Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-31529160-20171124173742/@comment-32783267-20171201175343

@CanadianOracle

I'm afraid to say that it has something to do with culture too. Chinese people are just that strict. We all East Asians got this repect system that taught us for centuries that we should not question the elders, we must respect the elder, the elders' opinion are more insightful.. and so on. That's why they didn't incoporate Aliveness to their styles (too deadly or afraid to spill secrets) and they devolved into flowery performance arts. But things are changing now really. While I do and pay respect the elders, I am not afraid to question them if I need to.

As far as the techniques go, despite having takedowns their wrestling base is not really strong. You score points by taking your opponent down but you must not land on your knees... yeah. And they reset after scoring a takedown so there is almost no ground game really. Cung Le fared well as a Sanshou guy because he apparently wrestles and did like Sambo too when he was young. So he covered a lot of fields and he also did TKD so his kicks are splendid.

Guess the key word in MMA is 'Well-rounded'

One more thing. Most people ridicule Chinese styles for not having a decent ground game unlike the Japanese styles (Japan has its own reasons). It was actually the result of the pragmatism in the battlefields in the past. When you were in the battlefield, the ground was the last place you want to be in, and hence scoring a takedown with no landing on knees in Sanshou. Also relying on your hands was also the last thing you want to do, when everyone is using swords and spears. That's why Chinese styles are more weapon centric and less CQC (they even consider spear the God of Weapons). But as time goes on, the world became more peaceful and along with movies diluted people into thinking CQC is the big deal in Kung Fu. The thing is that they might have worked in the past.. but masters didn't adapt their styles with time. And now Kung Fu/Wushu, with due respect, is the laughing stock in the martial arts world....... along with Aikido :P