Question about MT

[MrBoxerGrappler]

Why is it so damn popular in Holland?

Every week some new sensation comes out of Holland beating ass with MT what gives?

[Ghost]

They got Pro gyms over there. So they do it for a living, no idea how it got that bit.

[MrBoxerGrappler]

Yeah thats what I am wondering like...why Holland?

[Ghost]

yeah good question, the only thing i can think of is that the media gives it the right level of coverage to warrant pro gyms and hence they muct be paying the fighters a reasonable wage.

Perhaps they just decided to show it on TV and it was popular.

If that happened here in the UK Gyms would turn Pro all over the place, Once its on tv you can pay the fighters enough for them to make a living. Maybe the dutch media just went for it.

[sercuerdas]

europe in general are ma crazed.

[cakegirl]

Sorry if this is a daft question, but what is the difference between a normal gym and a gym that has turned pro? Do you mean the guy has people training there who are professional fighters? Or do you mean that the gym itself becomes professional, as in open 7 days a week, with the trainers there doing it as their sole job?

[sercuerdas]

hello cake girl,
it means that the gyms produce professional fighters.

[Tom Yum]

European martial artists

Europeans take martial arts seriously. Not in the sense that they want to pick fights, rather they want to perform effectively and train hard. The Dutch are world travellers; they're one of the few western races you can probably find a small group in every country and I mean every country. You can hear them at Chek Lap Koc? Airport in Hong Kong talking about Chinese architecture, meet someone from Canada who is originally from Holland or read about their settlements in Swaziland or Brazil.

They have been aware of the Asian martial arts probably a little earlier than the US. In the 70s, some Dutch guys back packed in Japan and saw how the Japanese had Thai trainers teaching muay thai. They stayed and trained for a while and decided to open up a gym in Amsterdam with the same spirit as the gyms they trained in Japan, which is why a lot of older muay thai gyms in Holland have Japanese names, like Mejiro gym in Amsterdam or Sokkudo in Enkhuizen.

The Dutch have been crazy about muay thai since the late 70s early 80s, which is about the same time the ninjitsu craze hit America. The French and Germans followed suit if I'm not mistaken. Anyhow, the Dutch have produced tough thaiboxers that prefer to punch and kick rather than go for the clinch and elbow. Some of their world class fighters are Peter Aerts, Ramon Dekker (he's small, but INCREDIBLY tough), Rob Kaman?, Ernesto Hoost and Semmy Schilt.

The Germans are also big on Chinese martial arts, especially Wing Tsun and they are probably the best at it, next to those with direct lineage from Hong Kong or South China. German Wing Tsun has lineage to GM Leung Ting. Kenneth Kernsprecht is one of Leung Ting's top students in Germany. The H2H instructor for the German SEK police force teaches wing tsun and was a student of GM Kernsprecht. Emin Boztepe grew up in street fights (like Bruce) and learned Wing Tsun. He is lightning fast and from what I've heard extremely tough, but friendly and professional.

[Ghost]

Originally posted by cakegirl
Sorry if this is a daft question, but what is the difference between a normal gym and a gym that has turned pro? Do you mean the guy has people training there who are professional fighters? Or do you mean that the gym itself becomes professional, as in open 7 days a week, with the trainers there doing it as their sole job?

Means the gym is open 7 days a week and its the trainers sole job.

Also, another important factor is that the fighters will be training there as their sole job and make their money from fighting, much as is done in Thailand.

Any chance i can have some cake then??