do not do kickboxing then call it kung fu.

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See, here is the issue. Many Kung Fu styles are basically Kick Boxing, with locks and throws. Long Fist is especially like this. In fact many of the weirder looking moves in the forms ARE the throws. They are not strikes.

Now, with that said, if you watch Kuo Shou, and San Shou/San Da, you see plenty of standard, Bread & Butter Long Fist techniques being used pretty much exactly as they are seen in the forms all the time.

Also, if you are in a ring where you have gloves, a LOT of your throws, and all of your joint locks are now out of your arsenal...not to mention in may venues locks are severely limited (no small joint manipulations in UFC for example). So what are you left with? Answer, the kicking and punching...ie. Kickboxing.

As for the UFC, early on no one was working the ground, the Gracies were able to take advantage of that pretty easily. But NOW, so many people have abandoned good striking for high level Ground working skill that the advance level strikers are starting to make a comeback because the over all striking abilities are at a low point.. This is especially so because the Ground threat is so prevalent that that hole is now pretty universally closed up.