Saturday, August 18, 2012

MUSU Postscript

Something strange is happening.  Months ago, when I began checking out these underground full-contact kung fu tournaments out in Queens called Manup Standup, the action was all on the feet.  But evolution has crept in and insinuated itself into the fights, and now... they be grappling.  Today, for the first time ever, I witnessed not one, but two wins via submission at a MUSU - and one of the subs was even a D'Arce choke!  Now, maybe it had something to do with the camera crew filming everything for an episode of "Hidden America" on the Discovery Channel, or maybe it truly was the first signs of fistic metamorphosis, but damn, it was awesome.  Highlights of the event included:
  • All the unadulterated violence!  Repeat customer Rinson of Bagua Zhang KO'd Yahuda, Ruben of San Bao TKO'd his opponent on the ground, Chris of San Bao TKO'd some kid from Utah - it was the opposite of boring, that's for sure.  And the icing on the cake was the EMT imploring the fighters to take it easy on each other.  "I didn't come here to work!  I've got to go out in the field after this and work, and I don't want to have blood on my shirt!"
  • All the submissions!  Mike from Harlem tapped out Craig from New Hampshire with a D'Arce - a fucking D'Arce!  And earlier, a dude named Owen from Boston won via rear naked choke.  What the hell is going on here?
  • DJ from Syracuse, the reigning MUSU champ, and his gritty decision win over Mike from Harlem.  It was hard scrapping throughout, and DJ pulled out the win.
  • The main event between dueling sifus Jess and Ben Hill, which had no ref.  Since there was no ref, there was no ten-second limit on the ground, so what we got looked a lot like UFC 1.  But hell, where else are you going to see that in the world of combat sports?
It was by far the best MUSU I've seen.  Big props to promoter Black Taoist, who's doing his thing and is starting to get noticed.