Hello Everyone,

Another old post for the new blog!

I've made it known on this blog that my opinion is that fighting styles do matter! FIRST OFF I WANT TO MAKE IT CLEAR: I have never stated on this blog or anywhere else that the fighting styles I recommend would make a person unbeatable! There is no where on this blog that states that position. I have stated that the fighting styles I recommend are more practical, efficient, and effective than Kung Fu San Soo due to the fact my experience in Kung Fu San Soo showed me it didn't prepare me for a fight or for what I face in Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, etc. Also, my personal research into martial arts/fighting styles helped me come to the conclusion and make up this list of recommended fighting styles.

Fighting styles matter in terms of getting a person ready to fight a non-cooperative opponent through teaching efficient, effective, and practical technique (attack), stance, movement, defense, physical fitness, mental preparation, and training (practicing against non-cooperative opponents), etc.

I've heard the argument made before that it's about a person's "heart and will" and not the fighting style that is the main thing that determines the outcome of a fight. I have to agree that a person's "heart and will" will help motivate a person to keep on going when the going gets tough (especially in the ring or cage or street fight), but there's some major things that are also needed to get the job done! I equate the importance of fighting styles to the importance of having the right college degrees for careers.

For example: Imagine a person goes to college, gets a degree in a non-medical field of study, and has the "heart and will" to want to perform surgical operations. The "heart and will" would help give motivation and spirit to perform medical operations, but what about not having the education and training to perform medical operations on a person that is in dire need. Ask yourself, do you have faith in a person who didn't go to medical school to operate on you or a loved one even though they look you in the eye and say "I have the heart and will to perform a successful surgical operation so let me operate. I know I didn't go to medical school, got a degree that has nothing to do with medicine and surgery, but I'm still trained except not trained to perform operations." See what's missing? Let's apply this to fighting styles. The fighting styles recommended on this blog:

Striking Styles:
South East Asian Boxing Styles: Muay Thai, Muay Lao, Pradal Serey, Lethwei, and Tomoi
East Asian Boxing Styles: Sanda (San Shou, San Da), Kyuk Too Ki, Shoot Boxing, and Yaw Yan.
Western: Dutch Kickboxing, Savate, Western Boxing

Grappling Styles:
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (self-defense type would be better than competition type), Wrestling (Greco-Roman or Free Style), Sambo (also has a good striking component), Shuai Jiao, Judo, Pankration (striking too)

Other:
Kali/Arnis/Escrima

Provide and teach efficient, effective, and practical technique (attack), stance, movement, defense, physical fitness, mental preparation, and training (practicing against noncooperative opponents), etc. better than Kung Fu San Soo. Research the history and you'll see the success of these fighting styles over time. Picture a stock market graph just generally rising (winning fights) and rising over time even though occasionally it falls (loses
a fight once in a while) a little, but keeps on rising again. There's another argument made for the "heart and will and not the fighting style matters" crowd which is this: "People that have the desire to fight are going to go to to fighting styles (i.e. Boxing, Muay Thai, MMA, etc) that have that environment, which explains why MMA is made up mostly of certain styles, but that doesn't mean those styles (i.e. Boxing, Muay Thai, etc) are better than others (i.e. Kung Fu San Soo)." Really? Seriously?

I've already posted an article about the history of Muay Thai facing Kung Fu styles and the Chinese Kung Fu martial artists losing badly (getting destroyed). However, there was Tan Guancheng, who was one of the Chinese Kung Fu martial artists to defeat a Muay Thai fighter, but the overall result was the Chinese didn't want to fight Muay Thai anymore and led to the Chinese government creating San Shou (now known as Sanda or San Da). Now there's matches of Sanda vs Muay Thai.

What about the history of the UFC and Pride FC and K-1? It's pretty obvious the "heart and will" fighters from certain styles couldn't hold ground, take ground, or if they were able to make a stand they changed training methods, etc. to blend in with the styles that worked (i.e. Andy Hug).

Can a person join a Kung Fu San Soo school and expect to punch hard and fast like a boxer, kick hard and fast like a Muay Thai fighter, grapple like BJJ practitioner, etc? We. All. Know. That. Answer.

Can a Kung Fu San Soo Master really look at his/her Kung Fu San Soo student (who has no experience in competition fighting like MMA/Kickboxing) and say "your fighting skill and technique is going to be (or is) equal to the practitioners of other fighting styles. The techniques I'm teaching you are no different than what is being taught in (i.e. Muay Thai, Shoot Boxing, Sambo, etc). As long as you have heart and will you'll do
well." I would seriously question that Kung Fu San Soo Master's knowledge and integrity and intelligence.

Questions or Comments?

JimmyHWoo2016@gmail.com

Recommended Fighting Styles:

Muay Thai, Muay Lao, Pradal Serey, Lethwei, Tomoi

Sanda (San Shou, San Da), Kyuk Too Ki, Shoot Boxing, Yaw Yan

Dutch Kickboxing, Savate, Western Boxing

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Sambo, Pankration, Judo, Shuai Jiao, Kali/Arnis/Escrima