Nail In The Coffin: Maoshan Puts Issues To Rest

What better way to end a series of explosive interviews than with the man who has been said to have been the initial spark that ignited the flame? I had a chance to do an exclusive interview with Sifu Ben Hill Bey aka Maoshan closing the chapter on the Lyte-Nakmeezy vs -Maoshan-Blacktaoist beef.
Ironically Maoshan's interview was the shortest of the phone interviews, but left me with the most pages of notes, quotes and one liners out of everyone. Weighing in at a whooping 4 1/2 pages Maoshan put the final nail in the coffin to put this saga to rest.

Every conflict has a starting point, and the story about the friction between Maoshan and Lyte Burly is no exception. The initial caused of the bad blood between the two men according to Maoshan was a video where Lyte was "talking outlandish sh*t about bagua." Which he took offense to especially since he's been a long time Baguazhang practitioner having 37 years or more in the art. To Maoshan, Lyte was out of line talking about bagua because he "does not know the internal." With hindsight always being 20/20, Maoshan admitted that it "should not have gone the way it went down." He explained part of the cause was him being passionate about his art coupled with the fact that he tends to react first, made for a volatile situation and he realized that he may not have reacted in the best way towards Lyte's bagua video.

As tempers flared and insults went back and forth, a challenge was issued leading up to the infamous Maoshan vs Lyte Burly fight where Lyte was the victor. Keeping it real, Maoshan shared that he was "in shock" at the outcome of the fight. That shock stemmed from what he says was his knowledge of what he can do and has done in the past. According to long time friend Maoshan was known for kicking ass in the 90s. "I grew up in the f*ckin' Bronx! I was at the top of my game. Back then life was about weed, women and kung fu" Maoshan explained. It's been said that around the time of the fight Maoshan was going through some personal issues, chose to fight regardless. Acknowledging the loss and not making any excuses Maoshan makes it clear that while he lost, he "didn't walk away hurt" which he attributes to his combat training.

The loss against Lyte wasn't the last of Maoshan though. An exchange of response videos began to surface and verbal shots were fired in the comments section of the each video. A little known fact that he shared with me was that after the loss people around him urged him to make a response video, it wasn't something that he had planned on doing. Sometime between response videos Lyte's friend Nakmeezy began chiming in on Maoshan's loss and performance, and as some have said serpent-like innuendos taking what some felt were pot shots at Maoshan. Soon a firestorm ensued between Nakmeezy and one of Maoshan's students all of which came to a head and lead to the Maoshan vs Nakmeezy bout.

editor's note: the main event that lead up to Nakmeezy calling Maoshan out was a comment he made to a 52 Blocks practitioner that goes by the name Mr. 52. Maoshan stated that Mr. 52 reached out to him letting him know that he was going to fight Nakmeezy to which Maoshan told him "to knock that motherf*cker out!" Nakmeezy happened to be sitting near the two and overheard the comments. Shortly after, Nakmeezy called Maoshan out, and the two fought in the Man Up Stand Up (MUSU) tournament where Maoshan lost the bout.

When asked what his thoughts were on Nakmeezy and Lyte's recent comments on the 'Reality Check' video where they both agreed that he has some understanding of bagua, but can't apply it in a fight, and therefore should never step back into the ring. Maoshan was taken back a little because he thought they "resolved that issue between 2 black men." He figured after he and Nakmeezy crossed hands there was nothing more to discuss, especially since according to him, he didn't have a problem with Nakmeezy. He was a bit shocked and annoyed that the pair were still trying to get notoriety from fights that took place a few years ago.

I casually threw the word fight around to describe his bouts with Lyte and Nakmeezy and he immediately wanted to make something clear -- the distinction between competition and a real fight. In his opinion the two are nothing alike; the mindsets, rules of engagement, etc., are vastly different. He made his point further by stating in a competition there are referees, rules, protective equipment, etc., but in a real fight the only rule is "somebody is either going to break a limb or take a life." He went on to explain that he never got into the martial arts for competition, "I fight for self defense." Seeing how competition wasn't a priority for him, he said, "I never learned to fight in competition[s]. I'm not a competition dude. I didn't learn martial arts for competition, I desired to learn the internal."

We spent a little more time going over the difference between fighting and competing, and he gave some insight as to why he felt he lost to Nakmeezy. First on the list was that he didn't have a problem with Nakmeezy which he says explains why he wasn't aggressive towards him in the match (which was supposed to be an exhibition match) and would give him props when he got in a good shot. In fact, he feels strongly that he and Nakmeezy didn't fight (in the sense of harboring bad feelings and causing major damage to each other). He described a real fight as opposing parties with the desire to cause the other harm or death; not what took place in the MUSU ring. "I was still caught up in my own sh*t" he said about the bout; most likely puzzled as to why Nakmeezy called him out. He mentioned that the Blacktaoist was pissed about the loss but as stated before he said he's not a competition man.

The conversation shifted to a discussion about Lyte Burly and Nakmeezy both dodging a sparring match with the Blacktaoist. He acknowledged that neither fellow has any interest in sparring the Blacktaoist who tried to set up a friendly match but "Lyte wanted $1,000 an appearance." Alluding to the pair being afraid he points out the fact that he travelling 400 miles twice for his fights with Lyte and Nakmeezy for free and with no excuses. He recalled how the Blacktaoist even "put $2,000 & some change on the table" to get those guys to spar but to no avail. Catching me off guard, Maoshan was met with a few chuckles when he postulated that the money issue had to have come from Nakmeezy because "Lyte's too f*ckin' stupid...Nakmeezy got some intelligence to him."

Based on the actions their actions it was assumed that the two weren't interested in sparring with the Blacktaoist, so Maoshan's student DJ got involved and was supposed to fight Nakmeezy; that fight never happened. Whether it was DJ or the Blacktaoist, Maoshan recalls that they were always met with some type of fee just to spar and when the money was produced, they were met with other excuses from Lyte and/or Nakmeezy. "Over and over again it's been a glove issue, weight issue..." He shared how the Blacktaoist went so far as to even offer "$2000 for you to spar with him. Why didn't anyone show up? He didn't say [$2000 if you] beat his ass.... he said show up. Nobody wants to fight Blacktaoist, he's always had an open door policy. He's been teaching in the same place for 20 years."

Maoshan continued the discussion referencing a time when the Blacktaoist went to Thompson Square Park where Lyte Burly trains daily in hopes of meeting up with him to get in some sparring; however, to his surprise no one was there. He also recalled a time when his student DJ went to the same park looking for Nakmeezy and waited for 2 to 3 hours with cameras rolling to catch the footage, but Nakmeezy was a no show, but after he left they showed up according to Maoshan. He summed things up by saying, "Lyte Burly is too afraid to bring his ass uptown. That's why he wouldn't fight [Maoshan] anywhere else other than Thompson Square Park, because it's a donut shop for cops."

editor's note: Maoshan was unaware of the series of blogs written around the 'Reality Check' video so I posed a few questions for him to answer based on the content of the video and blogs, one of which was his thoughts on the match between Nakmeezy and Blacktaoist never taking place.

Maoshan viewed some of the concerns and requests made by Nakmeezy for the exhibition match with the Blacktaoist absurd to say the least. He pointed out that the Blacktaoist "...is a stand up fighter....he's a stand up toe to toe motherf*cker" to illustrate the silly request for a no submissions rule. He also pointed out other requests such as no punching to the face, and boxing gloves instead of MMA gloves for Blacktaoist, which he found laughable. He asks how someone is supposed to demonstrate bagua with boxing gloves on? "you can't do bagua with gloves."

The finals parts of the interview were used to addressed a few more points; the Blackaoist's fight record, Maoshan's teaching ability and future projects. In regards to comments made about the Blacktaoist's fight record, "who has he fought is a ridiculous statement. He's the baby of the crew, he's been fighting nonstop."

If you're waiting to see future bouts with Lyte Burly or Nakmeezy, don't hold your breath because "it won't happen." Maoshan has made it clear that he has no interest in competing. "I'm too old for this sh*t. I'm 40 f*ckin' years old! It's a young man's games. I'm focused on teaching." "Truth is truth" he says. While his focus is passing his martial knowledge on to the next generation he affirms that he will continue to trains and be active in the martial arts, "gotta keep those combat juices going."

He offered up one last retort to Nakmeezy's statement about him not being able to apply his bagau knowledge in a fight. He tackles that statement with an interesting one of his own, "if I can't apply it, I can't teach it. Every teacher can't teach, don't believe the hype." Maoshan's statement immediately brought to mind a comment Lyte Burly made in his interviews about teachers where he said, "a teach is measured by how many winning students they have." I mentioned the quote to him and he promptly pointed out that his student DJ who regularly competes in the MUSU tournament has "only lost once and came back and took it back!" Maoshan asked a question of his own, and of course I had no answer; he asked, "why won't they fight my student?" in reference to DJ.

"These 2 guys got their light from us!" he said with a high degree of confidence. Inferring Lyte and Nakmeezy became relevant due to the beefs, and trying to live off the hype of 3 year old fights, he went on to describe them as "...two individuals [who] want to ride coattails." Things never had to go as far as they did but they kept it going. "Sh*t got outta hand because nobody wants to recognize truth and it's the snide remarks is what I call him [Nakmeezy] a snake."

Ending on a positive note, fans of Maoshan will be excited to know that he has a few projects in the works: A west coast Baguazhang seminar and a couple of books. He plans to release a Bagua - Hsing-i book as well as his memoirs. His website will also be getting an upgrade and serve as a hub of information on Maoshan. If after reading this interview you still aren't sure who Maoshan is or what he's about, he leaves us one simple quote that answers all questions, "I'm about pushing traditional martial arts."

18 Chambers