My goal is to make wrestling more like mixed martial arts.
I think martial arts, in general, shaped my wrestling style. I think I grew up as a martial artist as a kid.
I don’t mind doing action or kung fu, but I’m also really happy to do something dramatic. I’d like to show that a Chinese girl doesn’t have to do crazy martial arts to get the part.
I was a big fan of martial arts movies – Bruce Lee in particular, as cringeworthy as it is. Jean-Claude van Damme was a big inspiration as well – it’s a little embarrassing.
Martial arts was really the first thing in my life that I followed through on and accomplished a degree of proficiency for.
Tournaments, traditionally, are kind of the way martial arts contests happen.
The martial arts that I got into was because of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, because of all of the animal styles at the time. It was around about the time when Jackie was doing ‘Drunken Master,’ and, like, Snake versus this and that.
Actually, I have never been a great fan of martial arts competitions. Not even when I was training martial arts myself.
I don’t care about being the champ champ. I want to be the only consecutive 12-time defending champion in any mixed martial arts promotion.
The mixed martial arts industry is valued at $2 billion in America alone. It is the fastest growing sport. The unpredictability of the sport is what makes it attractive.
I’ve always been a fan of martial arts actor Bruce Lee. His films made me want to go to China one day.
UFC has done a fantastic job of establishing the biggest leading brand in mixed martial arts. Years ago, many people didn’t know what MMA was nor understand the sport.
People understand the simplicity of violence, and martial arts has always been about the more efficient way to deliver said violence upon an adversary. I’ve kept that philosophy as the focal point of what I do.
If you look across my career, whether it be mixed martial arts or wrestling, it’s very, very, very rare that I lose to someone that I’m not supposed to.
I love every type of martial arts, but with Muay Thai in general, I want to see it being brought to the public more. There is no movie that has Muay Thai incorporated into it, so I want to bring that to the public.
I began to study martial arts because it was a great form of exercise, and I knew it would help my acting career. Martial arts reminded me of dancing. It has helped me learn fight sequences quicker.
That’s the beautiful thing about mixed martial arts – and I’ll tell people that – you have to think outside of the box.
A good choreographer is one that’s going to collaborate, teach, guide – everything. The wonderful thing on ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ was that we had Philip Kwok – he choreographed John Woo’s ‘Hard Boiled,’ and in the ’70s, he was a martial arts actor, stunt man, fighter, choreographer in Hong Kong.
Bruce Lee was very famous. I watched his movies and he is amazing. He is a martial arts master, his philosophy, his movement, both physically and mentally, were very strong.
The Bruce Lee Action Museum will represent action in the sense that the word is not just used to mean action in the martial arts or films. It is really meant to be a much broader definition as far as taking action, my father’s belief of self-actualization.
When I’m done my mixed martial arts career, the only people who are gonna remember me and respect what I did and how I lived my life are my two children. That’s my legacy, ladies and gentlemen.
Wrestling is one of the earliest and oldest martial arts there is.
I’ve got good genes. My dad was a martial arts instructor – and he was good.
I really don’t believe in being ‘gifted.’ I really think what you put in is what you get. People say, ‘Oh, this guy is so athletic and so naturally talented,’ well think about it. He’s been doing martial arts since the age of 4 or whatever.
I retire from competition with great pride at having had a positive impact on my sport. I intend to keep training and practicing martial arts for as long as I live, and I look forward to watching the new generation of champions carry our sport into the future.
I just remember I used to go to each tournament to make a couple bucks. I did as a living thing; I got paid to do martial arts, so I’d go to these jiu-jitsu tournaments and make, like, $1000 every time I won the tournament.
I stepped into the martial arts movie market when I was only 16. I think I have proved my ability in this field and it won’t make sense for me to continue for another five or 10 years.
I was raised doing martial arts.
Mixed martial arts is great, and it’s here to stay.
I try to update my arsenal constantly. Learning different martial arts since childhood. To understand what’s out there. To really be in tune.
It wasn’t until I went to Korea out of high school and got exposed to the martial arts for the first time and was just completely enamored with the physical ability of the martial arts and making my black belt.
I have a passion for martial arts and it’s a part of my life.
The truth is that throughout my careers in both chess and the martial arts, I often knew that my rivals were more naturally gifted than me – either with their mental machines or their bodies. But I have believed in my training, my approach to learning, and my ability to rise to the challenge under pressure.
When my writing career took off, it was pretty easy to keep my ego in check because old-school martial arts isn’t about ego gratification. It’s about maintaining a balanced view of the world and your place in it.
I think Ang Lee is a very, very talented director. He used martial arts to talk about love and girl, you know… But Zhang Yimou tried to use martial arts film to talk about Chinese culture, Chinese people. What do they think, what do they want and what do they hope the world will become.
Fight choreography has far more in common with dance choreography than it does with actual martial arts. You learn martial arts techniques, but those are just the movements for the choreography. You’re working with a partner in choreography. You’re working on timing.
When you’re doing something like wrestling – wrestling is one of the toughest and hardest martial arts to learn – but it’s still a form of martial arts. It’s still controlled.
My love for cricket, body-building and martial arts later helped me in modeling and then acting.
I have a lot of guy friends, from martial arts and film, and soccer. I actually barely know women.
We’ll see what I do after ‘Badlands’ to show audiences that I have more in my repertoire besides martial arts.
I have fought all over the world, and I am excited to be in ‘EA Sports MMA’ because this game is going to show the global appeal of mixed martial arts.
I turned to my mom and said, ‘I’m going to be a martial arts movie star.’ She didn’t believe me, and neither did my dad. They both thought I would grow out of it. That it was a phase. I decided then I was going to do it or die trying.
I actually did a lot of yoga because I found it helped with my core strength and flexibility, which are two things you absolutely need when you’re doing martial arts.
Antonio Inoki majored in strong style. He showed real emotion with real technique in the ring. Hard shots that look like hard shots. But the important steps is the real technique from the real martial arts. It means detail is important.
I’ve been training mixed martial arts and kickboxing so I think that will give me better overall conditioning to become a world champion.
‘The Last Airbender’ is genetically engineered for me. I love martial arts. I study it. The movie’s based on a lot of Buddhist and Hindu philosophy. I was raised Hindu.
It’s a bit like some martial arts: if you’re behind somebody there’s not much they can do, if you’re in a certain position. So same thing with a fish, if you’re in the right position you’re okay. As soon as you get in the wrong position you can be in very real danger.
My fighting style is mixed martial arts. It’s not just stand up, or ground and pound, it’s everything together. I have 26 years of a fighting career, and it always works together.
When I started training, I learned a lot, you know – respect. I think you learn a lot of things, and kids should learn mixed martial arts for discipline.
I had to learn martial arts.
Without wishing to sound arrogant, when I was younger, I used to win every single martial arts tournament I ever entered. I used to enter the under 14s and under 16s, win both gold medals in those, and then go in the men’s tournament just for experience, and end up getting a silver medal.
Martial arts should be part of every girl’s education.
I used to go to fights in Japan, mega shows at soccer stadiums. They would have all kinds of martial arts fights in one night.
As a lifelong practitioner of martial arts, I’m trained to remain calm in the face of adversity and danger.
I’ve done all kinds of martial arts. I have my blackbelt in Shorei Ru. I’m doing Wu Shu. I do all kinds of different martial arts.
In martial arts, for every attack, there is a counter you can throw. Somebody traps you, you can throw a hook. But there is no counter for bias.
I do feel I’m being respectful to Buddhism and martial arts with ‘Mortal Kombat.’
I feel that not only have I been out there promoting my style of karate, but just promoting the traditional martial arts, and it makes me very happy.
