Would a Shaolin Monk Beat a Professional MMA Fighter in a fight?

The question of who would win out of a Shaolin monk and a professional MMA fighter has been asked online for many years. Here, you will find internet message boards that are filled with debates and differing opinions. Perhaps one reason for such opposing views is that there’s a lot of free information surrounding MMA culture, whereas there’s still a degree of mystery when it comes to Shaolin monks. Hopefully, this article will dispel some of the myths surrounding these two fighting styles and give you a greater understanding of how they operate.

Why it’s dumb comparing a Shaolin Monk to an MMA fighter

As mentioned, there’s a lot of misinformation surrounding what being a Shaolin monk actually entails. In short, it’s not as simple as saying that all monks have the same skills, and many don’t even learn martial arts at all. Often, monks are given a skill to learn. For instance, some may master the use of poles for both fighting and balancing on.

This means that it’s unfair to compare a typical Shaolin monk to an MMA fighter. Often, monks will specialize in one area whereas MMA fighters will focus on fighting as a whole. Because of this, it’s also fair to say that MMA fighters are more rounded when it comes to combat whilst monks will be less knowledgeable about certain areas such as grappling for instance.

On a different note, the idea of the monk is not to seek out aggression other than within the realms of training. Whilst most MMA fighters won’t do this either, the point is that you probably won’t see a monk enter an MMA fight anytime soon. This is because most of the monks are very happy to live in their own world inside of their monastery. This is very cut off to wider society and means the chance of a monk competing in MMA would be slim anyway, regardless of their talent.

Another reason why the comparison is silly is that you’re literally comparing an MMA fighter whilst putting it in the domain that suits the MMA fighter. For example, you could have a skilled stick fighting Shaolin monk that has trained in the art for 10 years. If you were to put them against an MMA fighter in this domain, then the monk would win almost all of the time. Therefore, the argument literally puts the bout in the favor of the MMA fighter and what they’re best at. Similarly, a black belt Judoka may lose in an MMA fight, but would easily beat an MMA fighter in a Judo match.

Being a monk is more spiritual rather than practical

Following on from this, the idea of a monk is based on spirituality whilst being an MMA fighter is primarily about fighting. This isn’t to look down at either profession but instead helps explains why a monk would come up short against an MMA fighter. With this in mind, the comparison between the two is like comparing someone that dabbles in combat amongst other things with someone who trains combat as a job, every day of the week. This is one of the main reasons why the MMA fighter would win.

For example, many monks try to learn self mastery in whatever field this may be. Sometimes, there are videos of monks running on water. Whilst this is impressive and shows a degree of athleticism, it’s not the same as an MMA fighter who literally trains daily on how to kill people if needed.

So, what would happen if a monk fought an MMA fighter?

For clarification, we’re talking about a pro MMA fighter here and not an amateur one. The reason for this is that an amateur MMA fighter’s skill level could vary massively. You could have a fighter who is brand new and not great, or one who is highly skilled and about to go pro. Generally, if you’re a professional fighter then it means you’re experienced and have a strong understanding of all areas of combat.

So, if there was a fight to happen then the MMA fighter would win the vast majority of the time. Whether this was done inside a cage with MMA rules, or done in the open without rules, the MMA fighter would still have a big advantage. The reason for this is that they would be good in all areas. Typically, a monk may be quite good at striking and be athletic, but so would the MMA fighter, who would also be better versed in submissions and wrestling.

Perhaps one of the main issues with the Shaolin monk is that their style is too specialized. If you think about Wushu, it is similar to the likes of Kung Fu and Karate. The issue with this is that it doesn’t train how to beat styles such as Muay Thai and traditional wrestling. Therefore, as long as the MMA fighter fought in a smart way – then victory should be theirs.

Of course, fighting always has an element of randomness and there may be a time that the monk catches the MMA fighter a wins. Fighting always involves luck, so it’s not impossible for the monk to win…but it would be very difficult.

The proof is in MMA bouts

There is one argument that sometimes gets put forward, that is Shaolin monks very rarely venture away from their monasteries and so they end up being incredibly skilled, yet closed off from the wider world. To an extent, this point is valid and whilst monks can probably beat up the majority of untrained fighters – there’s still a level between them and MMA fighters.

In brief, if the Shaolin monks were that good, then surely at least one of them would have fought in MMA and succeeded by now? This is a good argument to test whether something is legitimately good or not. In terms of the Shaolin fighting style, it’s not particularly ‘bad’, it’s just not as good as a fully fledged MMA fighter.

As stated previously, the chances of an monk traveling to an MMA fight aren’t likely anyway. However, you would expect at least a handful to have tried it down the years, especially if they quit the monk lifestyle and pursued money and fame.

EX-UFC fighter on his time training with Shaolin monks

Interestingly, ex-UFC fighter Dan Hardy once trained with Shaolin monks in China for 2 months when he was aged 20. However, he did not like its lack of combative training, adding “While I was out there, I realized that as much as I enjoyed the process of learning the weapons, and the traditional styles, the strictness of it and early mornings. That was all great, but the content was no used to me in a real situation. When I got back I got into Muay Thai.”

However, there may be an explanation for this. In some cases, there are sadly some ‘schools’ that teach a very watered down version of Kung Fu that isn’t that realistic and these places exist as a business that preys on naive foreigners. At the same time as Hardy’s view, there are also other accounts of people that have genuinely improved their fighting skills whilst at a monastery.

An example of this is Philip Sahagun who trained out there and is undoubtedly a talented martial artist. As seen in this interview, he explains how people have misconceptions of what training with Shaolin monks involves. As seen by his account, it’s certainly no joke and is definitely legitimate.

What martial arts do Shaolin monks train?

As mentioned by Dan Hardy in his interview, some Shaolin monks focus on traditional weapon fighting with staffs, blades, and other tools. However, in terms of striking it mostly falls under the umbrella of Wuhsu. This is an ancient Chinese martial art and covers a variety of striking methods, that mostly include Karate and Kung Fu. In short, these will teach you how to kick and punch your opponent and cause great damage. Even elements of Wing Chun originated from Wushu. For the most part, this is what people think of when they think of Shaolin monks and their fighting methods.

However, there is also another element of Chinese martial arts that is often overlooked by the west. This is the artform of Shuai Jiao which is basically Chinese wrestling. If you look at our article, you’ll understand that it’s a highly effective form of fighting and is arguably more realistic than Judo with its rules and point scoring system. Therefore, if you combined Wushu with Shuai Jiao, as well as the tough mental and physical conditioning of a typical Shaolin monk – then you’d have a very skilled fighter.

The issue is that sometimes, these monks will focus primarily on stick fighting which is irrelevant in MMA. Similarly, some westerners also confuse and mystify Shaolin martial arts and make it out to be some kind of ‘secret’ form of fighting with magical powers. This simply isn’t true and helps discredit honest monks who do not teach such methods. An example of this would be looking at combat Tai Chi. Whilst Tai Chi is a great form of exercise and has similar benefits to yoga, as a form of fighting it has been disproven and is clearly false.

Were monks the original MMA fighters?

Going back hundreds of years, you could argue that monks were the original MMA fighters of their time. These days whilst elite fighters are superstars with wealth and fame, most regular fighters aren’t. Even many pro fighters live on a modest wage and enjoy the mental and physical challenges that martial arts bring. In other words, the lifestyle of the original Shaolin monks kind of matched that grind and work ethic.

In short, a lot of MMA is about self improvement and training because you love it and want to slowly improve your mind and body against adversity. Sound familiar? That’s because the Shaolin monks did this many years back. As a result, it’s a fair comparison to compare the two. Obviously, MMA is far more modern in comparison and not as spiritual, nonetheless the comparisons are still there.

Conclusion

Overall, it’s fair to say that a professional MMA fighter would probably beat a Shaolin monk in a fight. The reason for this is because they’re simply too well rounded and have a variety of disciplines to fall back upon. Arguably, because their training is more opened up towards the wider world, they can use these methods to defeat a Shaolin monk whose styles would be less varied.

However, as this article has hopefully outlined, comparing the two isn’t exactly fair and is what you’d expect in terms of results. In conclusion, it’s fair to say that whilst Shaolin monks can fight and are skilled martial artists, they’re still not nearly as good as professional MMA fighters who are literally some of the best people in the world when it comes to hand to hand combat.

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