Is Kung Fu SH#T for Fighting? | KUNG FU vs MMA Which is BETTER?

After the fight between Xu Xiaodong and the Tai Chi Master we have to ask: Kung Fu vs MMA, Which is better? The answer depends on how you define better, better for what? While I love watching MMA, I must say that it doesn’t have the moral or social values of a martial art. MMA today is a sophisticated business and combat sport. It produces unarguably some of the fittest and well conditioned athletes of all the combat sports. However, the key word to note is the term ‘athlete’, even professional athlete. Athletes are not martial artists. This is the technical and psychological difference between Martial Arts and MMA today. Technical Difference Most of the comments we get argue that Kung Fu is bad because it lacks sparring and real intent. There is a form of combat training derived from traditional Kung Fu and Wu Shu called San Shou (also known as San Da). San Da training compares equally well to MMA. In my opinion, produces better technical fighters than MMA for one simple reason. San Da fighters train to fight on a raised platform with no cage fence. Fighting on a raised platform means that you have to have better footwork in order to avoid being pushed or thrown over the edge. Another significant characteristic is that fighters are allowed less time in a clinch. Which means that they have to throw or do take downs straight away. There’s no relying on the fence to take someone down, so you’ll see much faster and dynamic exchanges in San Da compared to MMA. Of course, one major short fall of San Da fighters is that they lack the ‘Ground and Pound’ of MMA. They would struggle to make a complete transition to MMA without learning a complete submission game. However, there is clearly a path to fighting in Kung Fu. Psychological Differences As I said earlier, Athletes are not martial artists. The only concern of an athlete is the contest. The winning or losing. Hence, all too often we see our MMA stars celebrating over an injured opponent or trash talking in order to humiliate their opponent. Now these aren’t values that a martial artist has. Martial Arts practice is a holistic. Training a martial means that you learn values that improve your moral thinking. The term Fighter, Scholar, Healer rings true, a true martial artist can be all or some of these constructs. An MMA fighter is none of these. Consider the Miyamoto Musashi a famous Samurai that wrote the Book of 5 Rings. His teachings derived from Combat have led the way for many generations to follow. The Take Away From this Traditional martial arts has a greater value beyond fighting. It’s strength is in its diversity. You can learn to fight with San Da, but you really achieve is the something that will stay with you for the rest of your life. That’s yourself, a better you. There’s value in every martial art, it’s just a case or opening your eyes to see the light. Thanks for watching. In future videos I will be discussing the psychological importance of mental fitness training for combat, self defence and MMA. The goal is to make you mentally tough, because Psychology wins fights. In the meantime train hard, be safe. SUBSCRIBE FOR OTHER VIDEO TIPS AND NEWS! https://www.youtube.com/user/londonwingchun?sub_confirmation=1 VISIT LONDON WING CHUN ACADEMY FOR MORE TIPS http://www.londonwingchun.co.uk/notes CONNECT WITH US! Google+ ► https://plus.google.com/+londonwingchun Facebook ► http://facebook.com/londonwingchunacademy Twitter ► http://twitter.com/londonwingchun LondonWingChunAcademy ► http://www.londonwingchun.co.uk