Nakmeezy & Lyte Burly Give NY Kung Fu Fighters A Reality Check

I receive requests for 52 Blocks videos daily; the Lyte Burly branch of the art in particular. This blog has a global viewing and many of the requests are coming from other parts of the world, which means love it or hate it 52 Blocks is in high demand on a global scale. Since the first sharing of the 52 Blocks videos, the intrigue and requests have been flying in and I believe in giving the people what they want.

Of course this popularity doesn't come without critism. Most of the critism stems from people who have stated that they've seen the real 52 Blocks in its heyday and what Burly is doing is nothing more than a modern hodgepodge of boxing and techniques from other arts. If what the critics are saying is true and Burly's version of the 52 Blocks is a new creation there seems to be an anomaly of sorts -- Burly's art seems to be working.

Young Burly Winning A Golden Gloves Match

As many have seen on this blog, Lyte Burly has been taking his art from the park to the ring successfully coaching at least one of his growing number of students to successful wins. One such student that goes by the name "Young Burly" has experienced success in the ring using 52 Blocks as well as outside of the ring as we've also seen challengers from other 52 Block branches test the waters sort of speak and fail.

So what about the naysayers? Nakmeezy and Burly recently made a video discussing one naysayer whom they have both fought and won against with relative ease -- teacher and author Sifu Ben Hill Bey aka Maoshan. In the video the two discuss a recent bout between Maoshan and a Hung gar teacher which has become a sort of black eye for the art of Kung Fu on the internet with sites like bullshido.com slamming the fight saying 'there was no kung fu demonstrated' and that it was 'nothing more then a hugging match'. Nakmeezy and Burly come into agreeance that Maoshan who is said to have over 30 years of experience practicing martial arts should stop stepping into the ring.

Nakmeezy vs Sifu Ben Hill Bey

They go on to poke a little fun at footage of the Baguazhang teacher's training for the bout where they say his student "respectfully handled him" and another in which he is seen skipping rope which can only be defined as laughable at best. I couldn't locate the rope jumping footage, but was told it resembled what's seen in this clip starting at the 1:10 mark:

The tone of the video has changed a bit from past videos the two have made about Maoshan this time giving him credit as a teacher having knowledge of his art of Baguazhang but not as one who can utilize what he knows in a fight, to which they advise him to never step foot in the ring again.

Some have perceived the two to have also taken a subliminal shot at another naysayer who has been quite vocal in the past about the illegitimacy of today's 52 Blocks Novell G. Bell a Kung Fu teacher who goes by the moniker "The BlackTaoist." Bell is an author of baguazhang books and videos, been in an amateur short film, recently has had his likeness included in a MMA video game, and the founder of Man Up Stand Up (MUSU) a small martial art tournament where participants can gauge their skills against each other; all in an effort to bring exposure to his art of Baguazhang.

Bell is best known for his loud outspoken antics which seem to overshadow valid points he tries to make in many of his videos. Points like the need for more reality based training, the inclusion of training techniques in real time and not only in a prearranged format are all overshadowed by his larger than life persona where he is seen more as a 'hood' then professonal which in the long run can limit his success and prevent him from reaching the level of success he desires.

The subliminal shot was at the 5:34 mark in the video below where Nakmeezy points out, "...you have some that mix boxing, jiujitsu, everything into it and then call it bagua and they change the name to some sort of other bagua..." Then he goes on to illustrate exactly what he's talking about, "....you got boxing in there, sloppy jiujitsu, horrible kicks...." with Burly co-signing with, "horrible punches."  All of these references are more than likely believed to be directly aimed at what Bell refers to as his Urban Bagua. 

After seeing the video Nakmeezy and Burly made Bell made a response video which seemed to be a departure from his typical insolently proud persona as he addressed the comments made towards him. In his response video we're told that there will be a Muay Thai vs Baguazhang exhibition bout between Nakmeezy and Bell. Bell being the more outspoken of the two certainly has more weight on his shoulders going into this bout then Nakmeezy. Which brings us to the another anomaly...

If what Lyte Burly is doing is fake, why are his students winning in competitions, and if what Bell is doing is correct then why are his students losing? We understand everyone is not going to win all the time, but even Novell proposed the question to his own teacher asking him why are his students continuously losing? He knows he's a good coach so what's the problem? This is the question that I'm sure many have who have watched MUSU from the beginning or any of Bell's videos are asking as well. 

William H. Cavali MUSU Undefeated Champion

Behind the scenes of MUSU there was yet another anomaly. When Bell began to down Kung Fu styles with what he felt were questionable lineages or made up Kung Fu styles. One group took offence and a sort of war of words began where Bell produced videos demonstrating the intricacies of traditional Kung Fu arts where the basics should be easily identified when people perform their forms. References were made to the performance of such practitioners where there was no evidence of them being rooted to the ground and executing forms that were said to be made up. Here's where things become sticky. This group produced a pupil who went undefeated and retired from competiting in the MUSU tournament. So once again we're back to the drawing board, if what they were doing was made up and all wrong, then how could they continuously win and Bell's students continuously lose? 

So considering all those things, we see that Bell has his work cut out for him. The bout between him and Nakmeezy is much more than merely an exhibition match, it is the chance for Bell & Nakmeezy to finally settle the score sort of speak. Bell in particular has a lot riding on it as he's positioned himself as the sole representative of true bagua; should he win, it will be looked upon as 'this is what I've been saying all along' -- an example of the benefits of training, using one's art in battle, the benefits of non-prearranged techniques, and finally the benefits of traditional training methods he discusses frequently, like standing post, palm strikes, rooting, etc. 

However, if he loses his whole philosophy will be in question because we all know that those who talk the most look the worse when then lose. He literally has years riding on this -- years of frowning upon teachers who don't spar or compete despite their age, years of frowning upon the training methods of teachers who use prearranged routines, years of saying how he easily handled individuals, etc., because it will look like everything he's been saying for years was nothing more than talk despite how logical some things he's been saying may be. 

We are going to see one of two things from Bell -- the effectiveness of traditional Chinese Internal Martial Arts or the end of years of incessant babble. 
In regards to Nakmeezy, since he's not as outspoken as Bell, his loss wouldn't be of the same magnitude as if Bell were to lose, but for Bell supporters a Nakmeezy loss would be looked upon as an expected result. If he wins, it will be looked upon as a nail in the coffin of what he and Burly have defined as "Kung Fu Fantasy."

The date for the exhibition match has been slated for November 10, 2012 and one thing is for sure it will be a defining moment in Bell's life as probably the most outspoken Kung Fu practitioners around.  Stay tuned for more about this match.

@18Chambers