A friend and I have been pestering each other for years with videos and pictures of horrible martial artists. We always try to top the last one we find and unfortunately, that seems tp be getting easier as time goes by. I blame him for exposing me to this shining light of a “Taoist Takedown Defense”…
Take a look at the video first:
If there ever was an epic fail of a takedown defense, this is it. Not in principle as such. Even though the sprawl is a dominant defense against the takedown in MMA, pivoting away is a legitimate technique in the cage and you do sometimes see fighters doing it.
But…
They do it with skill and competence, unlike our instructor here.
They also do it against a committed, aggressive attack instead of a lumbering, stumbling, bent-over semi-rush like this “attacker” does.
Usually, I don’t find it necessary to comment on these kinds of videos. There’s rarely something to be gained and I don’t particularly feel the need to trash people all over the internet. But I’ll make an exception for this instructor here. Not only because of the complete lack of skill but also because of his open challenge when he receives criticism.
Watch this video, all the way to his challenge at the end:
I’ll just quickly answer his two points:
1) Does that seem fake to me?
No, to me it seems unrealistic, untrained and badly executed. As a takedown defense, it only works against an untrained, slow, stupid, weak and uncommitted attacker. As a takedown defense, it seems an epic fail to me.
2) Post a video of your own.
I already have.
The video includes a bunch of takedown defenses, including the pivot and slaving your opponent to your weight. But contrary to what he shows, I’ve used it against committed attackers and have taught it to people who’ve then gone out and done the same. So I know it works. Granted, it’s not Brazilian Ju Jitsu as I come more from a Chinese Wrestling base, but I’m confident that the takedown defense I teach works there too. Because I’ve tried it.
There are several reasons why I’m not ignoring this instructor as I do with so many others, knowing full well he receives more attention that way than he actually deserves:
- He challenges people. If you challenge people on an open forum, be prepared to have that call answered so I did just that. What’s more, in most cases, an open challenge is a silly thing to do. Imagine a couple heavyweight frat boys with 5 years of MMA training and weightlifting behind their belt showing up on his doorstep…
- He posts nonsense and tries to persuade people it’s good information. There will always be people who will believe what he shows. Those with no experience whatsoever are easy to fool or impress. So giving some feedback against this nonsense seems like a good thing to do.
- He claims tai chi as his art. Frankly, I sometimes get a bit tired of the fruitcakes giving tai chi a bad rep. I usually avoid them but some, like this instructor here, are so far off the deep end I’m almost ashamed to say I also train in “Taoist” arts. So this is me saying “he’s doesn’t speak for me…”
I do have a few words of advice for him:
First, one should learn before one teaches.
Second, as an instructor once told his student: Don’t teach bullshit; the truth is already hard enough as it is.
Gye Greene says
What I found interesting is that (in the second video) his technique for avoiding takedowns was to fall on his butt. So I’m not sure that’s a **complete** avoidance of a “takedown”.
–GG
Adam Burroughs says
Brilliant. Good stuff as always. Thanks Wim.
Wim says
Thanks Adam, much appreciated.
D. Franklin says
As always, very enjoyable and educational. Thank you sir for informing us of issues both good and bad in the martial arts community and associated areas. I also enjoy that you try to give opposing views a chance to show their reasoning (even if stupid as in this one).
Wim says
Thanhks, I appreciate the kind words.
Peter Carlson says
On top of the faults mentioned above, it looks like he’s conditioning his son to be his own personal punching bag, which is an epic parenting fail.
Wim says
Well, I didn’t want to comment on his parenting skills as I don’t know much about them. His martial abilites, those come through loud and clear.
Peter says
Good point. I try to withhold comment on such things too, but this one bugged me enough that I let it out. Thanks for an interesting post and clear commentary.
Wim says
No worries. From what it looks like, I think you’re probably right. But boy doesn’t get to speak much, so who knows?
Rayvis says
Once again another person giving the art of T’ai Chi Ch’uan a bad name! I have nothing against people having an ego per se, but when they contradict themselves by trying to be a taoist martial artist guru type, it is the hypocrisy that stinks!
Russ says
LOL, funny stuff.
I just saw on his youtube channel that he did actually meet up with someone in an MMA gym and the guy showed him that it’s essentially nonsense, yet this guy continues to try to push the point that “well it works against a push”. Sad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXRf5-sH3SA
I will give him 1/2 a credit for actually meeting up with someone to test his technique. Hopefully he signed up at the gym and will continue some real training.
Wim says
Heh. So he changed the title of the original video and took down the one with the challenge. Then he reframes what he originally said and gets taken down easily when the attacker follows up on a failed “push” attempt. Hehehe.