How would a high level Tai Chi martial artist do against a high level MMA?

[cpthindsight]

Both about the same height n weight etc.

Absolutely no rules. Eye gouges etc fully allowed.

Would it be a case that the Tai Chi man would end up on his back unable to defend the x2 leg takedown and pounded out in no time like with many single styles vs the MMA mixed style?

I

 

[Steve]

In order to play this game, I need more information on the Tai Chi man and on the MMAist. Can you provide a detailed profile of each using the template provided below? Try to provide as much detail as possible. The more detail you include, the more accurate I can be with my prediction. Thanks!

Character Profile Worksheet

Basic Statistics

Name:
Age:
Nationality:
Socioeconomic Level as a child:
Socioeconomic Level as an adult:
Hometown:
Current Residence:
Occupation:
Income:
Talents/Skills:
Salary:
Birth order:
Siblings (describe relationship):
Spouse (describe relationship):
Children (describe relationship):
Grandparents (describe relationship):
Grandchildren (describe relationship):
Significant Others (describe relationship):
Relationship skills:


Physical Characteristics:

Height:
Weight:
Race:
Eye Color:
Hair Color:
Glasses or contact lenses?
Skin color:
Shape of Face:
Distinguishing features:
How does he/she dress?
Mannerisms:
Habits: (smoking, drinking etc.)
Health:
Hobbies:
Martial Arts background (including length of time studied, specific styles, lineage, etc):
Favorite Sayings:
Speech patterns:
Disabilities:
Style (Elegant, shabby etc.):
Greatest flaw:
Best quality:


Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitudes

Educational Background:
Intelligence Level:
Any Mental Illnesses?
Learning Experiences:
Character's short-term goals in life:
Character's long-term goals in life:
How does Character see himself/herself?
How does Character believe he/she is perceived by others?
How self-confident is the character?
Does the character seem ruled by emotion or logic or some combination thereof?
What would most embarass this character?


Emotional Characteristics


Strengths/Weaknesses:
Introvert or Extrovert?
How does the character deal with anger?
With sadness?
With conflict?
With change?
With loss?
What does the character want out of life?
What would the character like to change in his/her life?
What motivates this character?
What frightens this character?
What makes this character happy?
Is the character judgmental of others?
Is the character generous or stingy?
Is the character generally polite or rude?


Spiritual Characteristics

Does the character believe in God?
What are the character's spiritual beliefs?
Is religion or spirituality a part of this character's life?
If so, what role does it play?

 

[Mephisto]

I'm not sure if Steve's questionnaire is to prove a point or if he's serious, but to me it does a fair job of illustrating the futility of these kind of comparisons and arguments.

That being said i''l play the game. Some guys will say MMA wins in the cage and Tai chi in the street in an effort to be fair and reasonable. I still would say that's probably not accurate. A lot of it would come down to the individual but I'd at least consider the Tai Chi guy the underdog and give the MMA guy the advantage. MMA has the advantage because it has been through a few generations now of testing to see what works on a resisting opponent. The MMA guy will have an arsenel of high percentage techniques to choose from, and he can cite the success that others have had in the ring as evidence that his moves will most likely work. A professional MMA fighter potentially has access to the knowledge of experience gained through generations of professional high level fighting. While the Tai Chi guy is most likely blazing new territory. His instructor and Tai Chi peers may have had some fights but they most likely won't have experience comparable to the collective base of knowledge of MMA (unless perhaps he also incorporates MMA techniques or has fought San Shou). Even if the Tai Chi guy uses foul blows i'd still give the MMA guy the advantage. That being said I'd look at a fight between an MMA fighter and just about any other single style the same way, if it is a competitive style the fighter may fair slightly better but still a pure boxer, or bjj fighter, vs MMA? The MMA fighter will have the advantage.

I've seen some nice Tai Chi before and some of the push hands competitions seem to have competitors that would compare to judo players. But if someone was looking for a style (specifically for fighting) I still wouldn't recommend Tai Chi because odds are they aren't going to be able to find a fighting Tai Chi school.

 

[Steve]

I was TOTALLY serious. I don't know how much writing you guys do, but I do a lot of writing. And the first step is to flesh out the characters. in the world of make believe, literally anything is possible. If the OP wants me to write a work of fiction about two make believe martial artists duking it out, I need to know more about the characters involved. The worksheet I provided is a pretty standard questionnairre intended to help the OP flesh out his story.

I'm happy to write a fictional vignette about these two, but to do so, I need more information. Ultimately, I'm not going to put more work in our writing exercise than the OP. If he's willing to give me characters worth writing about, I won't let him down.

 

[clfsean]

Both about the same height n weight etc.

Absolutely no rules. Eye gouges etc fully allowed.

Would it be a case that the Tai Chi man would end up on his back unable to defend the x2 leg takedown and pounded out in no time like with many single styles vs the MMA mixed style?

I

Y'know .... even the most die hard trolls / fan boys / armchair types stop by Meet & Greet to at least introduce themselves & give a little backstory ...

 

[paitingman]

I would put money on the MMA guy almost every time.

It's just numbers.

How many times as the tai chi practitioner controlled and eye gouged a fully resistant opponent at full speed?
Odds are zero.

How many times has the mma practitioner delivered a right cross to/taken down/etc a fully resistant opponent at full power and full speed?
Probably thousands

 

[Tez3]

How many times as the tai chi practitioner controlled and eye gouged a fully resistant opponent at full speed?

About as many times as the MMA fighter has...eye gouges aren't allowed in MMA despite the OP stating they could use them.

Why are 'eye gouges' used as being representative of what 'hardman' fighting is? it's as if doing an eye gouge is considered something special.
I wouldn't put my money on either until I'd seen them train, fight and gauged their fighting spirit as well as their fitness.
These style v style threads can be amusing but rarely informative and usually end up in a squabble.

 

[drop bear]

You know in a eye gouge only fight I would put my money on a decent boxer over an eye gouge specialist.

 

[Mephisto]

About as many times as the MMA fighter has...eye gouges aren't allowed in MMA despite the OP stating they could use them.

Why are 'eye gouges' used as being representative of what 'hardman' fighting is? it's as if doing an eye gouge is considered something special.
I wouldn't put my money on either until I'd seen them train, fight and gauged their fighting spirit as well as their fitness.
These style v style threads can be amusing but rarely informative and usually end up in a squabble.

No they don't!

 

[Tez3]

No they don't!

Oh yes they do.

 

[mograph]

If we want to go full armchair, why don't we name two fighters?

 

[Steve]

If we want to go full armchair, why don't we name two fighters?

That's actually the very first question in my character profile! I have to say, I'm disappointed that the OP isn't interested enough in his own thread to flesh out his fantasy. I think he expects us to be creative for him.

 

[mograph]

That's actually the very first question in my character profile!

Oops. Observant? Moi?

Yeah. I don't even know if there's any point in setting up a fantasy Georges St-Pierre vs. Chen Zhenglei match.

 

[Tez3]

Oops. Observant? Moi?

Yeah. I don't even know if there's any point in setting up a fantasy Georges St-Pierre vs. Chen Zhenglei match.

I do however see every point in setting up a GSP fantasy or is this not the place for that

 

[mograph]

I do however see every point in setting up a GSP fantasy or is this not the place for that

Blow-by-blow? You're on!

 

[Xue Sheng]

Will there be Qi energy balls allowed..... knowing that is of the utmost importance

 

[Tez3]

Blow-by-blow? You're on! [/QUOTE

Ooo er!

 

[Danny T]

Both about the same height n weight etc.

Absolutely no rules. Eye gouges etc fully allowed.

Would it be a case that the Tai Chi man would end up on his back unable to defend the x2 leg takedown and pounded out in no time like with many single styles vs the MMA mixed style?

I

I do some Tai Chi, not really high level as a practitioner. Also do several other arts and am rather high level compared to many. In a absolutely no rules confrontation that I am in immediate bodily danger I would create distance while also angling and use my extremely high velocity projectile weapon. Now if you are referring to an agreed upon competition, ie. NHB the average Tai Chi person would most likely get pounded out. I don't know the average age of the average Tai Chi person but world wide it is probably over 50 years of age. Most average 50 years old of any martial art in a ring or cage competition with a high level mma person would lose.

 

[paitingman]

I just used eye gouges as a generalization.

It just comes down to training norms. The amount of times mma stylists or boxers execute their techniques in real time on fully resistant opponents usually far outnumbers the same for a tai chi practitioner.

That being said if a tma or tai chi practitioner had trained in that way it would be very interesting to see.
Real time, real resistance training is very enlightening and useful and cannot be overlooked when wanting to face off against someone with serious training.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

These style v style threads can be amusing but rarely informative and usually end up in a squabble.

Agree! I don't think we should get involve with style vs. style discussion. No matter what you may say, you will upset people on the other side.