Back in July of this year, a short documentary about EnBo Fight Club in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, went viral. The video revealed that hundreds of orphaned children had been ‘adopted’ by the gym’s owner En Bo. Under En Bo’s guidance, dozens of boys were shown training in MMA, including two pre-teens competing in a cage for spectators.
The video was viewed and shared millions of times, especially over Chinese social media platforms. Many viewers were outraged. Among viewer concerns were that the orphans taken in by the club were being exploited for child labor. That concern came thanks to a coach who implied that the boys earned money for fighting, but this money was then ‘managed’ by the club.