May 14, 2011

Yup'ik kickboxer champion

Yup'ik fighter a knockout in Lower 48

By Van WilliamsWith hopes of becoming a more complete fighter, Alaska Native kickboxer Falon Ring entered a pair of major jiu-jitsu tournaments in Texas and New Mexico in an effort to expand his mixed martial arts skills.

He went in to polish his ground game. He left polishing a new championship belt and two gold medals.

The Yup'ik 17-year-old--who won an International Kickboxing Federation bantamweight title last year--added to his collection by winning a lightweight championship belt in Texas and claiming titles in two separate divisions at Southwest Grapplefest IV in New Mexico.
Comment:  For more on the subject, see Ojibwe Woman Aims for Olympic Boxing and Comanche Boy vs. Longacre.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you stop using the Inuit tag when writing about Yupik? Since they're...you know...not Inut.

Anonymous said...

Inuit is a general term for a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples of the Arctic who descended from the Thule. The Inuit Circumpolar Conference defines its constituency to include Canada's Inuit and Inuvialuit, Greenland's Kalaallit people, Alaska's Inupiaq and Yupik people, and Russia's Yupik. However, the Yupik are not Inuit in the sense of being descended from the Thule and prefer to be called Yupik.

Rob said...

Anonymous #2 took the words out of my mouth, Anonymous #1. I've covered this issue in previous postings.

Sorry if the term "Inuit" isn't strictly accurate in this case. Think of it as grouping Inuit and Inuit-related stories. I.e., stories that may be of interest and apply to the Inuit whether they're explicitly about the Inuit or not.