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.
You’re very talented in martial arts Overground fighting is just for 1 and 1 and for the experienced what I’m interested in is learning how to fight more than one opponent at the same time that is very interesting and also how to get out of someone 1AT has got you you in a ground hold position I do not personally like ground fighting crown fighting is may need to be used in a cage fight as as it can’t be used in a street fight someone else can attack you from the back while you’re on the floor and you’re on top of that person I believe in fighting fair not when you’re on top of them I didn’t agree with this however is good to know what you are teaching I party like to learn defence and counter moves not just offence I don’t like defence and counter moves I would like to see a video of you getting out of the same moves that you use on them that would be very interesting how to get out of what you teaching to do I’m interested in that to get out of trap moves counters the best thing in the fight is not to get hit or your enemy to get a hold of you in anyway counter moves are always the best ones to know . Thank you for your teaching .
So the reason why we don’t like the word defense is because even the really good fighters can’t simply defend. I’d go one step further and say defending doesn’t win fights. We don’t teach people how to dance around a ring. We teach people how to end a situation in the safest fastest way possible.
The reason why a person goes on the defensive is because they failed at their offense or counter offensive attack. The solution isn’t learning how to defend better. The solution is to learn how to attack better.
“I would like to see a video of you getting out of the same moves that you use on them that would be very interesting how to get out of what you teaching to do”
So for this to even occur it would mean Sifu made a mistake in which case he can’t get out of the move. In fact 99.9% of bad situations you may find yourself in is due to some sort of mistake you made. As such, against a good opponent you aren’t countering, you aren’t escaping, you are just done.
This is a reality I didn’t understand for the first 10 years I trained with Sifu. I always wanted to know how to get out of something he put me in or counter attack something he did. What I didn’t understand at the time is the only reason I was in the situation to begin with is because I was the one creating the mistakes to be taken advantage of.
So the solution to all this is to not make mistakes to begin with. We train to feel energy within 1/10th of a second, 90% or so of all our techniques is depended on what the other person is doing. Also we don’t train to “try” and get away from an attack, in fact we welcome the contact.
Practically everything we do we want to be close to our opponent(s).
As far as fighting more than 1 opponent, Sifu teaches something he calls shield fighting. And we actually do need to film this. So it’s on the list of videos we have to shoot.
So…
To summarize this: The solution isn’t how to get out of something, the solution is how not to get into that situation to begin with. The answer is understanding our Ngo Dac Na principles. It’s through these principles where you learn how to minimize your chance of making mistakes that will have you on the short end of a stick if you know what I mean.
Sifu Larry
What I would like to know is how to get someone off you when they’re on top of you so you can walk away
Make sure to make one of our weekly members only Q&A’s and ask this question.
Thank you, Sifu Larry Rivera for sending me valuable information on Ground Fighting.
It’s much apreciated.
Best Regards
Abdurahgiem
Glad you found it helpful.