I agree with your statement here. I really do. But, I can't see it ever happening. It would be great if it does. MMA is all about evolution, so maybe we will, and I hope it does.
Someone like yourself can walk into any MMA club, start training MMA, join in on the drills, and when it comes to sparring, you can try any style you want. You can test you own WC style against various different styles (because everyone in a MMA club usually have different backgrounds and bring a different problem to the table).
I mean this respectively, but have you done this at all, to better test your theories. You seem to have a good open approach to how you want WC to evolve and believe that it could have a strong place in evolution of MMA.
I know you've talked about teaching a class, but have you done a bit of cross training and used your WC techniques, and if you have, how did you get on, what did you find that worked and what did you feel it was lacking?
I have done some sparring sometimes with a guy who had a boxing background who trained with us.
As I mentioned, a certain amount of 'self defence WC' is not possible to spar so automatically its going to be more like combat sports.
What I found problematic is pretty much what you would expect from the limitations of a style that mainly does chi sau at close range;
-Being at range and dealing with long range crosses.
-Dealing with hooks; although these are done closer there is a lack of exposure to them due to WC guys mainly throwing straights so you are not used to the timing. One of the things I will train fighters is to include the WC hook from the beginning rather than waiting several years to teach which is the norm as ridiculous as it sounds since it is only in the 3rd or advanced final wing chun set.
-Dealing with good kickers
-Not an issue for me, but most WC guys I sparred could not deal with Judo throws since most non-grapplers don't have awareness of the importance of hips for throwing and thus don't sprawl or adjust properly.
So basically the problems you would expect through lack of exposure to other arts.
What we see is a style that has not really embraced the MMA revolution and is so far left behind as a result. What happens when that style starts to adapt it will look different.
-The example is long range fighting. My adaptation since this was not traditionally trained in WC was to use the principles for a straight punch at a distance with using the arm to control if possible. A lot like the 'fist fencing' of old time BK boxing. This works because you don't want to stay in boxing range and play their game. So it would be staying at distance and hitting single power shots with hip rotation and a step using the vertical fist. You can also do the WC parries with the arms at long range. Chi sau skills help this alot.
Honestly alot of it ended up looking like this,which is why I believe the WC bareknuckle connection is real, the parrallels when you adjust WC to long-range are too many.
And I'm not just saying a similarity, even the stance is similar and many of the moves he shows have names in WC. You see the picture of John L Sullivan he is even standing in the typical centreline guard position they do in WC.
-Or it would be looking for openings to close and get into 'dirty boxing' range which is where chi sau is done. But not to get into a boxing fight and stand there since this is not what we are training.