One commenter made some great points:
- Is the WT person who's winning actually good or just fighting against someone not as good?
- Where did the footwork, that we spend countless hours of practice on, go under free-fighting stress?
- Is wing tsun footwork too counter-intuitive to work?
I want to spend a few moments on each one.
First point - is the WT person actually good or just up against someone who's not so good?
Well, that's the problem with videos. You just don't know. there's no context to anything except what's captured here. We are all judging a book by its cover.
Also interesting, we tend to question the participants in this video with skepticism. I wonder if it was two really buff MMA guys going at it, if people would even bother questioning and just assume the guy who's winning has better "skill"?
How do you know how one's good anyway? Look at the Boztepe and Cheung fight. Both are amazing wing chun guys...but look at that video and you tell me, how would you perceive these guys to be based solely on the video?
Second Point - where did the footwork go?
WT footwork isn't, in my opinion, supposed to look like WT. It's only supposed to be functional. Hence, "functional wing tsun". Things like knee pressure, 0/100 weighting, hips forward, etc, help to create the function you need when you fight and can react in a way that's different from the conventional stance. Maybe their footwork does suck, but it's incredibly difficult to do 0/100 stepping when the other guy is falling or running backwards.
The footwork only has to be function in that moment in time when it needs to be, when the distance is right, when the attack is right, when the defense is right. it exists for only a fraction of a second.
what really matters is you win the fight. it's functional.
Third point - is WT footwork too counter-intuitive?
I don't think so. Practice it enough and stepping any other way feels counter-intuitive. same with chain punching, same with bong sao, etc. you can see this all the time ....where the WT guy ONLY resorts to chain punches or ONLY resorts to bong sao defense. For those doing wing chun, try throwing a hook. it'll feel incredibly awkward to you..especially with any power behind it.
Yes the mechanics are counter-intuitive, but we train it so much that it will become normal. When it's normal, then the next stage is to train it OUT of your body so that the function remains, but you have freedom to attack in anyway the situation allows. I think this is where many people don't get far enough in their training - to TRAIN IT OUT of their body - and then they apply their WT within the confines of how it should look..only to fail.
Anyway, what are your thoughts? always love the comments! keeps me thinking and it's a great place to share ideas!
Until then...
