There are as many martial arts systems as there are religions. I heard once that there were 3500 different religions in the USA, and it makes sense once you look at what they develop their religions on. Using the Bible(for example), the lead person impassioned by the book or a statement creates an entire religion around an appealing concept. This is similar to martial arts. The lead practitioner envisions the battle being won or lost at a certain distance using certain techniques and develops an entire martial art around that one idea.
He mentioned Balintawak in the video. Balintawak's leading martial artist is GM Bobby Taboada. Balintawak seems to concentrate on the last few seconds of a knife fight, when the fighters close on each other to end the fight. It is a solid art. There are many different forms of edged weapons arts and many are developed on different closing or combatives techniques.
TBH, this isn't really a "knife fight;" it's a defender using a knife to back off multiple (luckily unarmed) assailants. I'm no expert on knife combatives, but when I read or hear "knife fight," what comes to mind are two or more people armed with knives, fighting each other.
This was self-defense with a knife, not a knife fight. Big difference.
Just from this very brief little exchange alone, I have to say that, for the most part, the Karate man (Jesse Enkamp) got the better of the Wing Chun guy.
It isn't just because Jesse has a height and reach advantage. For the most part, Jesse controlled the distance better. His head was a little more mobile. And he combined both hands and legs.
Like a lot of Wing Chun guys I've seen, and ones I've sparred against, the WC guy's head was stationary, and he appeared to be having trouble when Jesse wasn't adhering to the Wing Chun "sticking hands" game. He was also standing with his feet too squared up. Many classical Wing Chun practitioners have difficulty when sparring outside of their own system (i.e., against practitioners from other systems).
I've also seen a Wing Chun sticky hands division at a large tournament, in which two practitioners of Jook Lum Southern Praying Mantis (another close-quarter Chinese system) entered and easily dominated against the Wing Chun fighters.
There was a time, back in the '70s and '80s, when Wing Chun was touted by many as the best close-quarter martial art/most (or only) practical Kung Fu system, and almost unbeatable. That belief has been reignited to some degree in more recent years by the "Ip Man" movies, starring Donnie Yen. In the movies, Wing Chun experts defeat all other styles. But movies are choreographed for entertainment.
There is no "best" style, not even at "sticking hands" range. It all depends on the practitioner.
It is too bad that Vunack isn't in his mid 20's. I'd like to see him fight in the UFC, although he would have to follow the rules and his fighting style is one of no rules.
It is too bad that Vunack isn't in his mid 20's. I'd like to see him fight in the UFC, although he would have to follow the rules and his fighting style is one of no rules.
In his mid-20s, Paul Vunak might have done well in UFC, and he might not have. It's hard to tell, because as you say, his focus is completely different.
For example, if I wanted to learn and train in proven street combatives, I would probably pick Geoff Thompson, to name only one. If he was in his 20s, he may or may not have done well in the UFC, but I would certainly trust his information and his experience on what works, or has worked for him, on the street. More than I would trust a sports fighter or trainer who knows the ins and outs of competitive fighting, but without much or any street experience.
There are a lot of people who wouldn't win in the UFC, but nevertheless, who are excellent martial artists, with loads of real experiences of surviving life-threatening situations.
I think that ring-shaped training device is really cool. If I were to direct a period Kung Fu movie, I'd like to incorporate training sequences like these into it (only longer for the movie, of course).
And naturally, the ring-shaped device would approximate the arch-villain's fighting style, so the hero could learn to overcome it. I imagine the villain's style as specializing in lots of long-range, circular upward and downward strikes, and his defense is virtually impenetrable, so that he is difficult to close in on. The hero is badly beaten and barely escapes the first time they fight, and he undergoes various training methods specifically designed to help him defeat the villain. This is all in my creative imagination, of course.
https://youtube.com/shorts/N42XaPC_VBA?si=rqQvMnSUxrkXZt8e
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Jim
A very light, friendly exchange in China between a practitioner of Fanziquan and an MMA practitioner. I don't know what the skill level each of them is in their respective arts, only that the Fanziquan practitioner is being introduced as a "traditional" young master and coach in his art.
While I have heard of Fanziquan (translation: Rotating Fist), and seen demos of it in videos, I've never met a Fanziquan practitioner. I don't think there was even one Fanziquan practitioner in Taiwan when I lived there.
There is a system taught in the States (at least in NY and CA) called Ying Zhao Fanziquan (Eagle Claw/Fanziquan), that is a combination of the two styles. That lineage was passed down mostly from Hong Kong. But from what I've seen of it, any Fanziquan it contains has very little resemblance to the Fanziquan I've seen in videos from China.
Note: The video is all in Mandarin, with no English subtitles.
I'm posting these videos because I have an observation. I've noticed recently that when Karate people perform the hook kick (Japanese: Ura-Mawashi-Geri Jodan, or "upper level reverse roundhouse kick"), nowadays, they flick it back the way it came.
When I learned the hook kick, when kicking air or focus pads, you chambered the knee, then whipped the kick all the way through the target, WITHOUT bouncing it back the way it came. Occasionally, after hitting your opponent's jaw or whatever in competition, your hook kick would go back the way it came. But most of the time it went through the target. And you always practiced it to follow through. If we missed the target, we recovered quickly and easily, because that's how we practiced.
The way practitioners nowadays do their hook kicks, they are literally tapping the opponent's head, like in this first video. IMO, practicing in this manner is awkward, and it creates a bad habit. It also doesn't take into account that if you miss the target entirely, you are left in a more vulnerable position that is difficult to recover from. I wonder what year that Karate practitioners decided to change the hook kick to the tap method? My guess is that it was instituted to make the hook kick less potentially dangerous for light-contact tournament/sport Karate sparring.
Compare the hook kick in the above video to the way practitioners used to practice it, like in the two videos below. This first video below features Bill "Superfoot" Wallace, from back in the '80s. The hook kick is demonstrated from 0:50 to 1:22:
https://youtu.be/RTSpESlHzPM?si=f5oiTrVAUu502_7_
For a practitioner with even more follow-through on his hook kick, here is Korean Tae Kwon Do/Tang Soo Do master Hwang Jang-Lee. Hwang knows a thing or two about power kicking; he killed a Vietnamese soldier armed with a knife with a single kick to the head, when he was a member of South Korea's infamous Tiger Division during the Vietnam War. He later became an actor in many martial arts films, most famously playing the arch-villain opposite Jackie Chan in Drunken Master (1978). This video was from the early '80s. The hook kick is demonstrated and explained, starting from 12:20:
Although I'm not a Muay Thai practitioner, i practiced shin conditioning for a few years, many years ago. It wasn't as extreme as kicking metal bars or breaking baseball bats, but it did harden the shin bones. In my case, although my shins became resistant to kicks to my shins, or to people blocking or checking my own kicks, the nerves were NOT destroyed. Nowadays, if I accidentally bang my shins into something, I will feel it. If the nerves were dead, I wouldn't feel anything in my shins but numbness.
I still impact train the bones and muscles in my forearms, something I think is mostly (or only) trained in some Kung Fu systems (especially Southern systems), and in Okinawan Karate (which is descended from Southern Kung Fu from Fujian/Fukien Province). The bone hardening is very real. The muscles around the bones are also toughened. The entire area becomes denser, and the impact you can inflict is heavier. But the nerves are not deadened. I can feel a light breeze on my forearms. Or a bug bite. If the conditioning killed the nerves (as many claim is a result of bone conditioning), then I wouldn't be able to feel anything.
In my experience and observations, forearm hardening/conditioning, if done properly, is more sustainable in old age than the extreme shin conditioning as seen in some traditional Muay Thai. My Choy Lee Fut sifu is in his 80s, and he still has extremely tough, hardened forearms.
An important part of Kung Fu body hardening impact conditioning is the application of a proper Dit Da Jow liniment before and after conditioning. It enhances blood flow in the area (which helps to prevent blood clots), accelerates healing, and also enhances hardness and toughness.
I wonder if Muay Thai practitioners use an equivalent of Dit Da Jow in their conditioning. If not, I wonder how they fare health-wise when they grow old, and their bodies can no longer sustain the hard leg conditioning. Some things that people do to their bodies with impunity in their youth takes a heavy toll on their bodies that only becomes evident as they get older.
Tai Chi Beat Down - Chen Style Taijiquan Fight Commentary
https://youtu.be/Hww6RNt8pC0?si=0zGyZXgoe-xL4h5o
For those not familiar with the writing of Chinese characters into written English, Taijiquan is the pinyin method of writing Tai Chi Chuan, which was the old Wade-Giles method of writing Chinese into English.
Chen style Taijiquan is the oldest and the most combat-oriented of the Taiji (Tai Chi) systems. Taiji is actually a standing grappling and throwing art, more than it is a striking art. That is why Taiji movements look the way they do in the forms, and why so few people understand the Taiji combat applications.
I've heard accounts from people who trained in Chenjiagou (Chen Village, the home of Chen Style Taijiquan), that the "push hands" and sparring practiced there is very rough-and-tumble, and results in many bruises. It's not the soft, gentle type of Tai Chi/Taiji you see old people doing in the park or senior center (which is mostly Yang or Wu style Taijiquan).
The commenter says that Taiji is a Taoist (Daoist) art. This is partly, but not entirely correct. Taiji originally had a connection to Shaolin (Buddhist) martial arts, and is a variant of Changquan (Chang Chuan, or Long Fist). Much of Chinese martial arts, especially many Northern systems, incorporated a lot of standing grappling and throwing along with the striking, also why the techniques and forms look the way they do. Again, many people, even many practitioners themselves, do not know this. When people misunderstand, and try to make a pure striking art out of what are supposed to be standing grappling, locking, and throwing techniques combined with striking, they fail. Then people say that Kung Fu doesn't work, or that "Kung Fu people can't fight." It is true that many can't fight; but that depends on the quality of the individual, their understanding of what they're doing, and the level and quality of their training.
The commenter also mistranslates "Kao" as shoulder strike or bump. It literally means to lean. As in leaning against, or into something. A strike using the "Kao" principle can be made with the shoulder, the forearm, the elbow, the head, the hip, or even the knee or leg. The "Kao" principle is also used in Tanglangquan (Northern Praying Mantis), Bajiquan, Changquan, Xinyi-Liuhequan, and many, many other systems.
Just from this very brief little exchange alone, I have to say that, for the most part, the Karate man (Jesse Enkamp) got the better of the Wing Chun guy.
It isn't just because Jesse has a height and reach advantage. For the most part, Jesse controlled the distance better. His head was a little more mobile. And he combined both hands and legs.
Like a lot of Wing Chun guys I've seen, and ones I've sparred against, the WC guy's head was stationary, and he appeared to be having trouble when Jesse wasn't adhering to the Wing Chun "sticking hands" game. He was also standing with his feet too squared up. Many classical Wing Chun practitioners have difficulty when sparring outside of their own system (i.e., against practitioners from other systems).
I've also seen a Wing Chun sticky hands division at a large tournament, in which two practitioners of Jook Lum Southern Praying Mantis (another close-quarter Chinese system) entered and easily dominated against the Wing Chun fighters.
There was a time, back in the '70s and '80s, when Wing Chun was touted by many as the best close-quarter martial art/most (or only) practical Kung Fu system, and almost unbeatable. That belief has been reignited to some degree in more recent years by the "Ip Man" movies, starring Donnie Yen. In the movies, Wing Chun experts defeat all other styles. But movies are choreographed for entertainment.
There is no "best" style, not even at "sticking hands" range. It all depends on the practitioner.
Jim
Thanks for sharing this Jim, very impressive video. If this had been a full force full contact fight, I wouldn't want to be the WC guy. Jesse's kicks are so fast and precise. If that last high kick to the face were full force, it would instantly end most fights even against seasoned opponents. His videos are always impressive, Wonderboy is another karateka you've posted on here with vicious kicks and timing.
Have a great rest of your weekend Sir,
max
MNOSD 0047 - mens sana in corpore sano -
Do more than is required of you . Patton
For man's only weapon is courage that flinches not from the gates of **** itself, and against such not even the legions of **** can stand. Robert E. Howard
Just from this very brief little exchange alone, I have to say that, for the most part, the Karate man (Jesse Enkamp) got the better of the Wing Chun guy.
It isn't just because Jesse has a height and reach advantage. For the most part, Jesse controlled the distance better. His head was a little more mobile. And he combined both hands and legs.
Like a lot of Wing Chun guys I've seen, and ones I've sparred against, the WC guy's head was stationary, and he appeared to be having trouble when Jesse wasn't adhering to the Wing Chun "sticking hands" game. He was also standing with his feet too squared up. Many classical Wing Chun practitioners have difficulty when sparring outside of their own system (i.e., against practitioners from other systems).
I've also seen a Wing Chun sticky hands division at a large tournament, in which two practitioners of Jook Lum Southern Praying Mantis (another close-quarter Chinese system) entered and easily dominated against the Wing Chun fighters.
There was a time, back in the '70s and '80s, when Wing Chun was touted by many as the best close-quarter martial art/most (or only) practical Kung Fu system, and almost unbeatable. That belief has been reignited to some degree in more recent years by the "Ip Man" movies, starring Donnie Yen. In the movies, Wing Chun experts defeat all other styles. But movies are choreographed for entertainment.
There is no "best" style, not even at "sticking hands" range. It all depends on the practitioner.
Jim
Thanks for sharing this Jim, very impressive video. If this had been a full force full contact fight, I wouldn't want to be the WC guy. Jesse's kicks are so fast and precise. If that last high kick to the face were full force, it would instantly end most fights even against seasoned opponents. His videos are always impressive, Wonderboy is another karateka you've posted on here with vicious kicks and timing.
I love these counters. I've actually used the 2nd or 3rd one (the one with both guys wearing white shorts) on several occasions. One guy I used it on almost went into a split. The opponent doesn't even have to be kicking; you can simply sweep the other guy's foot when he's stepping towards you, as his front foot is coming down.
I find it interesting that MMA analysts and fans were (and apparently still are) so amazed by this step-up lead leg roundhouse kick. This very same method of throwing the roundhouse kick is not new; it's been a part of sport Karate since at least the 1960s, and gained greater popularity in the US through Skipper Mullins, Bruce Lee, and Bill Wallace. It was one of the basics I learned in Kenpo back in the '70s. And it was used a lot in American kickboxing. Going back even further, it was seen in French Savate at least as far back as the 1800s.
