There are still many naive people who are fooled by this kind of confidence and the appearance of sincerity (ala “diplomats” 耿爽，華春莹). This video was shot about 3 years ago when Xu Xiaodong first began his mission to bust the fake Kung Fu masters. Ma Baoguo accepted the challenge.
It is now widely believed that Ma was the one who called the authorities to shut down the first venue for the fight. He was probably also the one who gave instructions to call the police at the second venue to detain Xu Xiaodong for questioning. Which of the 36 dirty tricks of ancient China does this remind you of? 声东击西？笑里藏刀？
All the while, Ma has been pretending to be keen on the fight and confident that he would beat Xu Xiaodong. While lying through his teeth, he had the audacity to challenge the doubters to verify and authenticate his claims. Another form of 空城计？
Notice the way he boasted about beating British MMA fighter Peter Irving when Irving himself later revealed that he thought he was acting in some demonstration video. He paid Irving for the video without telling him the purpose of the video and paying “witness fees” as well.
Last year, Ma accepted the challenge of an amateur MMA fighter and was KOed in less than a minute. He might not have lasted more than a few seconds in the ring with Xu Xiaodong. It is now widely believed that trickster Ma had a taste of his own medicine and got tricked by a double agent who was supposed to bribe his opponent to lose the fight. The agent chose to play him out for a dramatic revelation to the public. I would salute him if he had returned the money. Below are two videos I made featuring Ma Baoguo.
Incredibly, many folks out there are still fooled by the same kind of confident, authoritative delivery of propaganda. Ma is a highly valued CCP member by virtue of his father’s fictional reputation as a 抗日英雄 (anti-Japanese warrior).
Today, Taiji conman Ma Baoguo still goes around selling his books at roadshows, spouting spurious claims on social media. Recently, he even boasted on social media that a director had plans to cast him in a kung fu movie. In the free world, someone like Xu Xiaodong would have been an instant celebrity if not a megastar in the pugilistic arena. But this is China and he has been blocked on all social media platforms and search engines like Baidu. His social credit has been busted down so low that he can’t even buy an air ticket or get on a high speed train.
Xu had been vilified on social media by Ma. Blocked on both social and traditional media to save the face of traditional kung fu, Xu had no means to reply to any of Ma Baoguo’s accusations against him. Since all the video evidence against Ma has been censored, it’ll only be a matter of time that they are forgotten and his school starts accepting ignorant and unsuspecting students again.
Those of us fortunate enough to have access to this information should cherish and safeguard this freedom.