In every sport there are icons who excel and dominate the field. In golf, these people included Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods. In bike racing, Lance Armstrong. Race car driving, the Andrettis. In boxing it included Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Mike Tyson. In tennis John McEnroe and the William sisters, Venus and Serena.

In every sport there are icons who excel and dominate the field. In golf, these people included Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods. In bike racing, Lance Armstrong. Race car driving, the Andrettis. In boxing it included Muhammad Ali, George Foreman and Mike Tyson. In tennis John McEnroe and the William sisters, Venus and Serena.

The other day I was talking with a friend of mine. He told me how he was telling his friend Bob about ving tsun. One of the first questions Bob asked was "Could your teacher beat up Tito Ortiz?".

An interesting question. Not interesting because of the perspective of fighting Tito - but interesting that Bob would choose to ask that question.

Let's say I was a golf teacher (good enough to be a tour pro - written books and videos, had my own website, etc). Would Bob have asked "Well, can you beat Tiger?". If I was a boxing teacher, would he have asked if I could beat Mike Tyson? (by the way, people have asked me if I could beat Mike Tyson).

Among the questions to ponder are:
- Why do people ask if a kung fu teacher can beat up (insert person/style/weapon)?
- why do they compare with those they believe are the best in the field?


I have 2 theories, one optimistic and one pessimistic. We'll start with the pessimistic one because it has some humorous bits.

I believe these people know very little about kung fu or how it works. They are maybe a bit afraid of what they don't know. Their ego may feel threatened when their manliness ability to fight is challenged. In order to regain their stability they ask a potentially impossible question that should not be answered. If they can ask a question that defeats the instructor it is the same in their minds as if they had defeated the instructor themselves. Once they have defeated the instructor, they have regained some degree of honor.

Just to compare, would you ask a pilot if he'd been into space? What self-respecting pilot has never been to space? If you met Mike Tyson on the street would you ask him if he was good enough to stop a bullet? (people have asked me that too) The best answer is no answer at all; even Yes and No will cause the conversation to spiral downward. To legitamize that type of question with an answer would be to argue with somebody who has no foundation from which to ask intelligent questions. They have no base from which to respect somebody who trains every day for decades. Because they cannot relate, answering their questions will bring you to a lower level of thinking. At that lower level they will summarily defeat you because they have more experience there.

If you're not experienced with kung fu, here's a little test. Let's say you build your own classic cars from scratch (create the frame, build the engine, paint/artwork, the whole bit). Each car takes 3 years and you've built 10 of them (30 years of building cars). The cars have won national and international awards, been featured on TV and in magazines. You're now teaching people how to build classic cars. You meet somebody at a party or through a friend and they ask say "ya, but can your cars outrace those rocket-cars that holds the world record for land speed?".

Probably a better representation of the question would be to relate to something that is hollywooded up for drama and good TV ratings, so here are a few questions you may expect to hear if you were in that situation...
"Ya, but do your cars have armor like the Batmobile?"
"Would your cars win in a crash-up-derby?"
"The ford plant can build a car every 3 minutes. Can you?"
"I saw a car on TV that could fly and go underwater. Can yours?"
"Can your car go faster than a Ferrari?" (an educated person would have not asked about the Bugatti Veyron)
"Can your car jump three buses like 'The General' from Dukes of Hazard or talk like "KITT" from Knight Rider?"


The implication from these types of questions is often that if your car cannot do these things that are on television, then it is no good. Often this implication can be hurtful or offensive.

It's normally best to say very little and feel compassion for the person asking these types of questions. Some advice is to steer clear or you will likely find yourself trying to physically defend against their claims (which are practically undefeatable) for as soon as you dispatch one claim, another more eccentric claim will appear.

The optimistic theory is that the person asking the question really is interested in what you are saying. They genuiunely are considering joining or getting more information. One of the pieces they want to know is how good you are. With Tiger and Venus/Serena everybody knows how good they are because they have an official world ranking. They have heard what you say and acknowledge that there is skill involved, but they do not know how much and do not have a recognized measuring stick. They therefore draw upon their knowledge and select a person/style they admire to compare you with.

Their experience often is limited so their measurement stick can seem insulting. It's important to keep a strong mindset and understand their perspective. It's an honor if they are comparing you to Tito or Mike Tyson. It implies that they believe your skill may be in the same league as these champions.

Your best answer in this case is to accept (and acknowledge) their compliment and tell them you're more than happy to answer their questions. Help them to understand that there are many reasons for taking the martial arts, and that fighting skill is only one. Also let them know that there are different types of arts and sports, and that comparing one martial art to another is like comparing a football player (soccer) to a sprinter. They both run, but the football player runs for a different goal (if you will pardon the pun). Different sports have different rules and objectives so it's difficult to compare them on only one aspect.

An Interview with Controversial MMA Great Tito Ortiz The Huntington Beach Bad Boy, Tito Ortiz, is the kind of MMA fighter fans either love or hate. Some see him as being cocky and arrogant based upon his self-assured attitude and overly aggressive, no holds barred approach to fighting. Fortunately for him, though, a majority of “the world’s most aggressive sport’s” followers tune in to watch his entertaining and exciting fights and no one can dispute the passion and ferocity he brings to the arena for each and every one of his battles. David Robson interviews MMA legend Tito Ortiz...

There are also a number of great reference resources on the internet. Direct them to an informational website and read as much as possible. Then, if they're interested in training, they can come visit a class.

If they were instead interested in challenging you, the challenger has been defeated and you were victorious.

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