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In Boxing or MMA fighting there are limited techniques that are used. I know some will take issue with this statement, but it is true. In boxing there are five moves or so, and in MMA there are a great many more. But all the techniques are designed to work in a full contact environment of a sport situation. It is easy to go full contact because these moves, and with the gloves on it is not as dangerous as the many kung fu moves without gloves.
In Kung fu, many of the techniques can only be done without gloves, such as grabbing, locking, or trapping arms, spearing techniques, clawing techniques locking the head, neck etc, vital strikes etc. Also, there are many breaking techniques that are used in Kung Fu. If we strip out all the very dangerous techniques of kung fu then it would not be a good representation of a Kung Fu technique and the Kung Fu fighter would be limited.
Imagine a kung Fu man going into a ring with a Boxer, and he is told that he cannot do most of his kung fu, he can only use the five moves or so that are done for the sport fighting in the ring with big red gloves. And he cannot kick. I am not saying he would not be able to still do well, I believe he could. But this would not be a good representation of Kung Fu.
So when doing sparing, even full contact sparing. it is needful to PULL techniques (or to hold back the full contact strike). If a Kung Fu fighter got into the ring with a MMA fighter, he may get into a sprawling, grappling situation and quickly flare his fingers at the eyes of the opponent, or do a pheonix strike at his temple etc., but he would pull the technique or else serious injury would follow. The other fighter would not consider this a real attack, because he is unhurt, so he continues to grapple to the ground, if he can, and as he does this the Kung Fu man locks his head and just slightly twist the neck, (pulling his technique so he does not break the neck), but the grappler does not feel the full contact and he is unhurt so he just keeps going on in his technique, then the Kung Fu man is on the ground and he sees a opening at the groin and he attacks there but pulls his technique so as not to seriously hurt the opponent, yet the grappler only recoils slightly at the attack and he is unhurt so he continues to attack. Then the Kung Fu man sees an opening at the throat and attack it, but pulls his clawing technique so as not to seriously hurt the grappler and the grappler does not feel hurt so he ignores it and attacks more, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.
So in this situation, we can see that the grappler would have been seriously hurt many times if not dead in combat. But because he did not feel the full force of the attack, he assumes it did not work on him and so he continues. That is sort of how things work out in real fighting full contact and real fighting sport . I understand that the fights are SPORT and not real life SURVIVAL COMBAT. But I think that is part of the problem. When you ask a combative fighter who thinks and trains for survival to forget all that and just jump into a totally different kind of fighting environment and fight SPORT fighting with many rules and restrictions, this is different and cannot truly represent the techniques he would use in real combat.
But against a grappler outside of the ring, many times the fight will not get to the ground as I believe. There are many Kung Fu techniques that are available from a stand up position. But if it does go to the ground, it depends on how skilled each person is in real combat situations, not sport fighting, but combat fighting. Many times it will be whoever can get to the vitals first, or the breaks etc. Again I am speaking of masters of their styles, not novices.
Anyway, that is how I see it. there is a big difference from Kung Fu to Sport MMA. Even though there are many techniques from Kung Fu that can be used in such a situation, there are other techniques that would need to be pulled or held back. And so the SPORT fighting with rules and restrictions which is designed for full contact fighting in a Sport environment, is much different than Kung Fu that is not a SPORT and was not designed for full contact SPORT fighting, but for full contact SURVIVAL COMBAT FIGHTING.
So, I hope this discussion will forever clarify the issue and why we may not se many Kung Fu practitioners in such arenas. For me it is not just these things but a moral issue and the fact that I teach others to use Kung Fu only for self defense and helping others.
In Kung fu, many of the techniques can only be done without gloves, such as grabbing, locking, or trapping arms, spearing techniques, clawing techniques locking the head, neck etc, vital strikes etc. Also, there are many breaking techniques that are used in Kung Fu. If we strip out all the very dangerous techniques of kung fu then it would not be a good representation of a Kung Fu technique and the Kung Fu fighter would be limited.
Imagine a kung Fu man going into a ring with a Boxer, and he is told that he cannot do most of his kung fu, he can only use the five moves or so that are done for the sport fighting in the ring with big red gloves. And he cannot kick. I am not saying he would not be able to still do well, I believe he could. But this would not be a good representation of Kung Fu.
So when doing sparing, even full contact sparing. it is needful to PULL techniques (or to hold back the full contact strike). If a Kung Fu fighter got into the ring with a MMA fighter, he may get into a sprawling, grappling situation and quickly flare his fingers at the eyes of the opponent, or do a pheonix strike at his temple etc., but he would pull the technique or else serious injury would follow. The other fighter would not consider this a real attack, because he is unhurt, so he continues to grapple to the ground, if he can, and as he does this the Kung Fu man locks his head and just slightly twist the neck, (pulling his technique so he does not break the neck), but the grappler does not feel the full contact and he is unhurt so he just keeps going on in his technique, then the Kung Fu man is on the ground and he sees a opening at the groin and he attacks there but pulls his technique so as not to seriously hurt the opponent, yet the grappler only recoils slightly at the attack and he is unhurt so he continues to attack. Then the Kung Fu man sees an opening at the throat and attack it, but pulls his clawing technique so as not to seriously hurt the grappler and the grappler does not feel hurt so he ignores it and attacks more, etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.
So in this situation, we can see that the grappler would have been seriously hurt many times if not dead in combat. But because he did not feel the full force of the attack, he assumes it did not work on him and so he continues. That is sort of how things work out in real fighting full contact and real fighting sport . I understand that the fights are SPORT and not real life SURVIVAL COMBAT. But I think that is part of the problem. When you ask a combative fighter who thinks and trains for survival to forget all that and just jump into a totally different kind of fighting environment and fight SPORT fighting with many rules and restrictions, this is different and cannot truly represent the techniques he would use in real combat.
But against a grappler outside of the ring, many times the fight will not get to the ground as I believe. There are many Kung Fu techniques that are available from a stand up position. But if it does go to the ground, it depends on how skilled each person is in real combat situations, not sport fighting, but combat fighting. Many times it will be whoever can get to the vitals first, or the breaks etc. Again I am speaking of masters of their styles, not novices.
Anyway, that is how I see it. there is a big difference from Kung Fu to Sport MMA. Even though there are many techniques from Kung Fu that can be used in such a situation, there are other techniques that would need to be pulled or held back. And so the SPORT fighting with rules and restrictions which is designed for full contact fighting in a Sport environment, is much different than Kung Fu that is not a SPORT and was not designed for full contact SPORT fighting, but for full contact SURVIVAL COMBAT FIGHTING.
So, I hope this discussion will forever clarify the issue and why we may not se many Kung Fu practitioners in such arenas. For me it is not just these things but a moral issue and the fact that I teach others to use Kung Fu only for self defense and helping others.
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