Originally Posted by
Kellen Bassette
Indeed, that was my impression when I first trained MT. The addition of the more developed Thai clinch game seems seamless from a Gong Fu base.
On the surface, it may appear foreign to some, but even sport MT, (from Thailand,) is very much based on traditional martial arts.
Some may disagree, but I asked a Thai kru about Muay Boran, and he said it is the same as Muay Thai. He told me if you want to fight with the "ancient boxing" techniques, you just train the ones you want to use in the gym, along with your MT basics. While most Thai boxers stick to the fundamentals, you do see fighters who have one or two MB techs they like to surprise people with during fights.
That idea made a pretty big impression on me and since then I have always felt gong fu should be trained in this manner. Use a simplified sanda type base, appropriate to the core of your system and concentrate the majority of training on fundamentals, conditioning, (gong) and actual fighting. Then you will have better understanding to draw more from your system and integrate the more advanced or unorthodox material from a very solid base.
My two cents anyway.