Originally Posted by
anerlich
I know several people with a strong TWC background who have fought kickboxing and/or MMA extensively, as opposed to (and for a couple of them, including) the 100+ "street fights" many WC people claim, and all of them found it necessary, or at least, extremely useful, to incorporate techniques from elsewhere to work well at long range.
David Crook found his WC worked best when incorporated with CLF and Northern Sil Lum for long and medium range attacks and multidirectional defense. Victor and Sanjuro's points about confronting your opponent with an unfamiliar style are valid, if you can mix several such styles effectively you can be further advantaged. Difficult to do, maybe, but as he and several of his students, one of whom medalled in the police and fire olympics. have proved it is hardly impossible.
Rick Spain based his kicking style on Bill Wallace's. He also incorporates boxing tactics and techniques, plus the later BJJ and MMA. It's not that his TWC on its own is deficient, it's that the additions turbocharge it.
If you are ring fighting regularly, unless you are totally arrogant, or have some weird agenda of stylistic purity, you are going to hang out with your fellow competitors, swallow your pride and trade techniques and tactics and incorporate the stuff that works for you. The TWC system is meant to be a launching pad, not a straitjacket.
While William Cheung is a superb TWC technician and probably comes as close as anybody to stylistic purity under pressure, I think the phrase "working out" (as opposed to "fighting") is of pivotal importance.