Xu Xiaodong

Xu Xiaodong (Chinese: 徐晓冬; born 15 November 1979), nicknamed "Mad Dog", is a Chinese mixed martial artist (MMA) who has been called the founder of MMA in China and is known for challenging and fighting apparently fraudulent martial artists. He gained prominence online after he was filmed defeating self-proclaimed tai chi master Wei Lei in 2017.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Xu.
Xu Xiaodong
Born (1979-11-15) 15 November 1979
Beijing, China
NationalityChinese
OccupationMMA fighter, Youtuber, Political commentator
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese徐曉冬
Simplified Chinese徐晓冬

Early life

Xu was born on 15 November 1979 in Beijing.[1] In 1996, he entered Beijing Shichahai Sports School, where he was trained in sanshou and boxing under Mei Huizhi (梅惠志) and Zhang Xingzheng (张兴正). He competed at least twice at the Beijing Sanshou Invitational Tournament, finishing as the champion and the first runner-up, respectively. He became a sanshou coach at Shichahai School after graduation.[1]

MMA career

In 2001, Xu began training for mixed martial arts (MMA) and Muay Thai.[1] He was drawn to the fighting style because of how free it was.[2] A year later, he founded the first MMA team in Beijing and organised China's first MMA tournament. He has been called the founder of MMA in China.[1]

Xu was frustrated by what he saw as fraud and hypocrisy amongst martial arts practitioners, and wanted to demonstrate the superiority of modern fighting styles.[3] Many in China believe that kung fu masters have supernatural powers, and self-described masters, including Wei Lei, were known to make such claims online.[4] Xu started a dispute with Wei on social media, beginning with a demand that Wei provide evidence of his abilities, and culminating in a bare-knuckle fight in a basement in Chengdu in 2017; Xu won convincingly in less than 20 seconds.[4][5]

After the fight went viral, there was significant blowback on social media where he was accused of disparaging Chinese culture and his family received death threats. Beverage tycoon Chen Sheng offered over a million US dollars to any traditional tai chi fighter who could beat him.[6] Police stopped a fight against another self-proclaimed tai chi master, Ma Baoguo,[7] and Xu was banned for organising tournaments at his gym.[4] Xu continued to fight self-proclaimed tai chi masters.[8]

Xu was sued in 2019 for calling tai chi "grandmaster" Chen Xiaowang a fraud, and the Chinese court ordered him to pay Chen approximately US$60,000 in damages and to apologize for seven consecutive days on social media. Additionally, his social credit rating was lowered to the point where he could not rent, own property, stay in certain hotels, travel on high speed rail or buy plane tickets.[9][10] The restrictions were lifted after he paid US$40,000 in both legal fees and the cost of placing the apology.[11]

In May 2019, Xu defeated another martial artist; but was only able to do so wearing clown makeup to hide his face and by fighting under a pseudonym. It took him 36 hours to reach the fight location due to his low social credit score, and Chinese search engines reportedly had stopped listing him.[12][13] Later that year, Xu had to wear Peking Opera face paint and cover his back tattoo during his match with Japanese kickboxer Yuichiro Nagashima so that the fight which took place in Japan could stream in China.[14] By defeating Nagashima, Xu believed that he could pressure Yi Long, whom Xu has claimed has rigged competitions, to face him in a match.[14] Yi Long has previously criticized Xu, as well for his attitude and claiming that Xu himself is in fact a fraud.[15]

In November 2019 an Iron Palm master threatened to break his arm in a fight, but apologized and backed down after Xu accepted and suggested putting 200,000 yuan on the outcome.[16]

In July 2020 the Chinese Wushu Association decreed that practitioners are not allowed to call themselves "master". This was interpreted by Bloody Elbow (MMA news site) and Radii China as being in response to Xu's complaints about "kung fu fakery".[17][18]

Political views

In August 2019, Xu spoke out on Twitter, Sina Weibo and YouTube questioning the government's reporting of the Hong Kong protests, stating that the Chinese government was running a "smear campaign", and met with human rights lawyer Chen Qiushi who had shared similar views.[2][19] Xu has also clarified on his YouTube account that his statements were about how the mainland government should adhere to the One China, Two Systems policy as promised, rather than a call for Hong Kong independence. He was subsequently visited by Chinese authorities and had his Sina Weibo account wiped for the eighth time.[19][20]

After Chen Qiushi disappeared while reporting on the Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan Xu gave updates on both his and Chen's YouTube channels reporting Chen was uncontactable by family and friends while police claimed Chen had merely been placed in isolation.[21]

Xu has also come to the defense of Fang Fang, a Chinese author living in Wuhan who published the Wuhan Diary which related the experiences of people living under lock down in the city by the Chinese government.[22] Fang Fang received widespread criticism from Chinese nationalists, including Tai Chi practitioner Wei Lei, who was defeated by Xu in 2017. Wei called for martial artists in Wuhan to assault Fang for her work while Xu defended the author who he claims was mild in criticism and was being truthful in her accounts.[23]

YouTube channel

Xu has run a YouTube channel called Brother Dong's Hot Takes since 2015, consisting of 45 minutes long sports show style monologues, largely about MMA and his own experiences. He records the show in Beijing, and sends it to a friend in America to upload it. Most of his audience are from Hong Kong, Taiwan, or are Chinese firewall jumpers.[2]

gollark: I mean, it's technically not *false*.
gollark: Market it as "Extra Claim Blocks" then.
gollark: So why would people pay for it?
gollark: And the command computer would presumably do that? That's a bit worrying.
gollark: Does /abandonallclaims abandon *all* claims?

References
  1. He Yiling 何宜玲 (6 May 2017). "《两岸星期人物》格斗中国自尊心 浪尖上的网红徐晓冬". China Times (in Chinese). Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  2. Lauren Teixeira (3 October 2019). "He Never Intended To Become A Political Dissident, But Then He Started Beating Up Tai Chi Masters". Deadspin. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  3. Wu, Jiangchuan (11 May 2017). "Tai chi v MMA: The 20-second fight that left China reeling". BBC News.
  4. Charlie Campbell; Zhang Chi (19 November 2018). "Meet the Chinese MMA Fighter Taking on the Grandmasters of Kung Fu". Time Magazine.
  5. Bissell, Tim (7 May 2017). "Feature: MMA fighter KOs Tai Chi master, Shaolin monk up next?". Bloody Elbow. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  6. Keoni Everington (7 April 2017). "Chinese tycoon offers $1.45 million to tai chi warrior who can defeat MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong". Taiwan News.
  7. Sarah Zheng (28 June 2017). "Tai chi master sabotaged event, MMA fighter claims". South China Morning Post.
  8. Bissell, Tim (21 January 2019). "Video: MMA's 'Mad Dog' Xu Xiaodong destroys another Kung Fu 'master'". Bloody Elbow.
  9. Tim Bissell (25 August 2019). "Xu Xiaodong questioned by authorities after showing support for Hong Kong protests".
  10. Nick Atkin (24 May 2019). "China orders Xu Xiaodong to publicly apologise and pay damages for insulting tai chi 'grandmaster' Chen Xiaowang". South China Morning Post.
  11. SCMP Reporter (23 June 2019). "Xu Xiaodong wants to countersue tai chi grandmaster in Australian court". South China Morning Post.
  12. Nick Atkin (25 May 2019). "Opinion: China's censorship of Xu Xiaodong for exposing fake martial arts masters is alarming". South China Morning Post.
  13. Livni, Ephrat. "A fight between fighting styles just got settled by a court in China". Quartz.
  14. Atkin, Nick (23 November 2019). "Chinese MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong knocks out Japanese cosplayer". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  15. Atkin, Nick (16 January 2019). "'Fake Shaolin monk' next for Xu Xiaodong – but this one can actually fight". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  16. Nick Atkin (8 November 2019). "Kung fu master backs down after Xu Xiaodong accepts challenge". South China Morning Post.
  17. Bissell, Tim (15 July 2020). "Chinese martial artists no longer permitted to call themselves 'Masters'". Bloody Elbow.
  18. Kohnhorst, Adan (10 July 2020). "Chinese Martial Artists Must Stop Calling Themselves "Masters", According to Official Decree". Radii China.
  19. "Chinese authorities question Xu Xiaodong over Hong Kong protest views". South China Morning Post. 22 August 2019.
  20. Nick Atkin (23 August 2019). "Xu Xiaodong's Weibo account wiped after Hong Kong protest comments". South China Morning Post.
  21. "China Detains, Harasses Journalist, Academics Over Reports, Comments on Coronavirus". Radio Free Asia.
  22. Bissell, Tim (22 April 2020). "'Have you no shame?'; MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong slams tai chi master's calls for violence against Wuhan critic". Bloody Elbow. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  23. "Xu Xiaodong slams tai chi master's threats against Wuhan critic". www.msn.com. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
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