For me, WCK is a bridging art with an emphasis on striking and controlling at the same time. The drills we train help us to do this, based on the art's concepts and principles.
So when I see Alan's recent clips (the instructional ones), he is often showing Chi Sau and Lap Sau and I can see that the Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun is teaching this striking and controlling. I like these clips a lot - and I think Alan is a gifted teacher, teaching a comprehensive system. The linking/delinking clip, for example, was extremely good, IMO.
Well, I
do look to see people using the attributes gained from drills and I also agree that when people fight they
won't look like they are using drills
as is (no one expects to see someone fight in a MMA contest using Chi Sau and Lap Sau as they are used in a class environment).
However...
... as so much Wing Chun training involves bridge work and, for me therefore, the art is a bridging system (an emphasis on fighting using Chi Kiu as a preference to Lei Kiu), I always watch clips of Wing Chun guys entering MMA fights and hope to see this - the use of Chi Kiu.
Don't get me wrong - there's nothing wrong with people fighting using Lei Kiu methods as a preference - people using western boxing and Muay Thai use this to great effect. All fights, regardless of system, start from Lei Kiu... but in WCK the system looks to implement Chi Kiu as soon as possible, whenever possible - hence the various and numerous drills and training methods that work from contact.
In Yip Man's words, from the interview with New Martial Hero in the early 70s:
loi lau heui sung, lat sau jik chung... "the word sung in the motto is a forward movement. The word chung is also a forward movement.
The word lau in the motto is stay and stick to the opponents fist (arm) and not use brute force to push it aside."
Yip Man is talking about bridging in that quoted part, and some Wing Chun lines talk about 14 or 18 or 20 Kiu Sau methods/key words (e.g. press, swallow, slice, etc,... or lead, leak, float, etc,... or fold, sheer, pull, etc.) Some lines don't mention these things specifically, but you find them in the training drills.
So for me these are part of the attributes you should
see when WCK is applied. However, I think that when WCK guys step into the ring they seem to go with the typical Lei Kiu methods other arts use. Their WCK (in terms of the stand up game they are using) starts looking like western boxing or kickboxing or Muay Thai (arts with a Lei Kiu emphasis), which mirrors what their opponents will be using/giving them.
So I agree with KPM on this point when he said:
"Wing Chun has a visual signature as much as it has concepts and principles."
But maybe I'd go one step further
. Wing Chun's visual signature is directly
tied to its concepts and principles - they are two sides of the same coin - you aren't looking to separate them. The body methods, shapes and motions tie in directly with the concepts and principles, particularly the eight key characters LL, HS, LSJC.
In other words... Wing Chun is a Chi Kiu art, bridging is part of WCK's strategy and tactics, these are all connected to the body methods employed and these in turn all relate to the art's principles and concepts. No
one part is more important than any of the others because they are all connected.
If we think of the visual signature and the concepts and principles as being two sides of the same coin, then in application WCK is that coin being flipped in the air, spinning rapidly. When you look at the coin are you looking at the heads or tails side? You're looking at both.
In the fight clip that Alan posted, his student did an awesome job - winning the fight in a convincing fashion. He did it largely using Lei Kiu methods.
Did it work? Absolutely (congrats to the fighter!)
Did it look like Wing Chun? IMO, no.
Was it Wing Chun? IMO, I would say no (and as KPM said, that in no way detracts from the fact that the fighter got in the cage and beat his opponent)
Does it matter either way? For the fighter, no. His aim was to win the fight and he did - so a successful day at the office
For those reading that the fighter was a Wing Chun guy using Wing Chun, yes it matters in as much as the label is incorrect (which is hardly "matters" in a life or death important way
). The fighter might train the Wing Chun that Alan shows in his instructional clips, but in application I think he wasn't using it to win.