“From what I have seen in the ‘UFC’ matches, in my own training, and various other situations, it is clear that standing right in front of the attacker and expecting to “blow him away” with the deadly ferocity of our counter-attack is simply not realistic. Meeting his/her force head-on in that manner is crazy.”
David Peterson from his article, “Tackling the Tackle”
Wing Chun has no ground game.
Thus, we have two options.
We need to avoid being taken down (by being good at attacking the head viciously) or we need to study another art which specializes in this grappling or ground range.
I recommend both.
I’ve studied enough Brazilian Ju Jitsu to handle myself against someone who doesn’t know much but has knocked me down with sheer weight or surprize, which I hope is good enough to save my bacon if I accidentally run into a competent ground fighter for some crazy reason. I know even less Greco-Roman wrestling, but a little bit. A few tricks really.
I’m just not a fan of rolling around on the ground getting choked out or having my face ground into the mat. I’ll take my chances that in the real world, I can avoid competent wrestlers/BJJ guys and that I can keep the fight standing long enough to finish it.
But its good to have a plan for every contingency. In this article, David Peterson recommends what I believe we call “goat ma,” which is a sort of move similar to what a bullfighter does with the bull, footwork derived from the knife form.
Tackling the Tackle by David Peterson
See below, when Sifu Wong turns his whole body away (from the incoming weapon point), this is Goat Ma.
Helio Gracie was quoted as saying “He who manages the distance dictates the damage in a fight.” BJJ and Wing Chun both require you to close the distance in order for both systems to function. Wing Chun requires you to close the distance, but preserve the bent-elbow distance. Once a grappler moves past the position of the bent elbow, ie: clinching, the opportunity to strike has been lost. Even when you can preserve the bent-elbow range, trying to attack (punching) while retreating (preserving the striking distance) is nearly impossible.
Through the evolution of the UFC events, we can see that neither striking or grappling alone are unbeatable. People who want to develop into a well-rounded fighters have to prepare for the realities of the ground as well as those standing up. Having studied both systems, I would say both have advantages in different situations. Given my choice, I’d rather stay standing on my feet so I have the option to run away.
The real danger is thinking that being able to remain standing is our choice to make. Tripping, slipping or having someone dive-tackle you happens in the blink of an eye. The analogy I would use is a sailor at sea who doesn’t know how to swim saying “Well, I just won’t fall out of the boat!”
In my experience, people with as little as 18 months in BJJ know enough to survive on the ground. If your serious about being a well-rounded martial artist, it is a small investment of time even if you training is primarily striking.
I totally agree.
I would like to do more but there is always the opportunity cost, personal preferences, etc, involved. Time management. I must admit I will not go too far out of my way to develop my ground game so the fact is I have a pretty minimal ground game. Better keep it on the feet I guess! This is one of those balance sheet issues. I have trained with knives and I have trained with standing grappling to the point where I am better than most but no match for even an intermediate player. My ground game (as you know) is primitive at best. Better than someone who knows nothing and is just doing schoolyard wrestling and relying on their size. No match for someone with 3 months of BJJ or a competent high school wrestler.
Once I get my Wing Chun up to a more advanced level I plan to focus more on these weak sports. But time is the one thing you can’t get more of, so for now my time is going toward mastering this system. One system at a time!
For now, if I fall in the sea, I will just have to dog paddle!