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Documentary series

Fight Quest

2007–2008United StatesTravel

American Discovery Channel documentary series (2007–2008) in which Jimmy Smith and Doug Anderson train five days with martial arts masters and then demonstrate the art.

Fight Quest is an American documentary series on Discovery Channel. A preview episode aired on 28 December 2007, and the regular episodes ran from 4 January to 3 October 2008. The first season had ten episodes, aired in January and February 2008; the second season was cancelled right at the start, after three episodes aired in September and October 2008. Episodes were an hour long. Hosts Jimmy Smith and Doug Anderson trained for five days in each episode with prominent masters of one martial art and then demonstrated what they had learned in a final showcase or fight. The first season took them to Dengfeng in China for Shaolin kung-fu, to Manila for kali, to Tokyo for Kyokushin karate, to Mexico City for boxing, to Bandung in Indonesia for pencak silat, to Marseille for savate, to Seoul for hapkido, to Rio de Janeiro for Brazilian jiu-jitsu, to Netanya in Israel for krav maga and to the San Francisco Bay Area for kajukenbo. The second season managed Bangkok and muay thai, Kozhikode in India and kalaripayattu, and Hong Kong and Wing Chun. A compilation release also exists, containing three previously unreleased episodes. We have not been able to confirm from sources how many episodes were made in total.

Martial arts in this work

BoxingFeaturedBrazilian Jiu-JitsuFeaturedMuay ThaiFeaturedKrav MagaFeaturedKyokushinFeaturedWing ChunFeaturedShaolin QuanFeaturedSavateFeaturedPencak SilatFeaturedEskrimaFeaturedHapkidoFeaturedKalaripayattuFeaturedKajukenboFeatured

Fact and fiction

The show was built on short, focused training: the hosts had five days to master the basics of a given style under its prominent masters, and then showed the result in a final showcase or fight. English Wikipedia describes the series as “mostly unscripted”. Jimmy Smith brought his own experience to the show: he holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu from Ricardo Diogo, also trained boxing, wrestling and muay thai, and in 2003–2006 had an MMA record of five wins and one loss. Filming took place in thirteen countries in total.

People and martial arts

  • Jimmy Smiththe real person the work is about· Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (real practitioner)
  • Doug Andersonthe real person the work is about

Details

Status
Cancelled
Seasons
2
First published / aired
Discovery Channel
Further sources on this topic (3)
  1. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_Quest
  2. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Smith_(fighter)
  3. grokipedia.com/page/Fight_Quest