To be honest, this fight actually represent nothing much about Tai Chi as a fighting art. Xu Xiaodong himself clarified he would only accept challenges from the fakes; if a sanda champion were to challenge him, he would say honestly he will lose, why fight? He himself is not really a professional MMA fighter - probably a self-taught coach.Tai chi practiced by ordinary folks is for health. However, beyond the basics, it is a martial art for combat. Its specialty is 'avoiding the attacking force through swift rotation of the body and throwing the opponent off balance by pushing or pulling him in the same direction as his applied force'. a basic practice is pushing each others arm and rotating the body. Problem is if he is not fast enough to siam the punch from the mma fighter and yet not trained to take such a solid punch, he is a dead duck.
In all fights, if we are not trained to take blows, we can forget about whatever moves we have mastered.
The problem with most Chinese martial arts today is that there is insufficient training or no training in facing real opponents. Probably, real Tai Chi masters may already be extinct. MMA is training in real fighting and the only theory is common sense. Who wins?
If you pay attention to the fight, it is not like Xu Xiaodong is invincible. If his opponent were a real master with power, who knows he might be stopped dead outright; you may be hit direct by your own rushing momentum. But the first quality of a real fighter is courage.
Best regards,
Chan Rasjid.