Taiji combat?

[Liokault]

Some questions regarding that clip:



1- What percentage of your training do you do in which the techniques, applications, and speed are similar to those seen on that clip?

75%. More important, 75% alive trtaining.

2- How long had both you and your opponent been training when that competition occurred?

In my case, 15 years plus of training and im now into well over 20 full contact fights, but this one was right after I started training again after a year of cruciate ligament damage.

Not sure on the other guy, but it was not his first fight.

3- Would you say that match is representative of how "good" (whatever your definition of that is) tai chi would look in combat?

No, personaly I think it looks quite poor, as im never a a great puncher and he did a good job of stopping me throw him.

4_Were you getting points every time your opponent went outside the red area?

Yes, rules are points only for knock downs, clean throws or out of the area.....also for an odd reason, no hand wraps.

[Knifefighter]

No, personaly I think it looks quite poor, as im never a a great puncher and he did a good job of stopping me throw him.

Thanks for the replies. Do you have a link to some full contact tai chi that you think is representative of "good" tai chi?

[Water-quan]

This old interview quote will make you smile:


[3] Interviewer: ‘Xingyi’, ‘Taiji’, ‘Bagua’, and ‘Tongbei’ are considered to be schools of internal boxing, what are the differences of all these branches?

Wang Xiang Zhai:
...As masters of the original ‘Taijiquan’, I should recommend the Yang brothers Shaohou and Chengfu. They are also old friends of mine, thus I know that this boxing really has some knowledge of mechanics, but out of one hundred persons not even one gains its essence, and even if one can gain it, it is still one-sided, because the basic skills of intuitive perception already died out a long time ago, thus their lower bodies have no real strength to speak of. Originally this boxing consisted of three fists, also called the "old three cuts", Mr. Wang Zongyue changed it into "thirteen postures", and it was later changed into as much as one hundred and forty or fifty postures, this is the major reason for the distortion.

For health preservation, it restrains the spirit and mettle, and brings discomfort to the practitioner. For combat, it harms the practitioner’s limbs and trunk, and causes the useful body to become a mechanical and stiff thing, it also disturbs the student’s nerves, and is nothing more than wasting one’s time. As for its method of training, a punch with a fist here, a slap with the palm there, a kick to the left, and another one to the right, that is pitiful and laughable.

As for dealing with an enemy in a fight, against a master-hand, please do not even consider it, if the adversary is not stiff and sluggish, even the famous masters of this boxing have no chance to apply their skills. These abuses are so big that ‘Taijiquan’ might soon become just a mere form comparable to a chess manual. For the last twenty years, most people who have studied this boxing have not been able to differentiate right and wrong, even if someone has been able to differentiate them, he has not been capable of putting it into practice. As for common students, most of them use their ears instead of their eyes.

So ruined is this boxing that it has become useless, this is really deplorable.