Donnie Yen's MMA (Comparison)

[DiP]

Yen has come a long way and his continuous improvement of the sport onscreen is evident watching the clips back-to-back. And still to this day, I keep discovering new things in the fight scenes I previously never was aware of. Great achievement.

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[Secret Executioner]

Saw the first fight on youtube, it's a brutal one. The sound effects, the screams, you have the idea that it does hurt pretty badly.

The size difference between Hung and Yen is also impressive, I figured Yen would get crushed in no time.

[One Armed Boxer]

Watching the fights out of the context of the movies definitely gives an interesting perspective.

For me the biggest eye-opener was the 'Special ID' fight. Watching it without having just sat through close to 90 minutes of complete crap immediately prior makes me appreciate that, yes, in a different movie, it is a great fight.

For me though, Yen vs. Sammo is still the best of the three. The fight for me has always stood as the perfect blend of the HK style rhymthic choreography that takes up the first minute, and segues perfectly into the more MMA styled choreography that gets incorporated into the last part. Most importantly, at no point does it seem either Yen or Sammo have a signifcant advantage over the other, there's a great back and forth throughout the whole thing.

Yen vs. Chou had the potential to beat it, and I love the first two thirds of the fight, from when they're exchanging blows on the rooftop, to the initial face off once they fall to the ground. However for me, in the final third of the fight Chou just seems to become a punching bag for Yen, with him getting thrown around like a rag doll with no comeback. It doesn't help that Yen seems to make a miracle recovery for this part either, which took the brutal edge off it for me.

While seeing Yen vs. On again does make me appreciate it a lot more than on my initial viewing, it's still my least favourite of the three. Not because it's a bad fight, but because my personal preference doesn't seem to lean towards favouring a lot of MMA in a fight, although I definitely appreciate the skill involved on a technical level.

[Drunken Monk]

While Donnie has bettered his representation of MMA on screen over the years, I actually prefer the fights from "Kill Zone" and "Flash Point" over "Special ID."

I think that's because it's more well rounded. It has MMA components but also favours more traditional modern kickboxing too.

[AlbertV]

Using the MMA style mixed in with his trademark brand of action definitely helped Yen become the new "Hong Kong action legend" along with the Ip Man films. I have to admit, as much as I didn't care for Special ID much, the final fight between Yen and On was a bit of a redeeming factor.

Kudos does have to go to Yen's buddy John Salvitti, who is the MMA consultant of Yen's stunt team. It is great to see Salvitti in a new light, going from playing Yen's on-screen nemesis to his assistant fight choreographer and now MMA consultant. Seeing this now makes me anticipate Pound of Flesh, as Salvitti is the choreographer on that. I am hoping he has Van Damme use more ground work as well as his kicking skills.

[OpiumKungFuCracker]

I still think Jet Li would beat Donnie Yen in an MMA fight and that's only because in my opinion Jet Li is a better boxer than Yen if that makes any sense?

[One Armed Boxer]

I still think Jet Li would beat Donnie Yen in an MMA fight and that's only because in my opinion Jet Li is a better boxer than Yen if that makes any sense?

This thread is about to become a whole lot of fun isn't it?

[Drunken Monk]

I just thought I'd revisit this thread to see what everyone is talking about...

I still think Jet Li would beat Donnie Yen in an MMA fight and that's only because in my opinion Jet Li is a better boxer than Yen if that makes any sense?