Martial Arts Professional Magazine

Palo Verde, California…According to the Imperial County Sheriff’s Department, the body of Evan Tanner, former UFC Middleweight Champion, was recently found in the Palo Verde mountain area.
Friends had left Tanner, 37, numerous phone calls and text messages, since the weekend before his remains were discovered. Evidence from his blog suggested that he considered […]

Seoul, South Korea…A Korean newspaper recently reported that the International Taekwondo Federation became a front for the North Korean government more than 20 years ago, training and disguising spies as TKD masters, in an attempt to assassinate the South Korean president of the 1980s.
According to the story, Choi Jung-hwa, son of […]

Sugar Land, Texas…Steven Lopez and his brother Mark and sister Diana became the first U.S. siblings to win medals at the same Olympic Games in the Taekwondo competition, but their victories are bittersweet, as Steven Lopez and USA Taekwondo have filed a complaint to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, concerning the application […]

Rome, Italy…From the stupid-criminal department: A homeless man randomly picked and attacked a woman who was walking on a downtown Rome sidewalk in broad daylight shortly after rush hour.
The man should have been more selective because he chose Lara Liotta, four-time winner of the Italian women’s karate championship, to grab around the neck. […]

Paris, France…In the spirit of international diplomacy, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have agreed to meet on common ground: martial arts training mats.
According to reports from the French newspaper Le Figaro, Putin claims Sarkozy is interested in learning Putin’s Black Belt skills and have decided to train together.
Of […]

Las Vegas, Nevada… Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions, one of the top boxing promotions companies, is now working in partnership with Affliction Entertainment, the mixed martial arts and clothing company, to market pay-per-view shows and branded clothing.
It appears the powers-that-be at Golden Boy and Affliction think that they can create a […]

Los Angeles, California…Kung Fu Panda, this summer’s blockbuster animated movie, will be released on Blu-ray disc, with two exclusive features, on Sunday, November 9.
It is speculated that Paramount and Dreamworks Home Entertainment moved the release two days earlier than anticipated, so it will be the only big animated movie exclusively on store shelves […]

Kampala, Uganda…During their speeches addressed to 110 military police graduates at Uganda’s Kigo Training School, two top commanders of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) stated that police personnel may no longer use firearms to quell riots because they had learned sufficient Taekwondo and other fighting skills to control crowds more peacefully.
Following a […]

WHITE BEAR LAKE, MINNESOTA—Suzie Seever is a 41-year-old wife and mother and the proud wearer of a new Black Belt in Taekwondo, despite multiple organ transplants during the past eight years that were required because of her cystic fibrosis.
The anti-rejection medication that Seever had to take for her double-lung transplant in 2000 damaged her kidneys, […]

NEW YORK, NEW YORK—The Donald wouldn’t be The Donald, and his son, Donald Jr., wouldn’t have an opportunity to be a chip off the old block, if Trump Sr. didn’t stick his entrepreneurial finger in the mixed martial arts pie. According to recent reports, Trump has invested in Affliction, a new mixed-martial-arts league, which will […]

FORT SMITH, ARKANSAS—Proving the old adage, be careful what you wish for, Sacha Baron Cohen, comedian, satirist and creator of the characters Borat and Ali G, almost experienced more realism than he wanted when he and another man stripped to their underwear, kissed and rubbed against each other at two cage-fighting events, which Cohen may […]

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA—RZA, best known as a member of the rap group, Wu-Tang Clan, is working with Hollywood director Eli Roth (Cabin Fever and Hostel) to write and direct a martial arts action movie, The Man with the Iron Fist.
According to the industry buzz, director Quentin Taratino may also want to be involved in the project. […]

SHANGHAI, CHINA-The number of museums may or may not be an accurate measure of a martial arts legend/film star’s popularity and celebrity status, but the current score is Bruce Lee 2, Jackie Chan 1.
As reported in the previous story, Bruce Lee’s family is planning a museum in Seattle and his Chinese fans want to convert […]