How Hong Kong’s long-lost fight club was confined to history
- The city had its own groundbreaking competition in the early 1980s, many years before MMA swept the globe
A long-forgotten Hong Kong fight club has emerged from the shadows of history to lay a claim to being one of the inspirations behind the global renaissance of martial arts.
“You now see martial arts being taught in gyms everywhere and mixed martial arts especially seems to have captured the world’s attention and that’s not too far off what we were trying to do back in the 1980s right here in Hong Kong. But much of what we did has sort of been forgotten and we think that’s a shame.”
The brainchild of influential Hong Kong sports administrator Wai Kee-shun, policeman Elms and multifaceted fighter Kong Fu-tak, the organisation burned as brightly as it did briefly in the early 1980s, packing out the QEII and Southorn Stadiums with fight cards staged up to three times a month that made heroes of a procession of local fighters.
Among them was Kong, who also played a major role in getting the promotion off the ground and who had carved a reputation for himself in the fight world by facing off against American multiple world kick boxing champion Benny “The Jet” Urquidez in a bout famed for its bloody brutality in 1981.
