Martial artist Dao Hong Son and his journey to stir up wrestling arenas during the 2025 Tet festival

Dao Hong Son , born in 1997 in Trieu Khuc (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi), is the number one athlete in Vietnam's jiujitsu village.

He won the gold medal twice at the 31st and 32nd SEA Games and was crowned the 2022 world jiujitsu champion. In 2024, Hong Son caused a stir when it only took 17 seconds to win by "submission" (locking and choking moves) in his first MMA (mixed martial arts) competition.

Success from wrestling journey to earn extra income

For many years, Dao Hong Son has also been a name that has attracted attention in wrestling arenas during the post-Tet festival in the Northern region.

By 2025, he created an unprecedented fever for wrestling rings when he invited the world bronze medalist Zakhar Dzmitrychenka (Belarus) to join him on his journey to "conquer" many village festivals.

Sharing with Tuoi Tre Online , Hong Son said: "From the cradle of Trieu Khuc, I have participated in many wrestling rings during festivals for about 15 years.

I have been doing video recording and uploading online for a long time. But I can only push it this year because I have become more proficient in recording, editing, and creating unique features for videos to become a trend.

After a few years of filming wrestling rings, I became known to many international friends. They liked it and proactively asked how to participate. From then on, I had the opportunity to bring foreign wrestler Zakhar with me to participate in wrestling festivals."

Talking more about the motivation to "sweep" the wrestling arenas, the male jiujitsu athlete frankly shared that the prize money at the wrestling arenas on this occasion could be equal to a year of competition for a professional athlete.

"Many villages organize formal wrestling rings, with an organizing committee, a referee committee using VAR technology (video review), a drum team, and hundreds to thousands of spectators surrounding the wrestling ring.

In particular, there is a village that offers very large prizes. The prize money can be equal to a year of competition for a professional athlete. So this is really an opportunity to help me and some other athletes earn more income."

Belarusian wrestler Zakhar Dzmitrychenka creates a stir when he challenges Vietnamese traditional wrestling rings - Photo: GRAPPLING VIETNAM

Maintain the beauty of national culture

Income is not the only thing that motivates Hong Son to create social media content about wrestling rings.

Because he was raised with a sense of national culture in his hometown of Trieu Khuc - an ancient place that still preserves many traditional national cultural features and the village festival has been recognized as a national intangible cultural heritage.

Son said: "My first thought is still to maintain the cultural beauty of Vietnamese traditional folklore. There are many interesting things to learn.

The most typical example is the Se Dai dance before each match, which is a form of religious practice, three steps forward, three steps back to perform a ceremony, thanking the village temple, three steps to the side to show the strength and origin of the commanders.

Hidden in that dance, the wrestlers show off their strength, technique and where they come from.

There are some typical dances such as "spring flowers blooming", "dragon flying, phoenix dancing" often used by men from Kinh Bac and old Ha Tay; "casting nets and pulling nets" dance that can be seen from rivers and streams, mostly from Thanh Nghe Tinh region; "tiger pouncing on prey" dance often used by men from mountainous areas, Phu Tho and Vinh Phuc.

Athlete Dao Hong Son contributes to promoting traditional cultural features - Photo: FBNV/SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

"Techniques in traditional wrestling also require wrestlers to be skillful, using many techniques and tricks when competing. Not all wrestlers who are big and strong are sure to win.

Like in Chau Phong village (Dong Anh, Hanoi), Mr. Zakhar could not win even though he was bigger and stronger than the Vietnamese Mr. who had experience winning the Vietnamese championship for nearly 10 years," Son said.