More Kung Fu masters rise up to challenge MMA fighter
Lu estimated that his chances of winning were 80%, as Tai Chi masters possess “iron fist, air foot, and iron back, which need more than 20 years of hard practice.”
Martial arts was traditionally an area of human endeavor where everyone was better than average. Indeed, in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s the average martial arts was convinced – utterly – that their style was the best. Mixed martial arts was born from a simple, ancient question – what martial art works best?
Rational people now understand that many martial arts have effective aspects, and that you have to draw from a variety of them to be as good as possible. If credible MMA training is not available, progressive martial artists take it upon themselves to learn the fundamentals. In Chengdu, Sichuan province, China, Xu Xiaodong taught himself MMA.
The origin of MMA competitions was in 1925, when Carlos Gracie Sr took out an ad in a local newspaper that read: Se Você quer a sua face esmurrada e arrebentada, seu traseiro chutado e os seus bracos quebrados, entre em contacto com Carlos Gracie neste endereço… (If you want your face punched and bruised, your butt kicked, and your arms broken, talk to Carlos Gracie at the following address…)
Xu did the same thing, using the Chinese social network Weibo. He even offered to defeat two or three of the “martial” arts masters at the same time.
Tai Chi master Wei Lei stepped up. The problem, of course, is that Lei can’t fight. Worse, the teachings of his art are backwards in many regards, leaving adepts worse off than the average conditioned person.
It’s bad to be in a fight if you don’t know how to fight. But it is worse by far to be in a fight, not know how to fight, and not know it. Then you aren’t even smart enough to run. You might even be so self-bamboozled you challenge some who actually knows how to fight.
The challenge lasted all of 10 seconds; it resembles someone in a swimming race, who doesn’t know how to swim.
Instead of being an illuminating experience, for many Chinese martial artists, it was the opposite – Xu told The Beijing News that a handful of other kung fu masters had since responded to his open challenge.
These include:
•Tai Chi master Lu Xing, president of the Sichuan Taichi Pushing Hands Research Institute;
•Tai Chi master Wang Zhanhai;
•Shaolin Meihua Zhuang adept Li Shangxian; and,
•Yi Long, a Chinese amateur fighter often marketed as a “Shaolin Kung Fu monk” by the Wu Lin Feng (WLF) promotion.
Lu told the Chengdu Business News that he challenged Xu to a public duel to, teach him a lesson.
He is deeply biased against the traditional martial arts and his words were insulting,” said Lu. “I challenged him so he could have a fresh perspective of Tai Chi and the true traditional martial arts.”
Lu estimated that his chances of winning were 80%, as Tai Chi masters possess iron fist, air foot, and iron back, which need more than 20 years of hard practice.”
The self-taught MMA fighter is undaunted.
I will surely accept the challenge, said Xu.
It took the western world from 1925 to 1993, a span of 68 years, to begin to understand something as simple as wheels on luggage – if you want to find out what martial art works better, then fight. China apparently remains a little behind the curve, but will catch up and get in mix before too long.
And Tai Chi master Wei Lei is due respect for stepping up. Even more respect if some sense was beaten into him.