The TakedownHas China banned tattoos in MMA? Reports of crackdown on fighters but it’s complicated

‘If you have tattoos, they don’t want you competing,’ says Thailand’s Phuket Top Team

The famed gym claims government has tightened rules for local promoters – but the issue appears to be muddy

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Song Yadong’s tattoo on his left leg. The fighter poses (right) before his win against Renato Moicano. Photos: Instagram/@songyadong

Published: 10:12am, 20 Jul 2019Updated: 10:12am, 20 Jul 2019

Chinese MMA took a huge step forward with the opening of the state-of-the-art UFC Performance Institute in Shanghai last month. But there were concerns this week it might have taken a strange step backwards.

Last year, China’s top media regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, decreed that media programmes “should not feature actors with tattoos [or depict] hip hop culture, subculture and dispirited culture”, according to a report in Chinese news outlet Sina.

This later widened to televised sport, with footballers in China’s three professional leagues told by the Chinese Football Association to cover up tattoos with athletic tape – “no visible ink” was the word from the top.

The issue has also appeared to touch MMA and other combat sports with rules said to be in place across CCTV and other major state broadcasters.

“The new bosses of CCTV have introduced laws to stamp out crime, so there’s no bad officials, no bad police and no more bad influencers on society in the media. This includes people with tattoos,” a senior official who works closely with the government told Asian MMA website The Fight Nation.