Bagua Zhang Kungfu vs Kickboxing: live sparring with commentary

Linji and I do some stand up sparring in the ring. While we are both mixed martial artists, in these rounds, we're both making a concerted effort to represent specific styles we have trained under. Linji is a Japanese mixed martial artist with a background in several Chinese gongfu styles including Bagua Zhang and Taijiquan. He also practices Muay Thai, BJJ, and of course, trains for MMA. In this video, Linji showcases some of his Bagua skills in the context of kickboxing- even though many Bagua techniques are meant to be performed open handed rather than with a closed fist, and much of the martial art is based on grappling concepts. In this video, you can see some of Bagua's hand fighting and trapping techniques at work.

Linji and I have trained together for 6 years, so we tend to predict each other's movement and cancel each other out quite a bit, so this is very much an exercise in adaptation to the familiar.

[cyrus]

As a Kung Fu Teacher i can tell you that is basically how most Kung Fu Styles are applyed, the big problem modern Kung Fu has is no that its not working, its that most practitioners never train against actual Force.
Its sadly an ongoing Trend that there are more and more Teachers with every generation that don´t know how the form theyre teaching is applyed in actual Combat.

[angelloakira]

Okay so I believe it's fair to say you sparked everyone's interest. Do one with mma gloves on sir. With him

[ZenDragonYoutubeChannel]

Interesting sparring :) It's nice to see Kung Fu techniques used in sparring :)

[rainerzufall]

I d say definitely do more of such videos it s a nice display of martial arts I m sure you know way more traditional martial artists that can apply their stuff in sparring.

[tokujinsicura]

The aspect that I like most about internal martial arts like ba gua and Taiji are that, on the outside, it doesn't look like anything is happening. The focus of the fighter is alignment and balance, so fighting them is oftentimes confusing because the amount of force they are generating to attack or defend seems disproportionate to the amount of effort it looks like they're using.

[chemistryfu]

I did Bagua for a while before MMA/BJJ... I would ask him if he learned any Xing Yi. That stuff is so legit. Chinese secret service all use it.

[toshioikene]

Thank you for being respectful RD. Love your content man. I don't mind people exposing fake martial artists if they need to be exposed. But to show respect without just talking down about differences is much honorable and it shows an open mind. You da bomb. 8)

[ArmadusMalaysia]

I don't care about any of these fights. I just wanna see Wong in that ring.

[froggacuda_gamedev]

I was just thinking I would love to see you spar the Bagua guy, you're a legend, Ramsey.

[angelloakira]

Finally !!! Send this to the fight commentary guy. I was going to ask you to show this but you did it before I said a thing, that's some master Kung fu level stuff rig nt there :) as a Kung fu guy who does use his fu wile sparring this is great.

[anotherboredperson]

Im very confused about the footwork from a bagua perspective. Its not easy to do in a confined ring, or when you are mandated to be the aggressor- but a good deal of the Bagua strategy is to circle around their forward side, and force the opponent to either spin in place (very bad idea), or to walk the circle with them- where their familiarity with the bizarre footwork restraints and positioning will let them repeatedly do things to you that you can not figure out how to do back.

The straight back and forth happens occasionally- but the total lack of circle walking is odd.

Maybe he's operating under the constraint you still cant strike at someone from behind?

[weissxritter]

Wew... 180mph would be a hell of a pitch. About twice what you'd expect on a fast ball from a major league pitcher. In the first inning, you might see some zingers in the mid to upper 90s. That said, I'm not even a baseball fan. I just have vague memories of that movie 'Rookie of the Year' from a long while back.

[Edsecondstocomply]

I don't want to speak put of turn, but I find it concerning how his chin is so high.

Open gloves seems like more favorable for him. Be fun to see no glove more. Maybe just wrapped hands, very light strikes, or even those foam back hand/forearm guard things.

[zran]

What a great channel. There is a tremendous wealth of knowledge and experience Mr Dewey has accumulated and documented for the world here, I am going to be watching this channel a lot after just discovering it right now. Love the format too, thank you sifu!

[xyon]

*Doing some fencing footwork*
can make you a better Southpaw if you're right side dominant.

[joeylaflamme]

LOVE IT!! That was a great sparring session. It makes me hopeful for Traditional Chinese Martial art.

[digs]

How well does he handle feints?
It looks like he's quite reactive so might be drawn into making a mistake, but I don't think I seen any feints used.

[ghyslainsabourin]

Dude! This is where you shine. I've been listening to you for quite a while and have identified many of your idiosyncrasies in speech and video deliveries. The ponderous pauses, the hand on chin, the over embellished padding of content to interesting topics. But here, your comments are economical, relevant, and to the point. And the content, as always, is worthwhile. Keep this up!

[EvosBasics]

Hi I was curious if you knew any places to practice kungfu in hangzhou?

[Braindazzled]

Interesting stuff! I don't see much specific Baqua technique, though. More straight-in kickboxing. Not a criticism, just an observation. Since Baqua seems to be very grapply-oriented, I'd be very interested in seeing it vs. grappling.