MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong has faced a lot of hardships lately. The Beijing based trainer and amateur fighter — nicknamed ‘Mad Dog’ — recently had his social credit level demoted, meaning he could no longer rent or own property, or travel on high speed transit. Xu has also faced online censorship, with content he and other people post about his exploits vanishing from Chinese government controlled social media platforms.
Xu’s troubles stem from his crusade to expose ‘fakery’ in China’s kung fu community. This crusade involves Xu fighting traditional martial artists across the country in style vs.