Tai Chi practitioner vs MMA fighter

[Yihetuan]

21 hours ago, laagi said:

Also the origin of Martial Arts is more likely India than China. Again lots of different facts and probably more fiction than anything else.

If this is true, it makes it even more tragic that a country of a billion people cannot produce a single noteworthy MMA champion, professional boxer or Olympian in karate, taekwondo, judo, etc. The country's most famous boxer (Mary Kom) is a female & she is from North East India which is genetically East Asian. The only Indian ever to medal in Judo in the Olympics is also North East Indian from Manipur. India sends many athletes to the World Karate Championships but has never medaled in the history of the event since it began in 1970.

Edited July 3, 2022 by Yihetuan

[dionbrother]

Tai Chi is the most beneficial martial art in existence because you can do it your entire life.  You expect those seniors in the park to do some Muay Boran forms and judo rolling? Certainly not, but 90 year olds can do Yang forms. It has self defense moves that most teachers don't teach, and these techniques are similar to aiki jitsu but it is not a competition fighting art and I did not train in it for self defense or fighting skills, as I already had those from other systems.  Interestingly, the one martial artist who needed tai chi the most was Bruce Lee.  He might have learned to calm the hell down in his life and not stepped on a rainbow at age 32.

[laagi]

17 hours ago, Gaijin84 said:

This topic can be broken down ad nauseam and there is probably no way to know for sure who is right or wrong. I have seen probably over a thousand MMA fights and have never seen a strict TMA be effective. 

Agreed! But I think this is not a matter of wrong or right. It's more a honest conversation of what one practices. Too many traditional masters got a stick up their ass, period! Not only are they delusional which again I honestly couldn't care less about. BUT my problem starts when they pass this delusion on to their students. Because they simply don't know any better and as students rely heavily on their master.

And yes anyone who's ever seen a full contact fight knows that most traditional MA are not effective at all. Whether one likes to admit it or not. It's also amusing that many times when this is brought up the traditional martial artist usually will downplay it to the effect that their style has a much deeper meaning and hence doesn't focus on sheer combat. Again that's all good nobody is arguing about this. BUT stop acting like you know how to fight because honestly you don't. A traditional martial artist knows about fighting as much as a professional dancer does.

I think anyone who follows Bruce Lee knows that even the most iconic martial artist out there realized this and hence tried to break apart this tradition! It's crazy that after almost 5 decades nothing has changed (seemingly).

[laagi]

2 hours ago, dionbrother said:

Tai Chi is the most beneficial martial art in existence because you can do it your entire life.  You expect those seniors in the park to do some Muay Boran forms and judo rolling? Certainly not, but 90 year olds can do Yang forms. It has self defense moves that most teachers don't teach, and these techniques are similar to aiki jitsu but it is not a competition fighting art and I did not train in it for self defense or fighting skills, as I already had those from other systems.  Interestingly, the one martial artist who needed tai chi the most was Bruce Lee.  He might have learned to calm the hell down in his life and not stepped on a rainbow at age 32.

Again I agree very beneficial for your health. And yes there's also self defense techniques which (apparently) nobody teaches. Funny that this exact same story can be applied to almost any traditional martial art. I stopped counting how many times I've heard it. But that's not the point here.

If you claim that Tai Chi can be used in actual combat than you have it coming. Because it doesn't! Plain and simple. Again my biggest issue with martial arts is that they make ridiculous claims of what they are and what they're not. If they'd just have the courage to be honest to themselves we'd have a far better and transparent view of what martial arts are and what not.

And yes of course nobody will study a mere combat style once their body is frail. At the end of the day to me you should choose a martial art that fits your personal needs. Are you more interested in a healthy exercise combined with spirituality a traditional MA might be the one for you. Do you want a physical exercise focused on actual combat then choose MMA or Boxing.

[dionbrother]

Ramsey Dewey has done a series of videos on this topic.  They are among his more worthwhile vids if anybody wants more analysis on this.  Just search "tai chi" on his channel.  https://www.youtube.com/c/RamseyDewey

 

[Gaijin84]

Traditional Martial Arts have a ton of benefits, this is not to disparage them. They are a tremendous work out, can hone all your motor skills, balance, reaction time, power, etc. You would have a distinct advantage against an untrained person attacking or trying to mess with you, and any effective self defense skill you used would probably do some significant damage. However, against a well trained combat sport practitioner, you’re in big trouble. There aren’t many defenses for you against a superior grappler and striking art fighter, those are just the facts. The most effective “arts” in combat sports are wrestling, jiu jitsu (Brazilian or to a lesser degree Japanese), judo, Muay Thai and boxing.

[J.J. Hayden]

Any person who has trained in combat martial arts will never recommend Tai Chi if you're interested in combat. If you're interested in learning TMA because you like how it looks or like Chinese culture etc. that's fine I've done that myself, but you'd have to be deluded to think these styles on the whole will be of use to you in combat.

Xu Xiao-dong is a true Chinese hero and a true martial arts legend.

Edited July 5, 2022 by J.J. Hayden