The average fight to the death is estimated to last less than 30 seconds.
There are many differences between a martial art adapted for sport and one designed for the battlefield that any martial student should be aware of.
Once a committee sits down and rightly adds rules to a existing combat fighting style to make it safe for competition a large amount of it is usually removed. As the opponents are not permitted to truly go for vital points or cause real damage the athletes tend not to acknowledge their own vitals and use moves and postures that would be fatally open against a weapon fighter. The amount of time spent to safely defeat or tap out a single opponent in the ring is a luxury one cant afford when amidst a group of killers.
Combat arts are based on fighting multiple opponents in real world terrain and rely on killing as quickly as possible. They train to use anything in their environment as a weapon. They use deception and their tactics start where the sport rule books end. Imperial Wu Tang has several complete styles for varying body types and personalities from the powerful to the light, and for the emotional and the intellectual, each of which can stand against the others. Instead of training every type in the same style, Imperial Wu Tang focuses on the strengths of peoples natural abilities.
In a sport the weight classes and abilities are so even that the slightest things make a difference such as cardio, sex, reach, or a few pounds of weight. As a fighter ages he/she looses out to the younger fighter. In a combat system abilities are usually mastered and the fighter becomes more and more lethal much further into life, relying on technique and weapon ability over raw power. Extensive competition is also show to be quite damaging to the brain and body over time, in many cases leaving the fighter unable to continue.
Many people enjoy the thrill of competition, to fight an opponent in a ring at a time of choice. This is something the Imperial Arts cant offer.
Like military systems that prepare one for combat we rely on tested methods, of visualization, equipment, and controlled group matching to temper students abilities for their ultimate test... true combat.
