"Dangerous" MMA Fighter Arrested After Vicious Road Rage Assault in Shuangjing

A citywide manhunt for a Beijing's most-wanted "dangerous" man came to an end Saturday after a violent road rage incident shocked the city with its brutal violence.

A 20-year-old Beijing man named "Ma X Ru" confessed to committing "intentional injury" after police barged their way into a Fangshan residence where he had been hidden by his father, "Ma X De" (full video here).

The arrest was so anticipated that the Beijing Youth Report published it as "breaking news" while Chaoyang police said they enlisted a boxing champion to help apprehend the suspect.

Described as having "professional combat skills" and "dangerous" by China Daily, Ma shocked the city with his violent beat-down that became national news.

Video taken at the scene show Ma repeatedly assaulting a blue-shirted man during the Friday evening rush hour after what appeared to be a traffic collision in Shuangjing. 

Ma viciously pummels the victim with a flurry of punches and knees with frightening accuracy while simultaneously grappling him with wrist and head locks. Despite the victim appearing to be concussed, Ma continued to assault him even as three separate women tried to verbally intervene.

After fleeing from the scene, Ma hid at a Fangshan residence that belongs to his father, who has been charged by police for harboring a fugitive. The victim, a man named Peng, is said to be recovering in hospital.

As part of their investigation, police say they found training equipment like a sandbag and sparring gloves belong to Ma, thereby confirming that Ma trains in mixed-martial arts (MMA).

Although China has been relatively late in adopting mixed-martial arts, the sport has already gained a dubious reputation in the country.

Although China already has a number of MMA promotions that feature such fighters such as "Black Dragon" Israel Adesanya, mixed-martial arts has become known as a "foreign" sport competing for supremacy with traditional Chinese martial arts. Over the past year, Beijing MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong sparked a public backlash against the nascent sport by challenging and then defeating Chinese kung fu masters in martial arts showdowns.

At the same time, mixed-martial arts training centers have sprouted up throughout China, including here in Bejing.

More stories from this author here. 

E-Mail: charlesliu1 (at) qq (dot) com
Twitter: @Sinopath

Images: Weibo, China News Network