Xu Xiaodong Challenges to Kung Fu

[Jimbo]

Even though many TCMA are indeed brilliant in concept, they still need to be adapted for the ring if they are to be contested in this manner, When I lived in Taiwan, I was friends with (and sometimes trained with) Lei Tai/Sanda fighters from the Taiwan team, and also with a couple heavyweights who visited periodically from the French team, one of whom was a well-known champion in the sport at the time. They all had TCMA backgrounds, but their fighting in Lei Tai/Sanda was adapted for that style of competition and not “pure” TCMA. Besides TCMA, they all had backgrounds that also included TKD or karate, at least some western boxing, and at least some Muay Thai as well.

This is not to say that TCMA is inferior; but to fight with it in a ring or cage requires it to be specifically adapted and trained for that purpose. Which means training workable skill sets from whichever TCMA it is that ARE within the rules and that can be applied naturally under pressure against experienced fighters who are using MMA or boxing/kickboxing. There are TCMA skills that might work brilliantly in some contexts that would either be forbidden in sport, or would simply be ineffective in a competitive setting. That’s not a knock on TCMA, but it’s where things stand right now. Similar to the way Lyoto Machida adapted his Shotokan karate into MMA. Some people said that isn’t Shotokan, but anyone who is truly familiar with Shotokan can see it in his style; but he had to adapt it and combine it with BJJ and other common skill sets of MMA. One must “know the enemy (opponent) and know one’s self.” Watching lots is fight tapes alone isn’t enough.

IMO, the really effective skills of TCMA that are adaptable into sport fighting shouldn’t take years upon years to apply. The most effective skills used under pressure in any case are usually simple, or fairly simple in execution. TCMA need not be overly complex in application to be high-level TCMA. But it has to be incorporated and trained properly, and the practitioners need to gain real experience to represent in the ring against fighters who are training for the ring all the time. Otherwise, the same thing will continue to happen. If the ‘masters’ who have been squashed in the ring haven’t been doing that; if all they’ve been doing is practicing some traditional applications, playing hands and sparring mostly with awed students and yes-men and thinking they were ready to represent, then they are the ones tarnishing the image of TCMA in the public eye. They’re going to have to “do the work” and take it seriously, and not expect to be like Ip Man in the movies. Anyone representing needs to actually get into proper physical and mental fighting condition, and gain experience under pressure against experienced strangers under ring/cage conditions. And preferably not someone who is 50-something years old, but someone who is young, talented, truly motivated, and with a good, experienced training team behind him who knows how to build up his ring experience to get him up to the proper level. That (and more) is what it’s going to take.