It’s hard out there for a yoga teacher. Like, how can you break through all the noise and get famous anyway? Instagram selfies are fine and all, but how does one truly rise above the rest to get noticed? For one yoga teacher, signing up for the first ever production of The Ultimate Fighter in China without any MMA experience sounded like the perfect idea. At first.
“I’m not sure how many of you have seen the show, but some yoga instructor got through,” Cung Le, UFC Champ and mentor for the new UF: China show, said in a press conference. The yoga instructor in question, 26-year-old Li Jinying (bottom row, second from left), is said to have no prior Mixed Martial Arts experience whatsoever but somehow made it onto a show that is all about Mixed Martial Arts.
Blame it on the show’s producers, Le says: “That was not the UFC’s doing. I believe that was part of the TV show – he was from the hometown – and somehow that guy snuck under the radar,” he explained with an obvious air of frustration.
Why would Jinying, a yoga teacher with no fighting experience want to be on a show where he could possibly be twisted and beaten into shapes he’s never dreamed of? Apparently it’s because he wanted it to make him famous. Who can blame the guy? It’s so tough for people to get famous these days just teaching yoga.
We feel for Jinying though, because anyone willing to put themselves in the way of bodily harm on purpose without any real experience in the art of hands-on combat either has a really big set of nadis or is somehow grossly confused that doing Ultimate Yoga will make you an Ultimate Fighter.
“I won’t ruin it, but one of the coaches had to go and put a little hurt on him and let him feel what punches with four-ounce gloves feel like it,” Le continued at the press conference, almost giggling. Ouch, dude.
Hey, but who knows? Maybe the yogi will triumph after all. Not for nothing, we know some MMA fighters do actually practice yoga and meditation to keep their minds and bodies in tune. But, a word to the wise, just because you can do Warrior poses with aplomb doesn’t mean you’re ready for the ring.
image via mmamania.com
Funny!
A better way for a yoga instructor to get famous is to lead a retreat to Paros, Greece. Bram Levinson did and now he is on the cover of Interior Wellness Magazine. Retreat info at: http://www.ParosParadise.com/yoga.htm
Cheers
Why do people feel the need to be famous doing yoga? It just instills greed and delusion. In this guy’s case, it will probably lead to a broken jaw.
I’m a yoga teacher and I fight. I also teach fighters. This is a terrible terrible idea.