# Muay Thai vs Kung Fu



## SanshouMatt (Jul 1, 2008)

The Shaolin Temple may have sidestepped a challenge to Chinese kungfu, but another prominent school has stepped in to pick up the gauntlet.

Five famous professional Thai Boxers offered a challenge, claiming that they wanted to "wipe out the Shaolin Temple".

"Shaolin kungfu is a lie by these monks to Chinese Buddhists, and Chinese kungfu is nothing compared with ours," said one of the five Thai boxers who is ready to take on masters from the famous temple.

"If they accept our challenge, we'll win 5 to 0."

But Shaolin responded by saying the provocative words were "ridiculous", refusing to reply to the "secular challenge".

Zheng Shumin from Shaolin Temple said the temple is a holy Buddhist place where monks' primary concern is Zen practice and they would not get into contests with secular people.

"We receive so many challenges like this every year, we just don't want to reply," Zheng said. "We think this is hype from the Thai boxers and the organizers of the competition."

"In the history of Shaolin Temple, we never challenge or agree to fight others," said Zheng.

However, followers of Emei kungfu, another important school of martial arts in China, considers this a challenge that "any kungfu practitioner with a sense of justice should face."

Wang Jian, director of the Emei Martial Arts Association, and his senior disciple Huang Lin, entered the contest "to let the Thai boxers know that Chinese kungfu is never easy to beat."

"I couldn't bear it anymore ... after the public and all my fellow disciples urged me to show them real Chinese kungfu," Wang said.

"This is not only disrespectful to Chinese kungfu, it is also disrespectful to our nation," said Zhang Ji from Emei Martial Arts Association.

"As disciples of kungfu, whether from Shaolin, Emei, Wudang, or anywhere else, we should stand up to such defiance," he said.

The five boxers from Thailand will be in China for the contest on Dec 19 in Foshan, Guangdong province, the hometown of late action star Bruce Lee


----------



## rsp84 (Dec 9, 2008)

Bit of a low blow to religious men whom use it for meditation, i mean half the time they train, and the other i guess is spent mediating. Glad they didnt agree to it, cant stand the "which is the best MA?" debate. Its always the man behind the art that brings it to life, and will always change from person to person.


----------



## Mandirigma (Oct 8, 2009)

Not forgetting the Shaolin King Fu was purely devised for self defence where as Muay Thai for sport.

Disrespectful from the thai fighters imo, Im still watching though!


----------



## Mcrash (May 24, 2008)

Mandirigma said:


> Not forgetting the Shaolin King Fu was purely devised for self defence where as Muay Thai for sport.
> 
> Disrespectful from the thai fighters imo, Im still watching though!


....muay thai is one of the oldest MA's.....developed by little men in fields (aswell as krabi) defending themselves from waring invaders........:tuf


----------



## Mandirigma (Oct 8, 2009)

Mcrash said:


> ....muay thai is one of the oldest MA's.....developed by little men in fields (aswell as krabi) defending themselves from waring invaders........:tuf


Muay thai is derived from

Muay *Boran*..

Maybe if it was Muay Boran vs Shaolin Kung Fu.

Ahhhh, Shaolin Kung Fu, bringing back memories when a kid, watching so many films, whaaaaaaaaat, ish, whataaaaaaat, buddhist fist, boosh.


----------



## Mandirigma (Oct 8, 2009)

Any of have a link to where we can watch this event?

Been trying to find it but no luck.


----------



## LICKSHOT (Feb 10, 2009)

Mcrash said:


> ....muay thai is one of the oldest MA's.....developed by little men in fields (aswell as krabi) defending themselves from waring invaders........:tuf


your both right in a way.. muay boran came from mai mae muay thai chiya (which was the battlefield art & sport of the time) as a sport in itself but in the early 1900's muay thai was introduced due to the high death rate in muay boran.


----------



## adamjowens (Jan 4, 2009)

this is what i found on some forum

"

and shaolin did not fight. they did release a statement that they never got such a disrespectful threat from Thai fighters. also they get challenges everyday but do not respond. they do not participate in this type of challenge.

the Emei Kung Fu School did respond though. their application was not chosen, the Chinese fighting organization chose to send the Sanda fighters instead.

so to be clear, Thai fighters never said those things and it was Sanda fighters that 4-1, not Shaolin or Emei.

"

the muay thai guys lost 4 of the 5 rounds aparently.


----------

