Reborn To Be An Idol W/ A System 8 Chapter 8: Fighting Skills

Zian's amateur boxing record was seventy -two wins with seventy-two knockouts (KOs) during primary to college. He learned Modern Arnis/Kali from Grandmaster Vicente "Vic" R. Sanchez was a Filipino martial artist and the founder of Kali Arnis International. Zian was one of few of Modern Arnis pract.i.tioners around to be promoted to Lakan Walo (eight degree black belt).

He also learned Jeet Kune Do under Dan Inosanto who's is one of three people who have been appointed to teach at one of the three Jun Fan Gung Fu Inst.i.tutes of Bruce Lee.

He then learned Krav Maga from Hungarian-Israeli martial artist Imi Lichtenfeld, who made use of his training as a boxer and wrestler while defending the Jewish quarter against fascist groups in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. Later, he earned his black belt eight dan and rank as a master level.

He next learned Karate from Ryutaro Araga, a 1981 World Games eighty-four kilograms gold medalist and eight dan black belt holder. After training for a couple of months, he entered Karate World Championship and World Games Judo. Zian knockout all his opponents in eighty-four kilograms division and scored perfect in Kata demonstration with standing ovation from judges and audience watching from the stands and at home. Later, he earned his black belt eight dan and rank as a master level.

Zian then learned Judo from Hidehiko Yoshida, an Olympic 1992 gold medalist in eighty-one kilograms division and sixth dan white & red belt holder. He then partic.i.p.ated thrice in All-j.a.pan Selected Judo Championships were weight distinction is held and All-j.a.pan Judo Championships is a judo open weight tournament held every year in j.a.pan; he won three times in both tournaments and his rank rose to eight dan black belt.

He then learned Brazilian-Jujitsu that focuses on taking an opponent to the ground to neutralize the enemy advantages through ground fighting techniques, submission holds, joint-locks and chokeholds. On the ground, physical strength can be offset or enhanced through proper grappling techniques. He studied under Carlos Gracie, a Jiu-Jitsu Grand Master (10th degree Red Belt holder) and supervises by Carlos Gracie Jr, a Jiu-Jitsu Masters (8th degree Coral Belt holder) during training.

He was promoted directly to black belt rank without going through any intermediate rank coz of his previous backgrounds in other martial arts and reaches the eight degree coral belt. He competed in several tournaments to quicken the route of promotion in belt like World Jiu-Jitsu Championship and World No-Gi Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship.

He won four times in both world championship and beaten former and future champions in Middleweight: under 181.0 lbs (-82.3 kg) division like Roberto Correa, Saulo Ribeiro, Fernando Vasconcelos, Alexandre Paiva, Kim Johnson, Rafael Lovato Jr., Keenan Cornelius and Josh Hinger.

He then learned Muay Thai under Mr. Wuttisak Sasang of Banchamek Gym. He even impresses his coach by punching and kicking power the Thai pad. Zian trains about eight hours a day and he finally debut as an amateur fighter after a month of rigorous training. His record was twenty-one wins with twenty-one knockouts, most of opponents are knockout cold by his combos.

He learned Taekwondo under Monsour del Rosario during his primary school, high school and college. He earned a lot of medals from school compet.i.tions, national tournaments and international tournaments. He also partic.i.p.ated in World Taekwondo Championships on 1995, 1997, 1999, and 2001 and won gold four times against Korea. His belt was 8th dan are called Sahyun (master), and those holding 9th dan are called Saseong (grandmaster). In the American Taekwondo a.s.sociation, eighth dan black belts are eligible for the t.i.tle Chief Master.

In 2001, he partic.i.p.ated as "The Hunter" a masked fighter similar to WWE wrestlers; he has five wins with zero loss in the debut season of The Ultimate Fighter which premiered on January 17, 2001. Sixteen mixed martial arts fighters (eight light heavyweights and eight middleweights were invited to partic.i.p.ate in the show where they lived together and trained in two separate teams coached by UFC light heavyweight fighters Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell and Randy "The Natural" Couture.

Episode 1: Zian along with other fifteen fighters were driven to the UFC Training Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, where they meet Willa Ford, Dana White, and the coaches, Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell. At the house, Chris Leben keeps on drinking heavily, and starts to make fun of Zian, and give him various nicknames.

At 12:00 am, while Zian is in the shower, Leben decided to urinate on his teammate's pillow, noticing his bed was wet and smells pee. He changes the bed sheet and pillow cover, then he slept and let Leben's action pa.s.s. They were woken up at 5:00 am by their coaches and the first day of training was too much for half of the fighters.

During the jiu-jitsu training, Nate Quarry cuts himself on his chin after landing a takedown. After the second day of training, Jason Thacker talks to Couture and says that the training is too much for him, but Couture replied to him to get the training done. On the 4th day, everyone is ready to spar, except for Thacker, because of the training, so Bobby Southworth and Lodune Sincaid decide to talk him into going with them, saying they need him and his partner will be one of them.

While Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar are sparring, Griffin accidentally headb.u.t.ts Bonnar, the sparring was halted due to the cut and it was needed to be st.i.tch. Light heavyweight and middleweight teams are chosen by coaches Liddell and Couture. The first pick for Team Liddell is Southworth. The first pick for Team Couture is Quarry.

Episode 2: During breakfast, Diego Sanchez and Stephen Bonnar have an argument over asparagus, because Sanchez ate the heads and left it in the fridge. Team Liddell won the first light heavyweight match. Later that night, Lodune Sincaid is making jokes about h.o.m.os.e.xuals together with Leben, they continue to drink and start to tease others.

Later, a drunken Leben decides to jump over the wall and search a pay phone to call someone but it wasn't mentioned whom he called. The next morning at practice, Coach Randy finds out about the incident, both Leben and Sincaid apologize for their actions. Team Liddell wins the first middleweight Challenge and Chris Sanford is sent home by Coach Randy.

Episode 3: Alex Schoenauer won the light heavyweight challenge and Bobby Southworth comes in last and will be forced to fight in the elimination round. Team Liddell's Southworth will fight Lodune Sincaid, Southworth has to cut 20 lbs. in 24 hours, with the help of Josh Koscheck and Coach Liddell, but he comes in at 208 lb. The Nevada State Athletic Commission gives Southworth 2 hours to cut 2 pounds, he successfully makes it to 206 lbs. and Southworth describes the weight cut as "pure h.e.l.l". Bobby Southworth defeated Lodune Sincaid by KO (strikes) at 0:12 of the second round.

Episode 4: Alex Schoenauer is traded to Team Couture as part of a team reshuffle. The blue team won the middleweight challenge and the opportunity to schedule the next bout. The blue team chooses Sanchez to fight Karalexis. Diego Sanchez defeated Alex Karalexis via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:47 of the first round.

Episode 5: Nate Quarry injured his ankle after Couture lands on his ankle during a takedown in practice. White decided to allow the fighters to have a night out at the Hard Rock Cafe, and had a few drinks, and some of them get drunk.

At 2:00 am, the fighters were drunk and continued to drink, and Josh Rafferty says that there is no more alcohol in the bar. By the pool, Chris Leben says something that angers Bobby Southworth, and then Southworth calls Leben a "fatherless b.a.s.t.a.r.d," which offended Leben's feelings. Later, Southworth apologizes to Leben, but seems insincere.

Leben decided to sleep outside to stay away from the others. At 3:30 am, Josh Koscheck and Southworth were drunk and then decided to pull a prank on Leben, by spraying water on the Team Couture member while he is sleeping. This woke up Leben and caused him to go on a rampage by punching the front door window with his left hand, which cuts his knuckle skin off. Leben then punches Forrest Griffin's door in half, and Griffin later saw that there are pieces of the bedroom door in his bed.

The next day, White tells Couture and Liddell what happened the previous night between Southworth, Koscheck, and Leben. The fighters are then brought in to explain what happened. White decided that the only fair way to resolve the situation is for Koscheck and Leben to fight.

Episode 6: As fallout from the previous episode, there is no challenge and White scheduled the middleweight fight between Leben and Koscheck. Josh defeated Chris via unanimous decision after two rounds.

Episode 7: Josh Rafferty was traded to Team Couture in another team reshuffle. Team Couture wins the light heavyweight challenge. Stephan Bonnar defeated Bobby Southworth via split decision after 2 rounds.

Episode 8: After his fight with Stephen Bonnar, Bobby Southworth and White have a verbal argument about Southworth's att.i.tude and disrespectfulness. Nate Quarry was eliminated from the show due to his injury. White asks Quarry to stay on as an a.s.sistant coach, and he agreed to it.

Quarry gets to choose his replacement from the loser's lounge, and he chosen Chris Leben. Team Couture won the middleweight challenge. Diego Sanchez defeated Josh Rafferty via submission (rear naked choke) at 1:48 of the first round

Episode 9: Zian is traded to Team Couture in another team reshuffle. Team Liddell won the light heavyweight challenge. Sam Hoger was accused of stealing stuffs from the other compet.i.tors. Forrest Griffin defeated Alex Schoenauer via submission at 1:20 of the first round. During his fight with Schoenauer, Griffin received a cut above his left eye that doctors think its possibly severe enough to prevent him from fighting again.

Episode 10: Forrest Griffin has to choose a light heavyweight fighter to come back into the house in the case he gets sent back home. He chose Bobby Southworth, who isn't given the chance to fight, as Griffin is cleared to fight. Zian defeated Chris Leben via TKO (ground and pound) at 3:11 of the first round.

Episode 11& 12: Diego Sanchez defeated Josh Koscheck via split decision after three rounds. Forrest Griffin defeated Sam Hoger via TKO (strikes) at 1:05 of the second round. Stephan Bonnar defeated Mike Swick via submission (triangle armbar) at 4:58 of the first round.

Zian vs. Diego Sanchez was the finals in the middleweight division of The Ultimate Fighter. During the first round of the fight, Zian's main offense was jabbing way through the defense of Sanchez, then throw low kicks and several takedown attempts. On the second round, both fighters were engaged in a slugfest and Zian able to defend himself by blocking and evading Sanchez strikes.

On the third and last round, Sanchez started aggressively and able to land few clean hit that staggered Zian almost to the floor. Zian countered with his own offense by jabbing twice on Sanchez face, then throws a low kick and he ran off the wall like a ninja.

He made a spin kick after taking off the wall, he lands a clean hit to Sanchez's head. Sanchez was knockout cold by Zian's kicked and was declared the first middleweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter. Later, he checked Sanchez if he was okay, the doctor checked and to be safe, Sanchez will go to hospital to check if concussion from the fight.

Zian was known as "The Hunter", he hunts his prey by observing him in the first round by throwing jabs, low kicks and takedown attempts if his opponents can handle his strength. In the next round, he'll engage in a slugfest to test his opponents' stamina. On the third or fifth round, he'll throw combinations in order to set-up a takedown and finish it with either a submission or a ground and pound.

His MMA record is a perfect twenty wins with zero loss, most wins via knockout or submission and defended his belt ten times since winning it against Rich Franklin by knockout in 2001. He retired after defending his belt twenty times and was later inducted in the UFC Hall of Fame.