Praying Mantis Kung Fu - Brendan Lai Students Ling Bung Bu

[Bandits108]

That set was super fast! Did all of Lai Shifu's students play their sets at that speed? Would be great to see it slower just a tad to see the movements but understand they are showing application speed. Nice!

[bugatchiuomo]

i have leaned this twinset from Grand master sing Ming Li in Montreal.. i know move for move of this 7 star prying Mantis 2 man fight....Wow i cant belive i leaned this move for move...i am impressed i learned 35 years from Mr Li in Montreal at Wu Do Kan Kung Fu...

[mantid55]

fredrum....what is your dad's first name? I started with Lai Sifu in 1970 at the Clement Street school during the time when the Magdangal brothers had their infamous disrespectful fight with Lai Sifu, their own teacher.

[fredrum]

My dad was one of grandmaster Lai's first 12 students when Master Lai came to the West. I believe the school was on cCement in San Francisco. Anyone around from those days?

[AsianAmerican68]

Who is your father? Maybe I know him.

I too joined when the School was on Clement Street.

It had a very large green praying mantis painted off to the side of the main front glass window to advertise the Northern Praying Mantis Classes, as the place was primarily a Judo Dojo run by a Korean Sensei.

[ZenDuro]

17 seconds of excellent fighting!! Cool.

[SamShifu]

great

[garykyl]

it's a pity that the quality is poor

[unclelen13]

thats my brother in law's allen &mario .both are still in the bay area.still training stick fighting.

[jeffdoeskungfu]

It's awesome to see high speed flowing mantis applications. Makes me wanna go back to my old kung fu school

[dmag5307]

That's my Pops ! and My uncle !

[fredrum]

HWen did they train with Master Lai? My dad was one of his original students in San Francisco.

[ripvanwinkel]

its two man bung bo its a form not a fight

[SofFuLinYu]

Prof. Allen and Mario are friends with Sifu Castro but their teacher was Harry Huchingson Jr. Both are members of the Oakland Chapter JKD under Sifu James Lee friend and student of Bruce Lee. And both teach the Villabrille-Largusa style and JKD among having knowledge of other arts

[datanmankingjester]

im new to kung fu, actually i dont know anything about it but im wondering were these two fighting for real or just performing? i mean no offense either since i dont know much about kung fun

[AsianAmerican68]

Both Alan and Mario had been RALPH CASTRO's students prior to becoming Sifu Lai's students. When Bruce Lee's first Movie opened in South San Francisco, I ran into Mario while waiting in a very long line to see the Movie. After the Movie, we were both stunned and in awe of Bruce's Kung Fu performance, and it was shortly after that, both he and his brother left for Los Angeles to become students of Bruce Lee. I have not seen nor heard from them since.

[mantis108]

Cool story..thanks for sharing it!

[mantid55]

hmmmm...interesting story...in 1970 me and three other friends were interviewed by Lai Sifu and joined his Clement street school, where we stayed for quite a few years...prior to that, we were at GM Ralph Castro's Valencia street school and helped open up the Junipero Serra and short-lived Geary street school...GM Ralph Castro greatly influenced our interest in traditional CMA...I understand Alan and Mario have been teaching Kali that past 15 or so years but no mantis...

[mantid55]

I understand they took up Kali under Datu Ben Largusa about 20 years ago and do not teach mantis. Google Magdangal School of Kali.

[mantis108]

Cool, thanks for the info. Are either of those two currently teaching?

[mantid55]

I heard they gave up mantis and went to learn Kali and JKD. You might google Magdangal School of Kali in California.

[AsianAmerican68]

These are "The Two Brothers", Alan and Mario, who were easily Sifu Lai's best two students way back in 1968. Alan is the older one with the beard. They got their Level-1 "Certificate", issued and signed by Sifu Lai's Teacher in Hong Kong in less than one year... just amazing!

I still recognize Alan's double-kick... he raises his hip just before letting loose, and it's unmistakable if you know to look for it.

[cfG21]

are they filipino?

[mc2dyy]

why want the mantis hook shown in there

[mantis108]

it allows for trapping/intercepting in lieu of only grabbing or deflecting

[rain2298]

Very nice. I would love to see some videos of students this good in the present day. Sadly, I don't think that there are any.

[AeiusCercle]

Some of us are working on that...this day and age makes it a bit more difficult to practice when we need to work day-jobs for self-sustenance however.

[SifuPat]

great northern mantis kung fu

[incogkn]

wushumaro - I'll try to answer your question. This is a "2 man set" on the mantis form Bung Bo. There's 2 sides to the set. It helps both students in understanding & practicing the applications from the form, incluiding couter moves, etc. It also helps the students with there timing, speed, & footwork. My teacher taught me these types of sets as a step before doing full contact sparring.

[wushumaro]

hmm. on second thought. if you look at it in slow-mo, it does look like there's minimum contact... pretty amazing.. can anyone that knows something about hte video care to explain?

[wushumaro]

hmm... I think this isn't free-style sparring. I'm pretty sure it's a sparring set. Which means they have practiced the moves before and is an actual form. I'm pretty sure top masters when they really spar only spar to one real hit. But the fact they can take so many hits without EVER hitting makes it seem like a sparring set. Either way it's really freaking dope!

[patbirder]

love these old videos of the late and honorable Brendan Lai and students- shows how good of a teacher he was.

[shaoboxer]

Rarelly see good sparring like that on the net

[incogkn]

Excellent!

[brutality122]

now that is dedication cause you have to stick with kung fu for a long time to leanr all that and to become so aware

[joshi9999]

THAT is what Kung Fu should look like!!

[kevzeno]

fucking great stuff!!!

[ChanceUK]

good work man, praying mantis is my favourite style