If There Is Room To Move There Is Room To Escape
In this short video, Sifu is talking about ground fighting. There are many people out there that underestimate kung fu practitioners when it comes to ground fighting. In this video clip, there are some key things Sifu is saying…
- Hook The Leg So You Can’t Be Thrown
- Notice How He Stays Very Tight To His Opponent
When it comes to ground fighting, you don’t want to force the issue. Rather you want your opponent to exhaust himself/herself and then when they run out of steam take advantage of their mistake.
Early on in the UFC we seen fights that lasted 30 minutes or longer because in some cases that’s how long it takes before your opponent gets tired. Of course, you can employ dirty fighting techniques to end a fight more quickly. However, due to rules many of those real-world techniques are forbidden in tournaments and for good reason.
Ground Fighting – The non – tournament way
One aspect I love about Wing Chun is the hand skill you develop. Applying the principles of Wing Chun and Tai Chi to ground fighting can be deadly effective. One thing I noticed is that some people watched our videos and they said. Oh that would never work because I would do this or that. Or comments like if you try that against a real Jujitsu man it would never work.
Whilst I didn’t choose to engage in a flame war on YouTube, I thought to myself…
What you don’t see in youtube videos is the energy being used. A trained eye can see it however to an untrained eye they miss the finer details.
I like to believe we are all equal. I don’t believe in styles, all that really matters is a person’s experience, skill & sensitivity. You really can develop all three in any martial art. It’s not the style that makes the man, it is the man that makes the style…
Wing Chun Applied To Ground Fighting
Over time we started seeing the UFC adopt a Ground and Pound mentality. What you started seeing was stronger fighters dominating the weaker fighters. The reason for this A. It’s more entertaining than watching 2 guys roll around on the ground for a half-hour and B. The rules changed to favor the ground and pound fighter.
History of Ground Fighting AKA Grappling
The Bible, The Iliad, and the Indian Vedas all mention wrestling techniques that incorporate grappling. Pále, a sport popularized by the ancient Greeks and featured prominently at the Olympic Games, employed this method in ancient Greek wrestling. For points, wrestlers touched each other on the shoulder, hip or back to the ground.
…Moving On
During the Middle Ages, grappling spread from Japan to France and England. Freestyle wrestling, Judo, and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu were all influences on grappling over time. Unarmed combat was integrated with weaponry in the development of Ju-Jutsu from 1467 to 1573.
Classic Ju-Jutsu athletes who practiced armored grappling preferred weapons like daggers, sickles, chains, and swords. Arm- and leglocks, as well as choking, were common tactics used by these wrestlers to take their opponents’ weapons. Today, the latter is considered unacceptable.
...Currently
When it comes to taking down their opponents, several grappling champions rely on Sambo and other catch-all maneuvers from the Sambo style. Traditional Ju-Jutsu techniques, such as submission grappling, are frequently employed by self-defense instructors.
To win a match, a player must touch their hip, shoulder, and back to the ground, and these motions are rewarded with points. Competitors can also tap out of a battle if they are in too much agony to continue or if they simply want to save their energy.
My Opinion Of Ground Fighting
For starters, you better know what you are doing. A good ground fighter knows their game. In a real fight, you never really know what is going to happen including getting wrapped up and going to the ground. In a situation where you are in a crowded environment, it can be easy to get taken to the ground.
Bottom Line: Pay your dues and learn some ground fighting techniques. They could save your life or at the very least save you from being put in a rear-naked choke.
Dear Sifu Phu and Larry (with all due respect),
Sifu Phu never ceases to amaze me.
My Wing Chun friends’ biggest problems are ground fights. Once they’re down on the ground, they’re usually in for a world of pain and humiliation (friendly ones).
Obviously, very few Wing Chun sifus know and teach jujitsu techniques, let alone incorporate it with Wing Chun. (Big smiles there!)
I’ve searched high and low over the web for your Ngo-Nac-Da system, but can’t seem to find much about it. Are there any references on this in Chinese? Because I’ve been sharing your teachings with my friends, but they’re too dependant on me for translations because they don’t speak English, and I would also like to share this across Facebook in Taiwan. Maybe, with your permission, I could do the translations for you?
A big thank you to Sifu Phu, for sharing your knowledge and for your detailed and most entertaining demos. And thank you Larry, for putting it all up for our access!
speaking of access, one quick question:
I’m asked to login with my username and password, but I don’t see where to sign up…
I have subscribed my email via the “Get Started Now” from the home page, got the confirmation email, went with the link, got the “subscription confirmation”, and have finished the first lesson, but I still don’t know how to login, lol
How can I get access to the rest of the lessons?
Yours sincerely,
Danny
Sifu phu is truly master the art flowing energy into body, he knows how to manipulate energy that come out to his opponent, its hard to learned this kind of technique by just watching it ????
Sifu Phu really is a master, though you will never hear that come out of his mouth. You don’t learn by watching you learn by doing….
Practice makes perfect!
Totally mystifying to me, however I can watch it over and over forever!
those videos are very useful i like them so much. and i like kung fu so much in my school they call me ip man because i like doing some wing chun’s movement at school and doing flips like front flip…… i’d like to know among wing chun and tai chi,which is the best and easiest to learn
Hi Kervens, neither martial art is easy to learn. I always tell people practice both arts. You will get the most out of it.
You’r an awesome teacher and you have great explanation of your moves.
I appreciate you having your site available.
Thanks for all you do.
Thanks Tim, I enjoy making them for you guys and gals.
Never knew there was so much going on with the ground game. There is so much to learn just to protect one’s self. The various ways that energy can be used is astounding. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
We are glad you are enjoying the training
Sifu Phu NGO is nice teacher
Yes, he is!
Dear Sifu Phu,
I’m following and thanks for these entry lessons.
I’m a student of martial arts that is why I observed your energy principles because I need it to compliment my ground game.
Especially the ones in Standing Fight that you showed those the ones that caught my attention.
In the ground situation you showed here, you are right, there are those opennings for strikes when the guy on top deviates those hand defenses or strikes from the bottom guy. And yes, one on top should exploit, just like you did.
As a purple belt in Bjj, maybe you may also want to explore and analyze the Closed Guard, the Opening of Guard, the Scissor Sweep, and Butterfly Sweep. These 4 fundamentals are pretty much very dynamic, at interplay, and can be very subtle, sneaky and quick. In fact its nuances can fully be appreciated when a partner is 100% resisting (untrained and those trained).
For example when the bottom guy’s right shin is perpendicular to your stomach, all he needs to do further to complete the Scissor Sweep, is his right hand to grab or cup the back of your neck, drop down his left leg ready to sweep your right knee, then right hand pulls the neck up 12′ oclock , proceed to sweeping the top guy with the ‘scissoring motion of two
legs of the bottom guy (Scissor Sweep classic), just to name 1 over 4 of the ones mentioned.
Im not a paying subscriber and will not be able to also look at the further videos. But these are all useful points that i’m bringing or also concerned about.
I’m thankful for the principles you shed light with energy direction or channeling etc and will continue to examine as i apply it in my own journey too. Good science, good school and no doubt an excellent Sifu.
Thanks.
~ RG
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think here your understanding of what we do is a little off. While learning techniques
and perfecting those techniques is a healthy part of learning..
I want to share a story with you:
Many years ago I was having a private lesson with Sifu Phu during that lesson I asked him a few questions. One of those questions was
1. How do I counter what you just did? He showed me the counter and we repeated the situation only this time the counter didn’t work and I ended up getting beat by a totally different technique.
The reason was because my energy wasn’t the same as before. I suppose my point here is we don’t focus so much on the physical technique the person does as much as we feel what the energy is saying to us..
Example: Maybe you are working on a defense against the “Closed Guard”. The position will feel different every single time because no 2 people are the same. There are subtle differences in the pressure that is being used. Countering a technique starts in millimeters not inches if that makes sense to you.
We don’t teach our ground stuff publicly you can only find that in our training vault. The key to unlocking a powerful ground game is understanding the subtle changes in energy that a person does..
Thank you for your response Sifu.
There’s a lot to learn from all situations because its dynamic and nuances of energy like its directions, focus etc is very subtle and needs another years just in that regard. Good that your camp and Sifu are helping much in that very important aspect. Keep up the good work. Thank you
RG
You’re welcome! 🙂
Thank you sifu for sharing your experience.
Im student in wing chun and Ikidow.
I watch your videos it’s very useful. That because you give small details witch make it more effective. I will do my best to be in Enter Tai chi.
Thanks for Enter Tai chi family
Sorry I mean Enter shaolin.
Our pleasure! Glad you enjoy the training
I’m not familiar ground fighting i watched UFC a little i seen guys try to head butt there opponent , using elbow strikes, leg kicking will work while being pin on the ground.
One of the most important rules we have here is “Obey the energy”. Techniques reveal themselves 🙂
Was always surrounded by the northern shaolin forms but now growing to respect wing chun and your fighting system .mind blowing, ???? wow. D V Leach….. Bermuda.
Glad you are enjoying the lessons