El Rey’s “Bushido Battleground” reveals The Warrior’s Way
“If a man does not investigate into the matter of Bushido daily, it will be difficult for him to die a brave and manly death. Thus, it is essential to engrave this business of the warrior into one’s mind well.” – Kato Kiyomasa
Beginning Wednesday at 10 pm ET, Robert Rodriguez’ El Rey network and executive producers George Chung and Andy Horne take audiences on an exploration of the warrior’s journey in “Bushido Battleground.” Over twenty weeks, one hour an episode, “Bushido Battleground” takes the audience into the worlds of fighters from all over the globe in a variety of disciplines (Mixed Martial Arts, submission Jiu-Jitsu, full contact Kick Boxing and Muay Thai, among them) as they prepare for a combat.
Bushido Battleground is not about creating a new league. It is a celebration of the fighting spirit and way of life. For Executive Producer George Chung, it is a window into the foundation of his life: martial arts.
“I’ve actually been in martial arts my entire life,” Chung told me when I asked about the genesis of the show. Chung is in the Black Belt Hall of Fame with five-time World Martial Arts championships and a black belt in five different disciplines. He has worked in the entertainment field for decades as an actor, director, writer, and producer. Bushido Battleground represents a culmination of Chung’s life’s work.
“In putting the series together, what we really wanted to do was tell the story from a very different angle and a very different point of view. One, from a visual standpoint, cinematically using the El Rey lens and the Robert Rodriguez vision in showing a cinematically beautiful image and a compelling-to-look-at program,” explained Chung. “From a storytelling standpoint, [the goal is] to keep a very true and authentic message about people that compete at several levels. Whether it is MMA or Muay Thai, or kickboxing or full contact karate or other disciplines. Because we feel what is lacking today is the connection between the fighters and the general public. Of course, we know the McGregors of the world. And the GSP’s of the world. But the reality is that the of the fighters are virtually unknown to the general public.”
Chung said that their approach was documentary style than reality TV. The fight game, no matter the discipline, is crazy enough without manipulating the story.
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“We wanted to create a storytelling platform where he could tell about the training process, the common struggle whether you live in Mexico, or Thailand or America, all these guys are after the same goal to become a champion,” said Chung. “And what’s their process and what’s their story along the way? And in doing so, we wanted to make sure that we were very authentic to their art form and not to have an agenda where we try to sell anything.”
Unlike shows like HBO’s 24/7 or Showtime’s All Access, Bushido Battleground is done as a true documentary of each fight and its preparations. The Bushido Battleground crew aren’t the promoters of the fight. They merely capture it. “The first episode features MMA Fighters Chris “Taco” Padilla and Ivan “Choco” Castillo in a match at the historic Plaza De Toros Bullfight Arena in Tijuana, Mexico. The second episode features MuayThai fighters “Tu” Warren Stavone and Janerob Pumpanuang at the world-famous Max Muay Thai Stadium in Pattya, Thailand,” per the press release.
“In Bushido Battleground, we are going after fights that are with existing [promotional companies],” Chung explained. “So it can be an MMA promotion, a Muay Thai promotion, MMA, Full Contact. But what we are doing is covering several aspects of martial arts that all encompass what I consider the fighting arts that go into MMA.”
The result should be an honest and gritty inside look at the pitfalls and crowd roars of the fight game.
“We aren’t trying to sell a PPV. We aren’t trying to build a certain fighter. What we are trying to do is tell a pure and authentic story,” said Chung. “And we hope that the audience resonates with that message and the authenticity will come out.
If you have never seen Robert Rodriguez’ work with a camera or the shows his vision has produced on El Rey, what you’re missing is a creative fluidity that takes the cinematic experience to the kinetic. One hopes Bushido Battleground keeps on in that tradition.
“What we do is take two different approaches to showing the fight,” said Chung. “One, is we show the fight in real time from beginning to end. We’re not cutting anything out. We aren’t adding any effects to it. We are also showing the drama that happens in the ring corners. What’s happening in the audience. And we are taking not only the camera feed of the actual sport’s coverage of the fight, but we are adding our are with the El Rey lens and adding those two in together. So you have in some cases seven to eight angles in the fight. I think what you end up getting with it is the build-up prior to the fight is the emotional connection between you and the fighters so that when he goes into the fight, you’re actually rooting for somebody because you bought into their story.”
Chung explained that by focusing on different disciplines, the viewer gets a detailed deconstruction of what MMA is all about.
“If you think about it, MMA is a combination of Muay Thai, Brazilian Jui-Jitsu, Combat Jui-Jitsu, with some wrestling. It could some Soviet Sambo and Karate and Tae Kwon Do and all of the above,” explained Chung. “So what we are doing is not only showcasing MMA in its pure form in a cage but we are also highlighting and showcasing the fighting style of Thailand, Muay Thai. We are going in a following Muay Thai fighters. We are going to Eddie Bravo’s [Tenth Planet Jiu-Jitsu) and showing submission Jiu-Jitsu. We are highlighting a new sport called Combat Jiu-Jitsu. We are going back retro old school and uncovering the earliest versions of professional Martial Arts with PKA, the Professional Karate Association. They are doing their first comeback event in Montreal in a couple weeks and we are showcasing that, as well. So we are trying to give all forms of combat the respect and coverage because we believe that the audience is curious about all of it not just one of it.”
Bushido Battleground premieres 10 pm ET on the El Rey Network.
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Co-host/co-producer: Leave it in the ring radio and The Next Round with Steve Kim.