Viral road rage incident adds to MMA’s ‘dubious reputation’ in China

A so-called MMA fighter has been arrested after a city-wide manhunt in China’s capital.

According to The Beijinger a city-wide manhunt for an individual who had been dubbed Beijing’s most-wanted “dangerous” man ended on Saturday night. It was then that police apprehended a 20-year-old named Ma X Ru in connection to a violent road rage incident that went viral last week.

The incident that sparked the manhunt, and a sensational run of media coverage, happened at an intersection in Shuangjing, a sub-district of Beijing and home to close to 82,000 people.

Video from the scene captured a typically busy crosswalk filled with pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. The onset of the video shows a young man in black shrug another man, wearing blue, to the ground. Onlookers watch as the man in blue gets up and stumbles back towards the man in black.

Once he is within striking range, the man in black — who authorities now name as Ma X Ru — attacks the man in blue. The attack involves punches, knees, and kicks. The man in blue is dropped to the ground a number of times. In one instance the man in black grips the other man in a tight headlock, seemingly trying to choke him.

After approximately one minute, the man in black gets onto a motorcycle and leaves the scene, almost hitting the man in blue in the process.

The video of the assault was aired across television in China and the clip went viral on Chinese social media network Weibo. With the incident making news across the country, Chaoyang Police were tasked with identifying and apprehending the man from the video. Chaoyang is the district of Beijing that includes the subdistrict of Shuangjing

The police told reporters that they would be enlisting a professional boxing champion to help apprehend the suspect, who China Daily described as having ‘professional combat skills’.

On Saturday police were accompanied by camera crews to bust their suspect (Ma X Ru). It is alleged that Ma was being hid by his father at his residence in the Fangshan District. Video of Ma’s capture, a search of his father’s premises, and some of Ma’s interrogation was broadcast on television (and Weibo).

That video shows a large group of people entering an apartment building. That group includes uniformed police officers and other men in plain clothes; such as media members and possibly more police officers.

As Ma opens the door to an apartment unit, cameras flash and the group swarms in. Ma is then shown in cuffs talking with officers. He is also shown alongside a black motorcycle that looks similar to what was seen in the road rage video.

The Beijinger reports that police claimed they found sparring gloves and other training equipment, confirming — to them — that Ma trained in MMA. That outlet goes on to state that, “Although China has been relatively late in adopting mixed-martial arts, the sport has already gained a dubious reputation in the country.”

The Beijinger cites Xu Xiaodong aka Mad Dog as a reason why MMA has a bad reputation in China. Xu went viral when he battered a Tai Chi master in a Chengdu gym last year. Xu, head of Beijing’s MMA Association, later challenged traditional martial artists to fight him to prove that their discipline could defeat MMA. Months after this Xu attempted to conduct an MMA vs. Tai Chi group fight, but police shut down the contest.

More recently Xu beat up a Wing Chun master before a throng of television cameras and police officials. Other controversial MMA stories to come out of China in the last 18 months include the EnBo Fight Club, which appeared to house and train hundreds of Tibetan orphans in MMA and promote their fights on the streets of Chengdu. Former TUF contestant Jeremy May coached these orphans and spoke to Bloody Elbow about the experience.

May said that in Chengdu MMA, boxing, or street fights happen nightly. He claimed he even competed in some unsanctioned events. Chengdu is also home to the Monster Fight Club, which relocated to a haunted shopping mall in February.

The UFC is yet to ‘break into’ China, despite attempts over the past decade that includes shows in Macao and Shanghai and a season of The Ultimate Fighter dedicated to Chinese talent. Combate has reported that the UFC will be hosting a show in Beijing, for the first time in history, sometime later this year.