Nam Phan versus ‘Kung fu man in his 50s’ took place at Phan’s MMA gym last week.
Since leaving the UFC in 2014, former TUF contestant Nam Phan has bounced around a lot in his professional fighting career. He popped up in Bellator, briefly, before winning the featherweight King of Pancrase Championship in 2015. He lost that title that same year and has since appeared in DEEP and ACB. He’s also tried his hand at pro boxing; going 0-8-1 between 2015 and 2018.
Last week, Phan padded his record with a different kind of fight; an MMA vs. traditional martial arts showcase. In that bout, which happened at his Nam Phan MMA Academy in Garden Grove, CA, Phan took on a so-called ‘Kung Fu fighter’ who looked larger and much much older than him.
Check out the video below to see how the traditional martial artist fared against an experienced professional combat sports athlete.
In the video, Phan handles the older gentleman with ease. The fight, which took place in a ring with a referee, was fought with “stand-up rules only” and lasted around five minutes. Throughout the contest Phan battered the challenger, knocking him down and eventually out. The fight was attended by a few dozen spectators who crowded around the ring apron.
The video was uploaded to YouTube on March 21st by user dxmakina. In the accompanying caption that user wrote, “Just another day in Little Saigon,” before describing Phan’s opponent.
“The Kung fu man was in his 50s and decided to try himself against the pro mma fighter Nam Phan,” wrote the uploader. “The Vietnamese Kung Fu he practiced is called “Hong Gia”.”
The fight between Phan and unnamed-Kung-Fu-guy is just the latest in a series of fights between MMA trained fighters and traditional martial arts practitioners. In China Xu Xiaodong (aka Mad Dog) has found international fame/infamy thanks to his fights versus so-called masters of Tai Chi and Wing Chun.