Xingxi & MMA

We'll see if this goes anywhere. I wouldn't characterize China's Kung Fu masters as 'destitute' at all. Sure, there are some that fail, just like anywhere, but most fine financially.

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A Shaolin Monk Tries Mixed Martial Arts
Fightland Blog
By Sascha Matuszak

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Photos by Christopher Cherry

There can be no denying that kungfu is absent from the mixed martial arts, and that this absence speaks volumes about traditional Chinese kungfu. What irony. Most martial artists today, no matter what discipline, count Bruce Lee as a primary inspiration. There are more than enough zealots who believe that Bruce Lee is the original mixed martial artist: his Jeet Kun Do philosophy is mixed martial arts in a nutshell, and his fearlessness, physique and no holds barred battles with fighters from all styles epitomizes the modern warrior.

The proving grounds. That is what MMA is all about. What works survives, and what doesn’t gets scrapped and left behind. Being left behind is all today’s kungfu masters can talk about. Some of them sneer at MMA (barbarians beating each other); others talk about limitations (my style is about killing, gloves and rules just hamper my awesomeness). But it all boils down to fear. Something Bruce Lee realized a long time ago. When he left the Mainland for Hong Kong, and eventually Hong Kong for the US, Bruce Lee was trying to escape the cloying parochialism of China’s martial community.

It’s been decades since Bruce Lee left the homeland for the shores of California, yet that parochialism still thrives. Chinese kungfu masters protect their tiny, shrinking bits of turf like feuding cats in a tiny basement, while the rest of the world marches on, fusing Taekwondo with Muay Thai with BJJ with wrestling to create the martial artist Hong Kong filmmakers can only dream of.

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China is being left behind, even as the nation’s destitute, desperately commercializing kungfu masters attempt to patronize the world’s fastest growing combat sport with stale declarations regarding spirituality, meaning, killing intent, and anything else they can drum up to avoid facing the truth: MMA is crushing it, and Kungfu is not.

Right now, nothing stands in the way of kungfu following the fate of lederhosen.

But then a Shaolin monk named Xingxi laced up a pair of 5oz gloves. This unassuming young man from the mountains around the Shaolin Temple has lived a life specifically tailored by the heavens for a Hollywood film. He left home as a pre-teen to study martial arts a few hours away from home, but realized less than a year in that he was destined for something else. At age 17 he wandered up to the Shaolin Temple and asked for the “real kungfu master” who could teach him the pure, unadulterated Shaolin martial art.

His search led him to Master Shi Dejian, a Zen Buddhist monk and Shaolin kungfu master who lives atop a peak overlooking the Shaolin temple, inaccessible by road, dressed in robes and surrounded by the silent scurrying of the devout. He is the last in a line of warrior-monks who hold the “true knowledge” of Shaolin kungfu.

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Photo courtesy of Xingxi

Xingxi spent ten years with Master Shi learning the Shaolin kungfu style handed down by a semi-mythical master named Wu Gulun, who, in 1870, escaped Qing persecution and kept the lineage intact. Sound like a classic kungfu flic? It gets better.

After a decade of training, Xingxi set out with a few yuan and a backpack and traveled the earth like Jules for five years. He saw many things and worked many a job—mine overseer, bodyguard, driver for bosses and such—before he returned to the Shaolin Temple and decided to open up a school with his kungfu brother. That school dissolved and now Xingxi makes his home on the the outskirts of Beijing, in a courtyard buried deep within a planned village, where young Israeli travelers fresh from yoga class in India learn about Zen while sweating their way through a bad horse stance.

Why does any of this matter?

Because Xingxi is one of the very few kungfu masters who has grasped the power of MMA, and has declared his intent to enter the ring and represent Chinese kungfu.

“Most masters think too much,” Xingxi explained over afternoon tea. “They worry that they will be embarrassed. I don’t think too much about that. MMA is exciting, it is new and full of vigor. I think it is up to us, the men and women representing kungfu, to enter this world and prove that we can contribute. MMA will not wait for us.”
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The man seems to have a clear idea of what he is getting into and why. Xingxi has already trained a bit at a Beijing MMA gym, Big King, with Nano Lozevski and his protoge Yang Jianbing. He watches Youtube clips of TJ Dillashaw and Anderson Silva. His faithful assistant, Naomi, urges him to try kickboxing (then you wouldn’t have to learn BJJ), but he disdains. Only an MMA bout will do.

But when I sit across from him in his beautiful courtyard with the mid-autumn moon hanging in the sky like the lamp of truth, I can’t help but worry. Xingxi is in excellent shape. He can shift from horse stance to bow stance in a flash and his punches and kicks carry the sound of wind on robe. But this man is obviously a monk. His Chinese social media feed is filled with pictures of beads and Buddhas figurines, and sunlight striking the flying eaves of some temple. His cherubic face invites confessions. His demeanor is non-judgmental, soft, inviting, tolerant. The man is the personification of Chinese martial values, which, for better or for worse, have forgotten their brutal fighting origins. Xingxi is on a path that leads to enlightenment, the Tao, the Way. It’s a path that runs parallel to the martial arts, but, so far, has not crossed over in any meaningful way into MMA.

Yet he is adamant about fighting in the ring. About learning how to stuff a takedown, and how to protect his head against kicks and the dreaded Muay Thai clinch.

“He believes his kungfu skills can be proven in a MMA fight, with some modification,” said Big King’s Nano Lozevski. “He’s a really nice guy. He picked stuff up quick. I like him. My impression is that he’s a cool dude, but then again I have only met him twice.”

For all of his clarity regarding kungfu’s place in the global-martial scheme of things, he still doesn't seem to understand that MMA requires the same dedication that kungfu does. Chalk it up to the patronizing, parochial nature of Chinese society. In the end, it doesn’t really matter if Xingxi fight, or wins, or loses. That’s not the point. For years kungfu masters wouldn’t dare set foot in the ring with any foreigner unless the outcome was controlled in some way or another. The bare-knuckle circuits of the early 1990s withstanding, Chinese martial arts has relied on pretense and bull**** to get through the past few decades—but that era died the day Severn tapped to Gracie’s triangle choke. Xingxi is one of the first of his kind: a bona fide kungfu master who wants to enter the ring and prove himself in the world’s most unforgiving arena.

If there’s anything Chinese kungfu needs right now, it’s idealistic monks like Xingxi willing to risk life and limb to prove that their style belongs in the conversation. He might never make it to the ring, and if he does, he might get manhandled by the first guy he meets with any ground skills. But in any revolution, it’s the first stone that starts the avalanche.

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Why doesn't he just try to enter a fight within the UFC arena ? what's the point of MMA in China?

That article had some valid points, BUT...I find it more than a bit odd that nobody ever mentions the absence of arts like Silat, FMA, Krav Maga, etc., in MMA, yet it seems nobody ever questions their worth or practicality. I may have seen some Silat in an MMA fight vid out of SE Asia, but certainly less than I've seen of CMA in MMA.

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Originally Posted by ShaolinDiva

Why doesn't he just try to enter a fight within the UFC arena ? what's the point of MMA in China?

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You might want to read the article. The guy is from China, lives in China....thus getting experience with MMA in his own homeland might be a stepping stone for him to move up to bigger things. The MMA scene in China might not be as developed as it is in the US but its certainly a good proving ground for this Xingxi guy.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

That article had some valid points, BUT...I find it more than a bit odd that nobody ever mentions the absence of arts like Silat, FMA, Krav Maga, etc., in MMA, yet it seems nobody ever questions their worth or practicality. I may have seen some Silat in an MMA fight vid out of SE Asia, but certainly less than I've seen of CMA in MMA.

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Um maybe because it’s a kung fu site that guys come here to question kung fu? And because kung fu is by far the largest group of eastern martial arts people practise
people question Silat, FMA and especially Krav Maga all the time, for the same reason they question kung fu, there isnt much proof of it working how it is typically trained in an full contact environment.
And the article is about 25 years too late, Royce tapped Seven in 1993, it’s a bit late for a kung fu master to now say we should be embracing MMA, if kung fu and uts students actually wanted to do this they would have done so by now

Not to mention the guy has been to the MMA gym, what twice to train with the coach I highly doubt he will ever make it into the ring or cage in an honest organisation
This argument has been going on for decades, and is pointless people train kung fu for a variety of reasons not many of which have to do with fighting sadly. And the vast majority really don’t care t care that it is inefficient and largely ineffective

Why do I say this?
Well MMA, sanda and all sports have shown us how you should train, it should be as close to how you wish to perform in the cage or ring or street as possible, it should be mainly working with a partner on drills which relate to how you want to fight, against increasing levels of resistance and using appropriate safety gear so you can train safely but with contact so you know what you are doing will work under pressure
Now lets look at your typical kung fu class

They have form practise, weapons forms and practise, stance work, solo work, two man pre arranged drills and pre arranges forms, if you are lucky some form of sticking work and hitting pads, and if you are very lucky sparring (sometimes without gloves in a slap happy vest). Or have a separate sanda/sparring class (which when you think about it is a bit silly, you shouldn’t need a separate class to learn how to fight you should be learning this in your main kung fu class)

So the majority of the normal class is spent doing things which are inefficient from a fighting point of view, form work, stance work, prearranged defences against attacks you are unlikely to see, like reverse punches, vertical punches, leopard fist attacks, Even the contact work is largely ineffective, take chi sao for example when are you ever going to meet someone who is bong sauing you, trying to dominate the center line and just looking for arm contact…never

Now onto the type of sparring we see in those classes that do spar, they normally fall into two categories and fall into the two extreme ends of the fighting spectrum , at the one end you have the slap vest sessions where protection isnt used so little or no contact is made and thus all manner of weird stuff is tried and people believe will work, at the other you have those which put on bag gloves face shields and try to knock each other out with bad kick boxing which looks nothing like 90% of how they train.
So the vast majority of kung fu classes are taught inefficiently and ineffectively, and anyone with half a brain can walk into say your local wing chun school and see form practise, chi sao and pole work being done for 95% of the class, or walk into a hung gar school and see form work, deep stance work two man fighting forms using tiger claws and long extended locked punches and see that the training is nothing like they see their favourite MMA fighter doing and thus if they actually wanted to learn fighting would disappear to another school, but they don’t they hang around and love that training.
Of course some kung fu schools do train like MMA and sports gyms, and those gyms tell countless stories of how students turn up for kung fu training and disappear after a single session because the training isnt what they wanted, people want forms, they want weapons, they want stance work even though they know its not the best way to train for fighting

The MMA scene in China seems to be growing well as I can see here. There are fights all over the country with Chinese and foreign fighters of various styles. It will be interesting to see some Shaolin guys get in there. I know there are some tough as nails Sanda fighters in Shaolin, but a traditional guy would be great to see. I think they will need the help of good, experienced trainers though, to get used to the fighting format of MMA cage and ring fighting.

@Frost

Have you ever come to China? It may not be that international yet, but the MMA scene in China is indeed growing in popularity, and traditional Kung Fu is a part of it.

Here in Shanghai there's a serious MMA school called Fighters Unite, with various styles and quality instructors; including Western Boxing, Muay Thai, BJJ, Seven Star Mantis, and previously Wing Chun and Krav Maga. The traditional Kung Fu guys train seriously and get into the ring with the other groups for mixed fight nights every week. The gym also hosts and attends pro and amateur MMA fights around the country. So it is happening...

Never been but there but one of our guys is over in china now (has been for two years or so) and training sanda and wrestling, he found it surprisingly easy to find sanda than traditional arts, in fact the school he is teaching at (private academy) have asked him to teach a kung fu class and brought all the equipment for him., mats gloves bags the lot only issue he has none of the lads want to train so he is stuck training a bunch of 14 to 20 year old girls, I feel sorry for him……
He said there is a huge demand for wing chun (even the sanda teachers asked him to show them some wing chun lol) because of the yip man movies everyone wants the movie fu

Its good if it is growing out there and maybe my view was a western one, but it does seem the vast majority of schools here in the west still train inefficiently and people seem to lap it up

Yeah, one of the Wing Chun schools here got a sudden influx of Chinese students once the Yip Man movies came out, but it wore off quickly and the really serious students are often foreigners. There's not much good Wing Chun on the mainland anyway, but that kinda goes for the rest of the world. It's an easy style to screw up badly...

Yup, when I was in the States I taught teachers from others styles who had their own schools and over 10 years of experience. They had no idea how to fight and got easily whooped by a student with around 3 years of experience. They knew a heck of a lot cool moves, animal forms, two-man sets, etc. though. None of it translated. Like they'd never sparred before. And they were teachers! People paid them to teach...

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Originally Posted by ShaolinDiva

Why doesn't he just try to enter a fight within the UFC arena ? what's the point of MMA in China?

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SD, as a Shaolin practitioner, this is a naive statement - it reflects not being *present* with what's happening in martial arts today. You can't just enter UFC. It's a professional sport and like any professional sport, you have to work your way up from the amateur leagues and some of the smaller semi-pro/pro circuits before you even get a shot at a UFC undercard fight. UFC is the reigning top league in MMA now but there are many others. That's like saying 'Why doesn't he just try to enter the NFL, the NBA, or the PGA?'

As for the point of MMA in China, it's very relevant - see our China-MMA thread. We even did a cover story on one of the rising Chinese MMA fighters Zhang Tiequan (JUL+AUG 2011) and have run several articles about MMA in China. UFC really wants to expand into China, which is why they've been doing so much in Macao (Macao is a Special Administrative Region of the PRC, like Hong Kong). That's in part what Franklin-vs-Le-UFC-in-Macao was about. Everyone wants a piece of China, and conversely, China wants a piece of everything. Specifically for the UFC, their pay-per-view profits have been declining in North America. Their big expansion is coming through the UFC gym franchises and new markets like China. Anyone who has trained in China knows that if the Chinese can figure out MMA, it would be a global game changer for the sport. It might happen. The Chinese have figured out all sorts of non-Chinese international sports. So we watch and wait to see.

Meanwhile, specifically back to Xingxi, I've not found any more on him beyond that first article. So like I said with my initial post 'We'll see if this goes anywhere.'

A lot of fellows (the multitude) seem to lack the basic understanding of entering (what it takes to enter) these MMA/UFC/etc type events! You have to go through the vetting process (training, physical conditioning, etc) and my gut feeling of these kungfu master certified types is that they will end up falling like flies because knowing the truth will break thier illusions and they will falter terribly! Many refuse to adapt to changing conditions, (like yin and yang:D) criteria, so they will never be able to cut it. I will say that the Chinese MMA sanshou guys have a heads-up because of their sanshou conditioning so they know the hard work, sweat, necessary to reach that goal they seek.

China is definitely the new frontier for MMA. It's only a matter of time before Chinese fighters make a huge impact on MMA internationally. Now, whether or not any of those fighters that do will be able to incorporate any specific CMA into their MMA in the same way that Lyoto Machida adapted his Shotokan karate into MMA is the question. Machida not only had considerable competitive karate experience prior to entering MMA, but he was (at least initially) trained with his family in how to incorporate his Shotokan into his MMA. And you can definitely see characteristic Shotokan when he fights. There was also the middle-aged Filipino doctor who adapted his Shotokan effectively into MMA as well. Can or will any Chinese fighter(s) do the same for any specific CMA style(s)? Who knows. It's very questionable. Even if someone can somehow pull it off, he/they would still remain an anomaly in the MMA world. But I hope this Xingxi is able to do well in MMA.

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

Can or will any Chinese fighter(s) do the same for any specific CMA style(s)? Who knows.

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I think it will all depend on the rules. Some CMA styles' functionality may really be hampered by too many rules. If they do it like the original UFC with hardly any rules or bare hands, then it'd be something to watch out for. But fights like those weren't always very sportsmanlike. And the same regulations by the government would probably crackdown on them.

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Originally Posted by pazman

You might want to read the article. The guy is from China, lives in China....thus getting experience with MMA in his own homeland might be a stepping stone for him to move up to bigger things. The MMA scene in China might not be as developed as it is in the US but its certainly a good proving ground for this Xingxi guy.

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Yeah I read the article and I know he's in China. Actually if UFC finds him interesting enough, then I'm sure they would be able to create an arena of a fight for him even though he's in China. I know UFC is interested in something like this already but with local Shaolin guys :)