And how exactly are those guys known for their fighting exploits? What is the reason you can't find good WC on video? I'm talking about elite guys, masters. Are you telling me that there are no videos of those guys using their skills anywhere? For a style that is popular as WC that seems a little odd.
They've all got actual fighting experience in real fights testing their wing chun. Some I've felt first hand. Others are accounts made by other eyewitnesses and have been documented.
I can't tell you why most wing chun folks don't worry about video footage. One insight might be cultural, because the chinese culture often times two well known "masters" would have fought/tested behind closed doors. The outcomes weren't to be displayed as to not have one master lose face. That's a cultural thing. Others I would presume simply don't care. They don't test themselves for other's enjoyment and have no reason to film it. The reason MMA fights, thai fights, boxing, and so forth get filmed is because they're forms of entertainment.
The wing chun guys that DO film often times ARE doing it for recognition. Something most TMA guys learn not to do. Perhaps there's still something about humility as well. Just because you don't see fights happening, doesn't mean they're not happening.
I haven't received any formal training in WC. That doesn't mean I can't tell shit from non shit. There is a WC club in my area and its utter shit. I don't even think of trying that.
That's a good point. You can look at someone and know straight away whether or not they know what's going on. I wouldn't train at my local commercial wing chun places either outside of Nico's place. That's because Nico brings in people from MMA and Muay Thai to learn and test on.
You have the right idea about training. Pressure testing, sparring, fighting. Not just under the ruleset that leaves you in your comfort zone, but also against fighters of different styles.
I've done enough fighting to know what worked and what didn't. Proper training methods are universal and should supersede tradition if your goal is to fight. Though I do retain the forms and weapons for cultural and basic conditioning reasons. There's more to kung fu than just going in and bashing folks.
Now, I have seen quite a lot of guys who pressure test their WC. Either its extremely light contact, or it breaks down and looks like shitty kickboxing, retard flailing with an occasional chain punch burst. I still haven't seen WC that looks good under pressure.
IMHO its a deeply flawed system, that can be somewhat effective if practiced right, but it will still hinder your progress as a fighter.
Like I said, you're entitled to that opinion. I personally don't think the system is flawed because the system is sound and it works. A punch is a punch and a kick is a kick. A block a block and a parry a parry. What is flawed is the training methods, plain and simple.
Keep in mind as well that there's light contact sparring even in muay thai, and when you go hard it all can look like shitty kickboxing :icon_chee
What elements of WC you found useful in your MT training?
MT is MT and WC is WC. So they don't necessarily help one another, but rather they each help the person to learn various fighting methods for the ranges that each style has an affinity to. They really are opposites: One deals with soft force, redirections, and very close combat. The other conditioning, muscular force, and varied ranges of combat. In application of each you learn what works based on how the opponent generally reacts, the consistency of the technique, the effectiveness, and so forth.
For example, in WC I've learned that the highest percentage of movements within the system (for me) are simultaneous hits (faan sao) using the punch as a block and strike, the pak sao (parry), gam sao (pressing), the laan sao (barring arm), man geng sao (neck pulling hand), bong sao (elbow deflection), biu jong sao (shooting guard--using the arm in conjuction with the body to clash against the guard as I move into clinching range). For offensive techniques it's going to be the chung choi, chou choi, and the wang choi (straight, uppercut, and hook punch respectively) in addition to the jang (elbows) and sut (knee). The straight kicks (jing / wang gurk) against the legs work well when I'm trying to break someone's balance, and off the top of my head that's the majority of it. There's much more to wing chun but that tends to be the things that I use the most from it in application.
Things I know do not work (for me) for example is the lap sao (wrist pulling hand) because when people sweat you simply cannot pull this off. Also complicated trapping techniques where you're doing 3 or 4 arm manipulations before striking because real fighters won't let you do that.
For MT, I use it all--because it all works for me. The dutch boxing punches, the elbows, knees, clinching, and of course the round kick and teep. I also learned to use spinning punches, elbows, and kicks in muay thai as well. But it's all worked, and so I'll continue to use all of it.
Where the two systems converge is obviously going to be the close punching/elbows/knees/clinching range. I'll use the round kicks and and teeps for a bit to test the waters, and if he's getting flustered I'll just continue with that. If he gets inside or tries punching I can use wing chun to attach and follow the punch back whereby I'm in WC's preferred range and/or can easily get into the elbows and neck clinching (plum) with knees and so forth.
Sorry for the long post man--but you asked.