Yeah it's recognizably Chen, but kind of loose and sportified. Chen is a complete martial art, with all ranges (though it specializes in close range), numerous kinds of strikes, kicks, grappling, throwing and joint-locks, and several weapons (pole, spear, halberd, sword, sabre mainly). It doesn't have any ground stuff, but that's all it's lacking really. It's pretty old (17th century IIRC), the property of the Chen clan and village (a farming village in Wen county IIRC), and it comes from a time when melee fighting was serious and fighting with weapons was the ultimate aim, for which the barehanded forms were foundational and preliminary conditioning (Chen village guys were locally famous in the 18th/19th centuries for being caravan bodyguards who used "big knives," halberds). Other styles of Tai Chi were derived from Chen in the late 19th/early 20th century (Yang, then the two Wu styles and the Sun style are derivatives, each a more distant derivation than the previous). In recent years, one of the Chen teachers has gotten interested in training up some young guys for competition; Chen Tai Chi became famous for being a consistent winner in open platform competitions in the late 19th/early 20th century in Beijing, and he wants to try and re-capture some of that old glory and dignity. As with a lot of traditional styles, the Cultural Revolution did a lot of damage in terms of people being forbidden to practice "olds" - quite distinct from earlier in the 20th century, when the Communists had actually respected traditional Chinese things, especially from the peasant class (one of the main historians who unearthed the history of Tai Chi and publicized the Chen origin of it all, Tang Hao, was a Communist). Chen suffered a period when the chain of transmission was almost broken (we only have continuity due to the strenuous efforts of a couple of the older practitioners, one of whom actually got the whole dunce's cap treatment - as it were - during the Cultural Revolution, for training the young guys in Chen village). Now of course the Chinese government favours Chen style, as well as several other older styles, as representations of Chinese culture.

It's been a while since I did it and I've forgotten the names of the moves, but the Chen style forms contain side kicks and crescent kicks, and a couple of others. Chen style is distinctive and has quite a few striking techniques that don't show up in the newer styles.

Enshin Karate is an offshoot of Kyokushin. It has a lot of the same training and conditioning practices and tends to look largely similar. The primary differences are twofold: 1.) Enshin's creator placed a much heavier emphasis on the Japanese martial arts concept of _tai sabaki_ , which is roughly analogous to what most Westerners might call lateral movement and/or circular footwork. In Enshin Karate this is branded as the "Sabaki Method" and forms the spiritual cornerstone of the art. 2.) Enshin incorporates several of the sweeps, trips, and throws of Judo into its curriculum. It also features a bit of Muay Thai-style clinch work. These techniques are permitted in sparring & competition, albeit with some tweaks and limitations relative to their original arts. If you ever want to see Enshin Karate in action, look up clips from the "World Sabaki Challenge".

This is Chen Style Taiji. I watched the whole show years ago. Full Contact Fighting is practiced in Chen Village, strikes, kicks, throws are all legal on the Lei Tai!

oh dude - this event is notorious! Supposedly Chen taiji fighters but a team of sanda fighters was recruited to rep Chen village instead. They're sport sanda guys dressed up - that's it. I don't think anyone from Chen village fought in this.

I think the first karateka was Kyokushin, the second was Enshin and the third was Seidokan. Seido has the best takedowns of all the Kyokushin offshoots - it’s basically Kyokushin + Judo. Kyokushin used to allow takedowns in the 60s but doesn’t anymore which is why the other guys were getting ragdolled. I believe the kung fu guys are pure tai chi since they didn’t punch at all, except the third guy who panicked during the body shot exchange. The Chen tai chi approach is honestly brilliant. They use side kicks and spin kicks to bait people into clinching then just throw them. Works great against people you can outwrestle. Since the third karate guy’s grappling was better, however, you can see tai chi guy panic and resort to trading body shots. He managed to win presumably by push kicking seidokan guy off the lei tai, but it was clear it wasn’t going well for him.

New to the channel, love the content so far man. Chill, laid-back commentary that I can watch while eating lunch. I started MMA a year ago but it's a pretty big transition from TKD and it's very humbling. Love seeing the variety you present in your content.

Title says Kyokushin, Enshin, but is the second Enshin, or Isshin? Enshin is also a full-contact karate style which branched off of Kyokushin, but is more permissive of throws and takedowns in its ruleset. Isshin is a traditional (sort of) style which doesn't usually take part in full-contact competition. The Tai Chi guys presumably train full contact, but if they have backgrounds in tai chi, I think it's fair to call them tai chi guys. After all, sanda is basically a fighting ruleset. And the point of traditional martial arts training isn't to force practitioners to apply a specific curriculum of moves in combat, it's to build practitioners' abilities which they can apply to combat. When successful muay thai fighters start using moves which aren't traditional in muay thai, nobody feels the need to argue that they're not doing muay thai anymore.

Some thoughts on the whole "what is their real background" q on the taichi side. Every gym has a different style that comes from all the active students exchanging their individual styles and strategies. My sanshou gym was extremely kickboxing centric, so while we recognized more throws and kick catching opportunities than the average MT person, we probably didn't throw as many legal (in MT) throws as we could have. 1) so there should be a gym that has a sanshou style that looks exactly like that, easier to rebrand as taichi. 2) the split loose guard (one forearm up by the head, one out in front) is common in many kung fu styles, so it's not remarkable that you see it here, no matter what the fighters' real base is. 3) having only trained in my gym's style of sanshou, I could easily put on a more kungfu-looking style if I were told to, even against decent opposition. Fighters have to be adaptable and help their teammates prepare for different opponents, so you have to present different styles and habits anyways. 4) a kyokushin ruleset helps with the above. If I'm only worried about kicks to the head and not punches, I'm naturally going to be more confident with a loose guard. Sanshou guards tend to be low anyways to help with catching low kicks, but now you don't even have to worry about head punches. So that just helps you play into a more flowery style. Another tactic that came out cuz of this ruleset is the variant off of a straight sidekick into the corkscrew/crescent kick. Instead of maximizing reach, you're bearing down with your front leg on top of their guard, trying to get their hands even lower to kick over them. Bonus if you outreach them like some of the matchups here and can land that corkscrew to the head.

I have been doing tai chi for about four years, that sweep that he did in the first match looks a lot like a Tai Chi technique that I was taught. It comes from the second part of single whip; specifically the turning part. As far as those kicks go, in the style I was taught, we have a front kick, front/side kick, and some crescent kicks. Typically you’re supposed to use them at a close range situation. I was taught to put most of the work in my hip. That way I could conceal the telegraph of the kick, and it kind of shows in his performance, that he probably does have some real Tai Chi his background. I would not be surprised if he is more of a sanda guy, because I was told to understand long range striking because tai chi is more of a grappling martial art like judo. I do like how he’s grabbing the gi. That is something that I was taught to do so I could strike them and apply postures like “an” which he uses perfectly here. Again, this is just my opinion. This does not confirm that he is 100% a Tai Chi guy. But it is really cool to see some Tai Chi in the ring that works.🙌

It's Chenshi taijiquan (from Chenjiagou) Wan Xian camp. His son is a coach .

Love your videos man

Very good fights , A+ excellent

To be fair these guys are also Sanda trained, but they did use Tai chi to some degree in these matches.

I like your commentary. Yeyishin kaikan (英心会館) is an Ashihara Karate offshoot dojo.

That second guys first sweep was defo legit tai chi technique

I never seen a tai chi artist fight like that before. It's a good match thought.

Chen style Taiji is known to be more aggressive than Yang style, which is the most popular style and the one that many elders do in the parks. Chen style is the oldest style of Taiji from what I learned

The second guy seems like legit tai chi to me. he has the arm movements and low stance, and he throws tai chi kicks. Tai chi favors long side kicks, kicks to supporting leg, crescent and axe kicks to bent over targets. Also, the way he throws his kicks, with looseness at the hip socket, kind of just swinging the leg out there, and not having much, if any bend or tension at the knee, thats very tai chi. Edit to add: the trips and sweeps are thai chi stuff. tai chi loves to sweep people onto their tailbone. they also like to grab the leg and stretch out the opponents groin to make them fall. another tai chi esque thing, is how they bring their kicking legs back towards their body instead of setting it straight down after a kick, whenever theyre able. especially with high kicks like axe and crescent.

Damn those are some nice sidekicks!

Chen is ostensibly the most martial of the Taiji styles. However, I wouldn't be surprised if he cross-trains significantly in Sanda (at least for kicking). But Sanda guys also typically throw a lot of lead hooks and power jabs, which we're not seeing in this case. A lot of Kung Fu schools (at least here in the States) alternate days when they forms vs sparring vs Sanda sparring. Also, Enshin is a Kyokushin (and Ashihara) offshoot which spars just as hard but actually emphasizes side-stepping/circling out and throwing from the opponent's weak-side, so I'm a bit surprised these guys haven't done any of that (if it's not totally rigged).

Im seeing some elements of kenpo karate. So many arts are so similar. I think the biggest differences here are the skill levels, more than the styles.

Tai chi, sanda, karate, kyokushin, etc. are all tools that won't autofight for you. If you are getting beat up in real time you don't think about labels but react as you trained, whether in one or multiple arts.

Second guy was class! Fast! Powerful ... incredible

The first and third karate fighters where from Chakuriki dojo, which was founded by the Dutch shihan Thom Harinck. Back in the day Shihan Harinck mixed different martial arts to create Chakuriki, so I guess this is a hybrid karate. The second karate fighter was clearly Enshin.

Are these two guys even in the same weight class?

I was doing kyokushin many years ago. One of my friends introduced me to one of his friends for a friendly sparing match . He did Tai Chi Chan style. Maybe it was Chen? Anyway, i didn't take him seriously at the start, but, oh boy, did he give me a hiding. Also, he was really lanky, but he produced so much power. Apparently, it's one of the oldest most complete fighting styles, so?

Yo that Tai Chi guy!

The second guy has the stance and the foundation is solid. he also adds the extra push after the take down almost spitefully 3:53, 4:15, 4:49 & 5:17 chen style follow thru.

My guess is Wu style with some Sanda training in the mix. EDIT OK so Chen. My Wu call was based on the first guys sweeps which were very much like Wu sweeps (9 Palace steps)

the second karate guy seemed to be a first dan looking at his belt, so like you said, a fresh black belt. this *may have* been like his "kumite" test, in lieu of doing an actual 5 or 10 or whatever man kumite. as far as the third karate guy, he seems to have a couple stripes. Also, he has colored hair. In japan thats pretty uncommon, and usually a sign that a guy is gonna be tough. Its a cultural thing. the fact that he would refuse to conform, especially with that specific, light brownish orange hair color, means he embraces nonconformity and is willing to "stand on that shit", as it were. This, per my native born Japanese teacher. its very apparent in japanese media too, if you pay attention.

The throw at 0:07 exists in sanshou, but only with underhooks instead of gripping the jacket. IME, Muay Thai guys who’re good in the clinch are more skilled at that particular throw, as it’s up close and not a range that any sanshou person spends a lot of time finessing (vs kick catches and more dynamic entry throws)

they are sparring on concrete or something and they are doing takedowns and attempts at rolling thunder 😅 BADASS the second karate guy doesn't even know how to fall properly.. out of the blue, some of the best MA stuff I've ever seen online!

there is definitely a lot of Tai Chi flare here. Not necessarily in the techniques themselves, but the way they are executed strongly suggests some influence.

Isshinryu, is the style you expected to see, sudden, intense, acurate,powerful strikes, several strikes ending in a take down, and the one unable to continue fighting. . Isshinryu karat

You mentioned muay boran briefly, and I honestly wouldn't be against seeing some muay boran fights

Tai chi more like tai champion

Too bad PWFG or UWIFi isn't around anymore, because that was some excellent WORK by both

I wanna see qing gong versus judo or kyokushin. One person would be floating in the air the whole time and one person would be on the ground

Second guy definitely looks more Tai Chi, at least he incorporates throws that look like it. I don’t know enough about Chen style, but I know they do a lot more striking and are more likely to test their art in sparring and tournaments. I’ve never seen a sacrifice throw in Tai Chi but who knows.

What ever happened to similar weight class bouts ?

Tai Chi isn’t an actual martial art. It’s basically a way to train your body and mind. It’s a great way to exercise and improving your stance and body control.

Tai Chi guy going in for a hug

All are essential in self defense 💪🦵🥊🥋⚓🥷

Would you consider commenting about Muay Boran fights?

Who won tai chi or karate? Which is more effective

Definitely Shotokan karate for match 3

Debates are good for engagement.

I really don’t think it was tai chi. It had to have been Sanda, but wearing the tai chi garbs to better differentiate maybe (or just represent China better, idk)

soft style tai chi vs hard fast style karate ... tai chi in competitive sport ???

Tai Chi guy has a sweet outfit tbh.

Last style looks like Goju. Would have been much more interesting in a cage.

Maybe some Taiji influence but more likely Sanda... 2nd guy seemed to have better coordination etc but eh. Taiji has kicks but they aren't emphasized as much as we see in this video...

Isn't this the tournament where Frank Dux won?

Why they don't include the great Master Maruchan Chan Chan? 🤔

Which one is taichi?

His Tai Chi called Seven Foot Four.

this further supports my hypothesis that pure traditional kung fu only works against smaller opponents. (even though this ain't traditional by the look of it)

All the Karate guys are losing??? Very strange!! Those fights are fixed for sure!

I can see many techniques in taichi that would work against all those kicks but none are being used!?????? Wait the tall guy is taichi??? I’m so confused now.

Tai Chi shirt must be Tai chi. 😊

Originally, Taiji was created with multiple arts.

I train in sanda and the tai chi guy is not even a tai chi practitioner they are sanda fighters i notice it when they clinch the other guy use uppercut on the karate guy which is common in sanda if they end up in clinch we alwats use uppercuts

Why is the referee dressed like Boss Hogg?

The smaller guy is getting kicked to bits

There is combat taichi as well, they're not all dancing.

Tai chi guy is throwing tkd style kicks

Does anyone have the full video.

in the first fight, tai-chi guy was clearly using the sub category of tai-chi known as kick-chi

No pivots or side steps or flow what so ever but good fights though 👍

Title should properly be called " tsu chi/ northern kungfu or tae kwon do vs karate. From previous matches the chinese learned " lets get some tall guys with long reach because these karate guys are getting inside and punching the body".This competition used to also have the weapons sparring on top of the platform. Wushu was dominating it.

Every one of those kicks can be found in each style of Tai Chi.

That's not Tai chi, He definitely fights like SANDA mixed with TAE KWON DO style. I would assume that that style is Wushu because it looks like a mix of different styles

What the heck is with the chest shields they're wearing??? No wonder they're not throwing hands, they're so scared of breaking a knuckle on hard plastic that all they could DO was kick!

Audience lookin like stock footage from the People's Revolution.

Tai chi is more practical than other Chinese martial arts.

I want to.see ying n yang aura sign behind that guy.

2:23 don't try that on an unsuspected sparring partner because it hurts surprisingly A LOT

He didn't like that knee to the thigh. Notice how he tried to kick him in the mouth several times unsuccessfully. 😀😂🤣

Second guy has higher level taichi than the first.

this does not seem like tai chi, this just seems like sanda with more karate kicks than the kyokushin guy lol

This looks more Wushu than Tai Chi, Sanda maybe. It’s true that the Chen style is much more martial than the other stiles, but I didn’t see any Tai Chi techniques (I practiced Chen style for a decade or so.) Obviously schools are nowadays going beyond the traditional techniques and training other stuff.

This Tai kwon chi

Dude certainly had Taekwondo training.

obviously just sanda vs karate

That's Xanda. Not TaiChi. 😊

The short guy is out classed

That looks like Tea Kwon do taichi.😅😂

i was going to say chen just because it seems like chen guys are the only ones sparring

Tai Chi looks suspiciously like TaeKwondo lately....😅

Shotokan Karate

That must be the Jeet kune do of Chen tai chi. "Be water my friend." Rigid forms and postures only arrest the flow of energy, so learn them, then discard them. Use what is necessary at the time

A kyokushin guy not used to sparring??? Tf is he doing this whole time then

That's Muay Thai.

There is no tai chi, just dudes doing kickboxing with some judo

This is Thai chi

Size matters 😜🤪🤪🤪🤪🤪

This show looks like propaganda. The whole thing was performed like a movie. The easy wins at the start. The cute kid cheering on. And the overacting evil villain at the end who gives our hero a genuine threat. They even cast all the Karate guys as smaller dudes to make Japan look inferior in every way. The only difference is that instead of a single hero character, the style is the hero because it represents the state. You're not just cheering one man, you're cheering for China itself. I could be overthinkong this, and really it was just rigged fights with an obvious size disparity, but it seems to play out that way. PS: I was thinking the same when you said Sanda, because it looks it.

I dont see any tai chi. Karatevs karate

Tai chi has several forms including combat tai chi