this is not true. Khabib is from a country that is geographically located in Asia, but genetically, he's not Asian (as in East/South East Asian). It's Caucasian mixed with middle eastern.

And most casuals consider Bendo and Dodson "black" even though they're half Asian. Hendricks is part Native American so technically "Asian."

They are of mixed races. But be honest here, how come guys like Dodson is super athletic and explosive?

And BJ and Travis Browne are half Asian ("Hapa" means "half" in Japanese), but casuals don't consider them "Asian."

Um, not he is not... Please stop making things up... Browne is half native Hawaiian and half Caucasian.

Bigger question to me is how the hell aren't there more good Asian American MMA fighters?

You'll know the answer to this question by asking similar questions such as, "how come there aren't many good Asian NBA players, NFL players, etc...?"

They're like half the population of the U.S. West Coast and a large chunk of the East Coast as well. A fair amount of Asians born in the U.S. do wrestling/Judo/BJJ. I think the first "Asian" UFC champ (other than Saku) will come from this pool.

It is very unlikely that an unmixed Asian American will become UFC champ. Believe it or not, muscle fiber density, bone density, hormone levels, etc., are controlled by genetics, and believe it or not, humans are not created the same or equal, even within the same race or even the same family.

 

[MMAart]

Machida's dad is japanese, but I guess since he was born in Brazil it doesn't really count.

His mom is Portuguese. And people are referring to 100% Asians, not Eurasians or Afro-Asians.

Bendo's too explosive to be considered, but he was brought up by his asian mum.

What does being brought up by an Asian mother has anything to do with his explosiveness and athletic ability?

 

[TdotK]

Umm lots of asian countries have good grappling/wrestling programs.

China, Japan, Mongolia, South Korea and North Korea routinely medal in wrestling, for starters. Including golds.
Mostly in the lighter divisions.

Wait till the NK MMA invasion begins... flyweight and below beware :icon_evil :icon_lol:

Yeah, but for whatever reason, the elite Asian grapplers suck at striking, or can't seem to be great at both.

And yeah, Asian countries have grappling and wrestling, but it's not like in America, where it's everywhere. It's not their thing. And if there is a stud wrestler that's also a beast with the stand up, I haven't seen him yet. I'm not talking about the past, but right now.

 

[MMAart]

Bullshit. If east asians can win gold medals in wrestling and olympic weightlifting,

At what weight class?
Women or men?

they are athletic enough for mma you fool. Its the culture that is preventing an asian champ.

Culture? LOL! Go take biology classes such as human physiology and genetics...

You must think all humans are created equal...

 

[BonesNose**]

No. Have a good day.

 

[Joe Buck]

no. americans doesnt want to pay for a non-american champion.

 

[tkotom]

Penn and Ben Henderson are both half Korean. Machida is half Japanese. Lawler is part Filipino.

I'm guessing he means, someone who is full heritage who was born in his ancestral homeland.

 

[MMAart]

Half asians aside, there will be an asian champ in a non-heavyweight category within 3 years I suspect. I feel that the Korean Zombie and Hyun Gyu Lim have the best chances but we'll see. A lot of asians pursue other careers that are not pugilistic and are not meant to give you potential brain damage. The parents definitely don't condone it as they view it as brutal and non-intelligent.

That being said, an asian will take title one day, like the female Korean golfers ruling the LPGA. Who woulda thunk?

Golf requires hand-eye coordination, good aim, and focus - the qualities that Asian athletes are not deficient at. This is why Asians do well in sports such as table tennis.

Sports such as basketball, football, MMA, etc. favor those with more power and explosiveness, muscle and bone density to absorb more damage, etc., and because of this reason, certain races naturally do better than others in these sports.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

At what weight class?
Women or men?



Culture? LOL! Go take biology classes such as human physiology and genetics...

You must think all humans are created equal...

There are like 2 billion east asians, they are far from a homogenuous group.

Culture/social reaso s plays a large role, african americans do great at sports while africans do not, why? Because most africans don't train anything.

If you had the same amount of mma training facilities in China as you have in the US or Brazil you would start to see some great fighters coming in, even if genetically the average chinese is not as athletic, which is dubious.

 

[MKashew]

Asian here. My answer is no, until their elite fighters start moving to the U.S. to train in the prestigious academies we have here.

 

[MMAart]

There are like 2 billion east asians, they are far from a homogenuous group.

If you mix up "X" and "x," you will still have "Xx." You will never have "Y" by mixing X's together.

If you mix East Asians with East Asians, they will still be East Asians. You won't ever get a Black person by mixing Asians together.

Culture/social reaso s plays a large role, african americans do great at sports while africans do not, why? Because most africans don't train anything.

No, it's because Africans from Africa have to worry more about putting food on the table and don't have the resources and opportunities like Afro Americans have here in America, such as high school sports programs, training facilities, coaches, sponsors, etc.

If you had the same amount of mma training facilities in China as you have in the US or Brazil you would start to see some great fighters coming in, even if genetically the average chinese is not as athletic, which is dubious.

Look how much China has invested into their basketball programs... look at how many NBA stars they have produced...

 

[ChickenBrother]

he's half Brazilian...



UC schools? i went to one...probably the one with the most Asians out of all of them. using UC schools is a bad example, as it is a state university system where intelligent people tend to go (ahem)...of course it is going to be weighted heavily towards Asians.

what do the stats look like for CSU schools?

as far as coastal towns...what coastal towns are even 50% Asian?

Santa Barbara: 3.5%
Newport Beach: 6.9%
Manhattan Beach: 9.1%
San Francisco: 33.3%
Monterey: 9.3%
Santa Monica: 10%
Santa Cruz: 4.3%
San Diego: 16.4%

even pulled Seattle because it's not in California and has a good amount of Asians...14.1%.

http://statisticalatlas.com/United-States/Overview

i was just pulling data from coastal cities off the top of my head.

either way, your whole theory is off. i live in a beach city these days and let me just say...its mostly white people.


Yamamoto comes from a wrestling family. His father Ikuei Yamamoto representing Japan at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich and his sisters Miyu and Seiko both won world championships in freestyle wrestling. Kid received his education in the United States and wrestled at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe, Arizona, capturing three state championships (with a third place finish as a freshman). During that time he lived and received training from Townsend and Tricia Saunders. He also trained briefly under Choi Mu Bae.[1].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norifumi_Yamamoto

so while he came from a wrestling family, he also wrestled in Arizona in high school and was a 3x state champ.

I don't think anyone would argue, certainly not me, that any California city is literally 50% Asian (Hawaii is a different story). My point is that there are hell of a lot of people of Asian descent in CA, and a lot of that is disproportionately based around colleges and college towns.

College wrestling and Judo teams would be prime feeders for MMA. I was a college Judo guy and the best guys were out of San Jose, a lot of them Asian.

On Kid, agreed and this further makes my point. The fact that he's of Asian descent doesn't make him less explosive. With the same training, he was explosive as hell and was wrecking other dudes.

 

[Train.Harder]

Probably. That is, of course, if you don't count Lyoto Machida, who is half... which by the one drop rule, makes him Asian.

SO...

Yes.

Also, to all the people saying something like they aren't genetically gifted enough thats retarded. There are WAY more factors involved in fighting then athletic ability. "Inferior" athletes (and i'm not saying Asians are) beat "superior" athletes ALL the time.

Technique, timing, intelligence, will, work ethic, cardio, athletic ability, everything counts.