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[Goofalo]

The first rule of Orphan Fight Club...

According to the South China Morning Post police in Chengdu, Sichuan Province have begun investigating Enbo MMA Club after a video of two young boys cage-fighting went viral. The video, which profiles Enbo MMA Club, makes startling claims about the organization’s practice of adopting 400 street children and training them to become fighters. Subsequent reports have claimed the boys are being trained to either enter the world of professional mixed martial arts or for careers in specialized police forces.

The video also features En Bo, the club’s founder. He’s asked how he came to adopt the estimated 400 children he has training at his gym. Bo’s answer was that the Chinese Civil Affairs Bureau had signed off on his adoptions, whether the children were orphans or from impoverished families. “They agree with it, and seal it, [and] send them to here,” he said.

In the Pear TV video, the gym founder enforced the importance of ‘flexibility’ for his young fighters, threatening that any which don’t meet his standard of suppleness are likely to be ‘eliminated’ from the club. Xiao Long is shown spending time after regular class to train the ligaments in his legs to be more bendy, for fear of being one of those eliminated and sent back to Liangshan.

What the everloving fuck.

Lock if I violated the 2nd rule of Orphan Fight Club

 

[SocksAndShoes]

 

[ebullientprism]

Unless they are being forced into this I am not sure why it is being made out to sound so nefarious (can only read the quotes in the OP).

I mean if a boxing club took them in and taught them boxing then yeah they would be fighting/sparring/practicing with each other, who else would they be "fighting"?

 

[chicken_pasta]

When I was a kid, I had many friends who practiced karate and tae kwon do. MMA is simply the trendy fighting sport.

 

[Mendrox]

Unless they are being forced into this I am not sure why it is being made out to sound so nefarious (can only read the quotes in the OP).

I mean if a boxing club took them in and taught them boxing then yeah they would be fighting/sparring/practicing with each other, who else would they be "fighting"?

Uhm, they are basically slaves?

 

[Acorn]

 

[Hexa]

Unless they are being forced into this I am not sure why it is being made out to sound so nefarious (can only read the quotes in the OP).

I mean if a boxing club took them in and taught them boxing then yeah they would be fighting/sparring/practicing with each other, who else would they be "fighting"?

I think the part about being sent back if they're not good enough is the issue. It'll probably drive them to do crazy stuff. Though all in all, it's still better than being at the orphanage I'm guessing so overall I'm conflicted.

 

[ebullientprism]

Uhm, they are basically slaves?

I cant access the article at work but nothing in the OP's quote says they are "basically slaves"?

 

[Kayhan]

Two toddlers enter the arena. Only one leaves.

 

[ChubbyHuggs]

So modern day gladiators?

 

[Mendrox]

I cant access the article at work but nothing in the OP's quote says they are "basically slaves"?

These are kids that fear getting taken back if they fail to improve or show a good performance. Sounds fucked.

 

[King Tubby]

Unless they are being forced into this I am not sure why it is being made out to sound so nefarious (can only read the quotes in the OP).

I mean if a boxing club took them in and taught them boxing then yeah they would be fighting/sparring/practicing with each other, who else would they be "fighting"?

Seems to me that these are children who don't really have anywhere else to go.

 

[Formless]

Uh honestly this seems kind of 'normal'. There are hundreds of families that send their kids to the Shaolin temple area (mostly to not-actually-Shaolin schools) to train wushu and such. And most pro boxers started really young.

Martial arts gyms have practices where people fight each other, and compete by fighting each other.

The main issue would be safety -- amateur boxing usually has more restrictive rules and more protection. No doubt there are probably instances where safety lapses but yeah.

 

[CarpeDeezNutz]

I cant access the article at work but nothing in the OP's quote says they are "basically slaves"?

If they can't perform they're sent back "home". Some of those kid's parents are dead.

Edit: you have to watch the video my dudes.

 

[D4Danger]

How many would it take to beat McGregor though?

 

[ebullientprism]

These are kids that fear getting taken back if they fail to improve or show a good performance. Sounds fucked.

It sounds fucked but surely that also indicates that being at the Club is MUCH preferable to wherever they were before.

And I am assuming the club cant take in everyone so they have to pick and chose which kids they keep?

 

[Kain-Nosgoth]

spot on (for those who don't know, it's from batman the animated serie : http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Sewer_King)

 

[Keasar]

First thing that came to my mind.

 

[Glass Rebel]

The gang opens a teenage MMA club.

 

[explodet]

 

[Mendrox]

Watched the video and it's still fucked up shit. Nothing again Martial Arts, but these are kids that fuck themselves or beat themselves to death at 14 or less. They don't look happy, they don't have any options, they just wake up, train and sleep and repeat and the managers don't even want to say how much money they give them (if anything at all). Seeing these kids and saying their parents are dead was bad

 

[johancruijff]

do they have to share half of their earnings to the club?

 

[Nightbird]

*reads first half of the title* "Awwwwwwwww"*reads second half*"wwWhat the fuck?"

 

[Lois_Lane]

It sounds fucked but surely that also indicates that being at the Club is MUCH preferable to wherever they were before.

And I am assuming the club cant take in everyone so they have to pick and chose which kids they keep?

We don't know whether or not these kids go to school.

We don't know whether the people taking care of them have been properly vetted(i.e no pedos or abusers).

We don't know what they do to kids who get career-ending injuries doing this shit(I doubt he's paying their medical bills.)

Adoption should not be like this in any country and the excuse they don't want to go back don't mean shit. Choosing between possible permanent injury and abuse in their natal homes are too shitty options for an adult, let alone a kid.

 

[NandoGip]

What's the problem? Martial arts is a sport, and it gives poor kids an outlet for their frustrations and to learn discipline, possibly even skills for a future career. It also gives them positive male role models.

I grew up poor as fuck without any of these influences, if someone set me up in an MMA gym and taught me how to be strict with myself while setting good examples, I would be double the person I am today.

 

[Lois_Lane]

What's the problem? Martial arts is a sport, and it gives poor kids an outlet for their frustrations and to learn discipline, possibly even skills for a future career. It also gives them positive male role models.

I grew up poor as fuck without any of these influences, if someone set me up in an MMA gym and taught me how to be strict with myself while setting good examples, I would be double the person I am today.

He's using them as revenue streams with almost no oversight by the authorities. I bet you wouldn't be so glad for that gym if they made you leave school and made it clear failure meant being abandoned on the street. Lord knows what they'd do to you if you got too injured to keep fighting.

 

[Dehnus]

Wow so many are okay with slavery, showing a dark side of yourself GAF.

Martial arts should be a calling/hobby not forced on you. GAF saw too much anime.

 

[Twig and Berries]

This could be an OK situation but in cases of possible trafficking or exploitation, I'd lean towards caution and suspicion. The fact that this is China we're talking about where oversight is especially lax gives me major pause

 

[siddx]

On face value this could be a good thing, give these kids a skill for the future.
But I smell fuckery, somebody is taking advantage.

 

[finowns]

Wow so many are okay with slavery, showing a dark side of yourself GAF.

Martial arts should be a calling/hobby not forced on you. GAF saw too much anime.

The question is if this 'club' is better than where they were before. It's obviously not ideal.

 

[Spaced Harrier]

After a hard days training.

It sounds very similar to the shaolin monks.

Possibly good, definitely ridiculously harsh and questionable.

 

[Dehnus]

This could be an OK situation but in cases of possible trafficking or exploitation, I'd lean towards caution and suspicion. The fact that this is China we're talking about where oversight is especially lax gives me major pause

No it's not okay. Not everybody can do mixed martial arts competitions. If it was a judo school in Japan that did it as charity without competition, sending the kids to school and only doing judo as a sport.... That's different. This s just a guy that lets kids fight. That you think that could be okay, gives me some serious doubts about your morals. Some kids are better in thinking sports and won't compete at any level outside practice . They are send home here. On top of that, this is not a martial art school, mma is "mixed martial arts" he just lets them fight without any sport or spirit behind it.

Part martial art is the meditation and mental discipline not geared to sports or competition. This is due to it being an art of war, and you need self control and discipline for that. You can tell a bad from a good teacher in what he teaches his students on this front. Of its only shouting and acting like a dick (bragging) then he probably is not in it for the art.

 

[n0razi]

Master Chief is that you?

 

[IamDodongo]

This sounds even worse than the headline initially lead me to believe.

 

[Twig and Berries]

No it's not okay.

I didn't say it was ok

 

[Ultima_5]

This seems like a jcvd movie or something

 

[Spring-Loaded]

The "do well at fighting or be sent back" part seems real fucked up

 

[Peter Ian Staker]

 

[Enduin]

In principle I'm not completely opposed to this, but in practice this group at least throws up a good few red flags. They're paid "more or less," and they hold it for them and dole it out when necessary, all they do is practice MMA, if they don't perform they get sent back home.

China isn't a stranger to martial arts schools taking on kids and training them day and night from childhood to adulthood and life here is probably better for a lot of kids than what they have back home, if there even is one, but just because it's better than the alternative doesn't make exploiting kids and pressuring them to perform with fear A-OK.