Kung Fu antics are back again, and things are about to get as good and as weird as you’ve come to expect.
Hey gang! What’s new? Hope you’re enjoying the new digs. Yes, it’s been a while. We’ve been… shuffling some of the furniture around and setting up the water bill. You know, modern site restructuring stuff we’ve had to do as grownups.
So now we’re back with another edition of WTF, the first since we’ve transferred over. Not sure how much you’re liking it, I personally love it. Lot of work went into this thing, and we’re proud to keep this thing going in order to deliver some of the weirdest and wildest martial arts items from the fringes of the internet. But we gotta start with Kung Fu.
Kung Fu “master” tests MMA fighter
Man, you already know. This is going to be a traditionalist taking on a modern technician and getting humiliated. This one comes courtesy of our guy Jerry over at Fight Commentary Breakdowns, home of all things related to style clashes and oddball Kung Fu adventures. This one was the culmination of some choices that were made, and it’s safe to conclude those choices were not good.
A Kung Fu guy thinks he’s actually going to teach the MMA guy, which… sure. It can happen. I’ve long held the position that there’s almost always something to learn from more traditional arts. Nothing should be dismissed out of hand and this didn’t take long to show there wasn’t all that much to see in the old guy’s bag of tricks. He tries to demonstrate some punching technique, then does it with gloves.
Not content with that, or perhaps at the invitation of the gym representative, the Kung Fu guy engages in a sparring session that starts smooth but ramps up quuuuiiiiiick. Just watch the thing already:
It’s a shame, because it syncs up nice with Yakkity Sax, even if only for like 15 seconds. Don’t take my word for it, try it yourself. Or perhaps something more animated.
Lethwei vs Taekwondo
This is another gem from Jerry, where he breaks down Lethwei superstar Dave Leduc against Cyrus Washington. You’re probably familiar with Leduc as the Western face of the sport and a man that has helped bring international attention to the art. But we’ve also covered Washington in the past as he took part of an electrifying Lethwei match in the past. Washington was a Taekwondo expert, but also had experience competing in other arenas. This match is dope, with Leduc busting out some signature headbutts and a ton of physicality.
Dambe remains scintillating
We’re back in Nigeria with African Warriors Fighting Championship, and their stables of Dambe kings. They’ve assembled a neat little highlight reel of more knockouts, and this is truly one of the least forgiving combat sport rulesets possible.
It’s a rough living, but you gotta love and respect the dedication and craft.
SAMBOFIAS has some more lovely action as well, with this pair of matches from the 2022 Youth Championships.
Margarita Barneva (in red) drags her opponent off-balance, scrambles for a backtake and converts that quickly to an armbar attempt. After rolling her opponent over, the battle to collect the arm begins, and the technique after the grip break is lovely. She doesn’t let up on the armbar and really puts pressure while lifting the hips. Textbook stuff with no waste whatsoever.
Here’s the link, since the video embed isn’t working.
In this next one, Farzinshoh Khusenov meets Asror Khamidov in a match that becomes a struggle for control by both parties. There’s moments that are more about physicality than technique, but it’s a battle of wills.
Link to the video, since it’s not displaying properly.
We gotta bring back Judo for you, too
Judo Highlights remains one of my favorite YouTube channels, and if you’re into grappling, it should be one of yours, too. Short and sweet, here’s some top highlights from the 2023 Antalya Grand Slam:
Chinese Dog Boxing? Sure!
Never heard of this one until a few days ago, but his video by YouTube user Chadi has an analytical look at some of the techniques of a style referred to as Chinese Dog Boxing. He makes his observations from his perspective as a Judoka and draws similarities between the two. It’s a pretty thoughtful and interesting look at a rather obscure martial arts relic.
Kung Fu guy has a talent, but not much Kung Fu
From 2019’s Spain’s Got Talent, a Chinese Kung Fu expert shows up and does something a little less martial arts and a little more elaborate parlor trick. I dunno, maybe I expected some flips and kicks and swaying. Nah, we get a neat little stunt that shocked the live studio audience, and that’s perfectly fine.
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