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Chapter 381 - 349: The First Day of Battle, New Rules

Chapter 381: Chapter 349: The First Day of Battle, New Rules

July 20th, the first day of the Yanhuang Competition, was exclusively live broadcast by Penguin Sports.

Inside the broadcast studio, two commentators—a man and a woman—were novices who had previously commented on UFC events.

However, today the studio had invited a heavyweight guest—Wu Li!

As the founder of this competition and the image spokesperson for Penguin Sports, Wu Li was naturally invited as a guest.

"In this competition, the total number of participants is three thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, creating a record for the number of participants in Hua Country’s fighting competitions!"

"The competition is divided into five categories: Featherweight, Lightweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, and Light Heavyweight. Among them, the Lightweight and Welterweight categories have the most registrants, with one thousand two hundred and thirty-one and eight hundred and sixty-three contestants respectively."

The two commentators briefly introduced the situation of the competition, then the male commentator turned to Wu Li, "Mr. Wu Li, as the founder of the Yanhuang Competition, could you give our audience a brief introduction to the competition process?"

"Of course," Wu Li nodded.

"This competition is divided into three stages. The first stage is the group matches. According to the different categories, we divide the contestants into groups, with six to ten people each. They compete in a round-robin format where a win earns one point and a loss earns none. The top two scorers in each group advance. Due to the large number of registrants in some categories, several rounds of group matches are needed to select the top 64."

"After entering the top 64, we move onto the second stage: the knockout rounds. This continues until the top 8, where the final stage begins: the finals."

The female commentator said, "I heard that the rules of this competition differ from traditional Mixed Martial Arts rules. Could you explain them, Mr. Wu Li?"

Wu Li replied, "Most of the competition rules are still derived from traditional Mixed Martial Arts, but there have been some alterations in the details. For example, the bouts no longer take place inside an octagonal cage, but on an elevated platform."

As Wu Li’s words fell, the image on the big screen beside him changed: a gymnasium filled with crowds, surrounding several elevated platforms.

More than three thousand contestants, dispersed across the country, meant that during the preliminary stage of the Yanhuang Competition, competitions were held in eight different cities. It wasn’t until the knockout stage that the contests were centralized in the main venue in the Imperial City.

The current frame the director cut to was one of the venues in the Imperial City, where a close-up camera specifically captured the elevated platforms used for the Yanhuang Competition.

It was a round platform one meter high with a diameter of nine meters, cushioned by sponge mats below.

"This competition has eliminated score-based decisions. A loss is decreed not just by KO, TKO (either by submission or referee stoppage) but also by knocking the opponent off the platform. If both fighters fall off the platform at the same time, the one who touches the ground first loses," Wu Li explained, facing the big screen.

The male commentator asked, "Mr. Wu Li, what made you consider making such changes?"

Wu Li answered, "There are a few reasons. First, deciding by score can lead to disputes, and not just among the fighters—spectators might also feel unsatisfied. Second, in ancient times, Hua Country’s martial contests always included the rule that falling off the platform meant defeat. The Yanhuang Competition should have our nation’s distinct characteristics, so I included this rule."

At this moment, many who were watching the live broadcast scoffed to themselves after hearing Wu Li’s explanation.

They were beneficiaries of the modern fighting scene and had sent numerous participants to this competition with the aim to showcase the prowess of modern fighting.

Already, Wu Li had cost the modern fighting gyms a considerable amount of business, and now, by organizing the Yanhuang Competition, it was clear he intended to promote his own students who were Practicing Traditional Martial Arts. Should more stars from the Traditional Martial Arts emerge, many gyms might be facing closure.

This time, in addition to the collaboration of Jianghu Wind and two other major fighting events targeting Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall, there were many other temporary alliances formed with the sole purpose of blocking Bo Yuan’s disciples.

However, the new rules announced by Wu Li were not favorable to those fighters familiar with traditional Mixed Martial Arts rules. These fighters, skilled in clinch fighting at the cage edges, whether standing or on the ground, had always exploited the enclosures for tactical advantage.

Now, by changing the venue and ruleset—where falling off the platform signified loss—the fighters practiced in cage-edge techniques were at a disadvantage. In contrast, Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall’s contestants would have known about this rule in advance and undoubtedly trained for it, giving them an edge!

There was a significant intent to attack Wu Li and Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall online by claiming the competition was unfair. But the reasons Wu Li gave were hard to refute: they were Hua Country’s traditional rules! What’s wrong with using our own rules in our own competition?

Back in the broadcast studio, after Wu Li explained the new rules, the male commentator inquired, "But won’t this cause the matches to end too quickly? After all, the platform is not very large and it seems like falling off wouldn’t be too hard."

Wu Li nodded and explained, "During the group stage, there’s no time limit. Two people fight on the platform, and as soon as someone falls off once, they lose. Since there are many participants in the group stage, this can quickly determine winners and losers. Plus, there are several chances in the group stage, and not just one fight. Even if you accidentally fall from the high platform and lose a match, there are still many opportunities. Once may be careless, twice may be discomfort, but three or four times, or even more, would mean a lack of strength."

With Wu Li’s explanation, the big screen was changing to show the arena’s scenes to the audience. Indeed, as Wu Li said, the speed of determining victories and defeats in the group stage was very fast. To KO or TKO an opponent was not easy, but it was relatively much easier to knock an opponent off the high platform. All that was needed was to push the opponent to the edge.

On the screen, fighters could occasionally be seen falling from the high platform, or two competitors falling off together. The referees would then determine who hit the ground first.

This method did indeed involve some chance and luck, but Wu Li’s explanation was quite persuasive. An occasional fall might happen once or twice, but with at least six fights in the group stage, if you were consistently knocked off the platform, then it was a matter of insufficient strength. If you were eliminated, you couldn’t blame anyone else.

Looking at the big screen, Wu Li continued, "After the group stage, we enter the knockout rounds, and the rules change slightly: it’s still a single round, but now, apart from KO and TKO, falling off the high platform three times is considered a loss. If someone falls off, the match temporarily stops until the fighter returns to the platform, and the two fighters restart from the center of the ring."

The female commentator said, "This seems to reduce the element of luck."

Wu Li replied, "Exactly, and as we move into the finals, the rules will change again: two minutes per round, allowing one fall from the high platform in each round, with a 30-second rest period after each round. Falling off the platform more than five times in total also counts as a loss. There’s no limit to the number of rounds in the final stage—if a victor has not been determined, the fight continues."

"The idea behind these settings is to speed up the pace and intensity of the matches. I believe that, compared to grappling, the audience prefers to see fast-paced fights, the excitement of competitors being pushed to the edge, and the potential for dramatic comebacks."

The male commentator laughed, "Now that you mention it, it really seems so. I’m quite eager to see the knockout rounds and the finals."

The female commentator asked, "Professor Wu Li, there are over five hundred participants from Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall in this competition. Are they all Practicing Traditional Martial Arts?"

Wu Li answered, "Yes, they all practice Traditional Martial Arts, or rather, modified versions that are geared towards competitive fighting on the platform. Tai Chi, Bagua, Xingyi, Yong Chun, Long Arm... all styles are represented. I believe this competition will truly showcase the profound breadth and depth of Chinese Martial Arts to the audience!"

The male commentator exclaimed, "Then let’s take a look at some of them right now."

As they spoke, the big screen beside them shifted scenes, and Zhao Lixin appeared, exchanging moves with an opponent.

Zhao Lixin pressed his opponent to the edge of the high platform and with a single palm strike, sent his opponent falling down.

"This is one of our Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall National Martial Arts Eighth Rank fighters, Zhao Lixin, specializing in Bagua Palm," Wu Li’s voice announced.

Then the screen shifted once more, and another figure appeared on the platform—Guo Dongyang, who was pushing his opponent back step by step until he himself fell from the high platform.

"This is another Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall National Martial Arts Seventh Rank fighter, Guo Dongyang, specializing in Ang Fist," Wu Li continued his introduction.

As the scenes kept changing, other Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall fighters that the hall planned to feature in the competition, like Gao Jianping, Dong Yunfei, and Xu Chuan, successively appeared on the big screen.

Wu Li introduced each of them in turn, occasionally adding a comment or two.

After finishing with Bo Yuan Martial Arts Hall’s fighters, the big screen began to show some international fighters.

"This Yanhuang Competition also specially invited many foreign fighting masters to participate. This one is the Asia ONE Lightweight Champion, Thai fighter Ruan Long," Wu Li briefly introduced.

Since the first day’s matches were too scattered and didn’t feature clashes between top fighters, the live broadcast focused mainly on introducing the competition and the participants.

Wu Li specifically introduced some of the stronger foreign players, not to promote them, but to subconsciously make the audience perceive the competition’s high standard, given that many top international fighters participated.

Just as Wu Li was broadcasting, the organizers of the three major events—Jianghu Wind, Glory Warrior, and Emei Decision—were cursing foully.

When the Yanhuang Competition’s group stage list came out, they were shocked to find that their fighters had all been grouped together.

The three events had seventy-one fighters registering this time, and now these seventy-one heroes were divided into eight groups...

Although they had anticipated special "treatment" for their own fighters’ schedules, they never expected Wu Li to be so blatantly obvious and unapologetic.

This was just unbelievable—if it weren’t for the fact that fighters from the three events were mixed together, the audience at the venue might have thought they were watching Jianghu Wind, Glory Warrior, or Emei Decision instead of the Yanhuang Competition...