WTF: Kung Fu vs Kung Fu? Spinning chaos ensues

Welcome back to this week’s edition of WTF, where we cover all of the wild and wonderful nonsense and shocking moments on the fringes of combat sports and martial arts in general. There’s a fair amount of fun to be had this week, including some wild Kung Fu antics and some memorable and shocking knockouts.

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Everybody was Kung Fu fighting

The way we usually kick (and punch and throw) things around here is by showcasing some goofy Kung Fu action, usually against a legit boxer, kickboxer, or MMA fighter. Today, we’ll go a slightly different route as we feature two Kung Fu bouts featuring three Kung Fu-trained competitors.

For that, we’ve enlisted our guy Jerry over at Fight Commentary Breakdowns. For our first video, we’ve got a Tai Chi master taking on a guy that doesn’t seem to have much formal training in, well… anything. Brawler guy challenges the Tai Chi guy to a Sanda match.

For the unfamiliar, Sanda is basically kickboxing with certain takedowns and throws. It’s a bit of an oversimplification, but fine table setting for what you’re about to see. The random guy seems like he’s about to get styled on. Guess what? He actually doesn’t do too badly here. In fact, here’s a spoiler: the rando wins.

It’s very unorthodox, and he’s not quite sticking to the rules 100%. But hey, if it works, it works. Not gonna knock a brother for beasting through if he actually succeeds. Weird and wild jump kicks, little to no defense, tons of lunging forward with no defense to speak of. Didn’t matter. Not sure if that speaks to the opponent’s skill level of the efficacy of Tai Chi or any other form of Kung Fu as a fighting art being applied (however minimally) in a Sanda setting. But he had that dog in him.

Next up is a different kind of situation. An actual Bajiquan expert taking on a self-proclaimed martial arts “master.” Self proclaimed? My favorite kind! Are they going to have an elaborate Kung Fu duel like in the movies! No! They’re putting gloves on and having a kickboxing match. So the “master” of Kung Fu immediately gets to work and empties out his bag of tricks. And no, it’s not a particularly deep nor interesting bag, either. It’s just spinning on his feet with both hands like the drum from Karate Kid 2 or going for a running start to a diving sweep kick. Both look terrible and are nowhere near landing.

My personal favorite moment is when the ref pulls the red guy aside and almost looks like he wants to hug him and tell him to stop embarrassing himself. But dude just kept spamming the only two moves he knew the inputs for. This ain’t your granddad’s Kung Fu, man. This is the kind that spins.

You’re not ready for this level of lethal technique, son.

Yeah, man. Keep doing it just like that. you’ll get him. (He did not, in fact, get him.)

Judo walk-offs are an art form

Everybody can appreciate a great walk-off knockout. There’s something about knowing that the other person is done for and the mission is complete. You can go home and have a bowl of oatmeal in peace after that. What we don’t see being celebrated much is the walk-off throw.

That problem, though, that you never realized existed? It’s now solved. Grappler Kingdom gives us this collection of gorgeous Judo finishes that lead the winner to just walk away. When you got it in the bag, you don’t have to stick around. It’s perfect.

It’s body shot season or something

We all saw how Gervonta Davis shut down Ryan Garcia’s body this weekend. Turns out that in this recent bout over at African Warriors Fighting Championships, we saw something somewhat similar.

Auta Inda nails a few lovely body shots that can only truly be appreciated in slow motion replays. And lucky for us, we get a few. He just barely misses the opportunity to end the fight there, though.

Once again, that’s the thrill of watching Dambe. Your opponent may have one main weapon, but fighters never know where it’s coming from or where it’s going.

Rolling Thunder

I love me some Kyokushin, and love a good Rolling Thunder kick. They’re lovely when they land, and devastating to the target. Here’s a compilation of some excellent Kyokushin kicks in competition and some even in kickboxing and MMA.

Do not try this at home.

It’s Teddy Time™, baby!

Indian wrestler Teddy Sheedi is back in this collection of an Eid wrestling special. This guy should be a character in Tekken 8, man. Seriously. Check him out at the 6:28 mark, but watch the whole thing. Lovely technique throughout.

Miriam Nakamoto on film

Muay Thai champ Miriam Nakamoto is a certified badass that’s competed for years and even competed in Invicta a few years ago. If you’re not familiar with her, maybe you should get acquainted:

So as a specialist, it made perfect sense that Insider came to her as an expert on various fight scenes. How did she do? Pretty amazing. Check it out.

That’s it for this week, kids. Have fun between now and next time. And remember – you might think you can fight, but there are many guys like you all over the world.

Victor Rodriguez

Victor Rodriguez has been a writer and podcaster for Bloody Elbow since 2015. He started his way as a lowly commenter and moderator to become the miscreant he is now. He often does weekly bits on fringe martial arts items across the globe, oddball street combat pieces, previews, analysis, and some behind-the-scenes support. He has trained in wrestling, Karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and the occasional Muay Thai and Judo lesson here and there. Victor has also been involved with acting and audio editing projects. He lives in Pennsylvania where he plays way too many video games and is an S-rank dad.

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