Is Kevin Lee a LEGIT Wing Chun Fighter? 

Wow! Thank you so much and I am really honored. It means a lot to me coming from you sir! It's like you read my mind on your analysis. I was actually thinking about if I move too much I will go out of camera frame during the exchange. 😂

I love Kevin’s and Jesse videos. They are both great at what they do. They are both humble and pleasant to watch

Jesse’s snap kicks are a thing of beauty, perfect execution and his control is spot on. For Kevin, I love his Wing Chun, and his ability to flow effortlessly between styles is better than anyone I’ve seen on RU-vid.

Francis Fong’s Academy teaches how to use wing chun in a street fight situation, he is very intense . I trained there for about 3 years and it was awesome, Kevin is the assistant teacher and when he hits you it feels like he could break your ribs or arm if he wanted.

Not only is Kev an exceptional martial arts he is a super nice humble guy!

Sifu Fong is my SiGung Jason Lau younger brother. Our lineage is Jiu Wan family who was Yip Man's classmate. I started my Wing Chun under Sifu Alan Goldberg in 1996. It is a learning process. In time Kevin's Wing Chun will change. Demo mode is like nice guy mode. I was once like this. And then I had real fights. And shit got different. My background was as a bouncer in NYC nightclubs. And later as a cop working at Harlem Hospitals Psych ward. A place where I fought almost everyday. Thank God I left that job. But it changed my Wing Chun for the better.

I used to doubt Wing Chun until I heard Erik Paulson explain how Wing Chun helps him in Jiu Jitsu. Sold.

Kevin and Jesse did a great one on a kata break down from a wing chun perspective

I've been following these guys, Kevin Lee, Jesse Enkamp, Icy Mike for a long time to help round out my martial arts knowledge. I found your channel through recommendations from theirs. I think you are dead accurate on your review. Even when I play uke, I have to mentally prepare to allow the tori to complete the technique without trying to defend or counter it. Thanks for being honest in all your reviews.

Great video and analysis, Dom! I agree 100% Win, lose, or draw, I love to see spirited training and testing. That's how we all improve.

Great to see a new one from you on YT, Dom. Still enjoying your instructional vids...thanks for sharing your take on WC.Great stuff!!!

Thank you for making this video

Fantastic breakdown! The content all of you put out is definitely insightful.

Loving every second of this

Really good analysis thanks!

Yes he is legitimate, he's my instructor and he is very knowledgeable!.

Keep’em coming Dom. I check on your channel every now and then to see if you dropped any new content.

Izzo great to see you back on RU-vid love your content

Very good thanks for sharing

Cool channel mate, nice vid

This was great comment. Your insights are 💯.

Became a follower of his channel when he did the showing some ideas on training in fall/winter jackets and how they enable realistic work on so many concepts. He has grown massively since then, and I love to see it. His CSW stuff is what I enjoy most from him, even more than his WC stuff. But, It’s certainly a good channel all around.

Great video. It takes a confident person to be humble enough to compliment other people online, like Dominic did with Kevin and Jesse.

I absolutely love Kevin.

Kevin rocks. Well rounded martial artist who comes across super humble and calls everyone Sir! I’d love to see a reshoot of this video with Jessie with a wider view so we actually do get to see Kevin’s movements and forward pressure and if a smaller man can apply WC against a larger man…….like it was supposedly designed for.

Kevin, Seth, Mike, and Jesse are all very smart to cooperate together like they have been. Also, by doing so they are almost forced into cross-training and improving themselves. Seth actually met up with Erik Paulson!! The logical conclusion is that they will all end up "Inosanto guys" just like Kevin. Most of them did the Ultimate Self Defense Championship and I thought that was great; excited to see more people try that out.

I've seen very experienced WingChun guys completly off balancing a struggling opponent many times, just by holding them with one hand.

18:39 min mark, correction: Sifu Francis Fong, NOT Sifu Augustine Fong.

I don't know you, and this is your first video that I watched, but my respect for you is already off the roof. I agree with you. From one martial artist to another, I look forward to seeing more of your videos.

Nice! Very well analyzed in my opinion! Good, balanced point of view! 😃👍

Great critique Izzo and the "Kevin's demo mode" insight, is brilliant. 👏

I totally agree with you...Kevin seems to be such a cool person.

Agreed. A good and fair assessment.

I'd love to see you cover Eric Paulson, maybe check out some of his fights...as I believe there's so much wing chun in it, especialy because whenever I point to that mma gym bros say I'm forcing wing chun everywhere...

"It's like his mind is in demo mode" I think that's a good analysis. The thing that stood out to me when I first saw that video is the fact that Kevin has pointed out on multiple occasions that they don't actually use the traditional wing chun stance in sparring or fighting, only for drills. So here, it seems like his intention was to "demonstrate" (bringing up the demo word again) traditional looking wing chun for the sake of a fun video. Despite what is written in the video, Kevin does not seem at all concerned with "winning" this exchange!

Alright Izzo just showed Kevin some love.... Just went to search for that guy on RU-vid and subscribed to his channel....

I fully agree. I also like to say, "you will a vicious 15-20 secs out of me survive that and you have probably won."

I like the tone of the intro!

There is a lot more evidence of Kevin's legit martial arts skills than many other MA "experts" on YT, and the others he often associates with, Jesse Enkamp, Icey Mike etc. are good company. Kevin is a class act, very humble and curious about many MA, I think he has earned a BJJ black belt also. He was among the first WC oriented YT guys who gave me cause to reconsider my evaluation of WC as something much less than its potential.

"Whatever comes out of my fist is Wing Chun." Yes. Thank you.

Yes, what Francis is doing to Kevin is what we call uprooting. It takes a long time to develop rooting and Chi in Wing Chun, but it is part of the system. Except most WC schools don't even know it exists. Kevin and I are actually from the same lineage. Sifu Fong is famous for his paks. He can pak from any position. I learned WC from Sifu Fong's Si hing's J. Lau side, which emphasizes more softness and sensitivity. I am not a disciple of Sifu J. Lau but I am a beneficiary of his style. Most WC schools do not teach sensitivity, but it is a real thing. When I have a bridge, I can feel you thinking about launching a strike before it happens. It's because the muscle pressure tenses and I can feel the change in pressure. Kevin, Sifu Izzy is correct about you not stepping forward. If you had crashed in, none of those kicks would have worked and WC has more efficient hands. Unfortunately, most WC guys forget the rule about stepping back. We only yield one step if someone is overwhelmingly stronger, but after the step back, you bounce back into forward mode. That is why all the WC guys lose in matches. They lose their WC and try to be a boxer when they know nothing about boxing.

This is the I Izzo love to follow!!! I know you can't make everyone happy. The angry Izzo I stopped listening. I'm back now...this is the knowledge base I love seeing and hearing from from Izzo. I like Kevin also. You're a beast Izz, coming from a K Mazza student of 20+ yrs. 👍🏿... Can't wait for more....love your insight!

kevin is awesome; sifu fong is such a king

A great example of getting pulled out of balance was when I was taking a class with a high level teacher and as he was moving to show us something he legitimately tripped over one of the mats that was sticking up and stumbled. Then he stopped everything and said "Did you guys see that? Here I am , 30 years of experience , bunch of black belts and other cool stuff, I got my own school and I'm teaching these classes , and for that split second NONE of that shit mattered.I was helpless. THAT'S what we are trying to create here. "

Great stuff! Yes, I agree, Kevin and Jesse are both great martial artists! :)

Kevin is legit ambassador for the arts....super nice guy and ALWAYS responds to my posts. He 100% knows his stuff.

Sifu Keith Mosher from Columbia, SC had us go to a seminar at Francis Fongs academy in Georgia... Them boys know what they're talking about. That was probably 6 years ago, I'm sure things have only gotten better with time. Kevin was very advanced then, by just observing you could tell he would be teaching himself one day. A Fine group of Martial Scientists.

Right on the mark. A few points: Yes, Sifu Lee is about about your height. He might be 5'6" or 5'7". It is Sifu *Francis* Fong - there is a Sifu Agustus Fong, but that is someone else. Sifu Francis Fong is my Sifu - and yes, in real life, he will move in on you like lightening. I have trained with and along side of Sifu Kevin Lee. He is exceptional.

Kevin Lee is Ligit. Period. And he seems to be a really great guy!

You may have covered him before, I may have missed it. But I suggest checking out Guru Billy brown He’s more focused on the JKD/Kali aspects, but has produced some bits of wing chun . Would love to see your thoughts on him

Agreed! Check out his video from a few weeks ago with Erik Paulson; ground game wing chun, awesome.

Can you do a vid on John Lob? Gary Lam student

I'm familiar with some of your videos and to be honest you I misinterpreted some of them largely in part because I wasn't paying attention enough! Now that I am I like what your doing and

Great video. Kevin is a well rounded martial artist. He has a video sparring with Jeff Chan-mmashredded. Which was a great video, he was challenged to a different art per round. Also, he skills shined. As an outsider to wing chun the drills look short and dont follow through. But i hear you about reflexes and sensitivity. What I see is most wing chun and most martial artist think one and done. With no follow-up or counter. Just my pov

I have been a martial artist since my mid-teens and am now 70 years old. My first art was Wing Chun under Sifu Joseph Cheng in the early 1970sand I trained for 15 years until the school closed. Since then I have trained in Boxing and, TKD. Nowadays I only do Yoga and Tai Chi to remain healthy. I have to say I have seen so many bullshiters who give WC a bad name. Sifu Izzo is not one of them, he reminds me of my great teacher Sifu Cheng, and trust me that is the highest compliment I can pay! After seeing this I will check Kevin Lee, Sifu Izzo's recommendation is good enough for me!

the mass difference doesn t count that much if there is no problem of grappling or ko power.

In boxing we call it the sparring partner mentality.

Hes Learning From Sifu Fong hes Legit for show

Alan Baker is also an instructor of Chinese Boxing. CBII.

Very good video! I noticed that also on Kevin being taken off balance by Fong, you can't fake that on video. You can try, but a skilled fighter can tell if it's fake or not, and that was totally real, him being taken off balance. Mad respect for that short of him and Jesse. It takes guts showing you losing on video.

This is good. Ive been doing martial arts for over thirty years. First time i met a Wing Chun practitioner was a rude awakening. all my training came from Chicago. Before jumping into Kung-Fu in 1996, i was just doing TKD and Shorin Ryu Karate. A Wing Chun practitioner heard of me and my leg speed. My hands were fast also but limited. I met this guy in 1992. I got my ass whooped by this wing chun guy. I literally would have gotten killed. what did i do, bought a Wing Chun dummy and worked my hands, joined Northern Shaolin classes in 1996, all because i couldn't answer to any of his strikes. You can't handle that kind of speed, and I'm fast.

Look carefully at round 1 - kevin lee would have got jesse with a ending throat hit but held back then got pushed. Izzo you’re a legend and thanks for everything you do for Wing Chun. I would LOVE to see a vid with you and Kevin Lee.

I don't know Kevin, but I've been following him since COVID and I've learned a lot from his channel. First, the fact that he's a top student of Francis Fong says a lot, because Sifu Fong is a master's master by any standard. Second, he trains a lot of arts and he doesn't just table in them -- he's high quality in muay thai, savate, BJJ, and catch wrestling. Third, he has a great sense of cross-connecting those arts...his videos on applying Wing Chun techniques to boxing and wrestling are very thoughtful. A couple observations on the video... 1) Jesse is much bigger. 2) Jesse looks like he's going harder. 3) I agree Kevin is trying to present technique more than he's trying to fight. He's showing great hand speed and technique, but there's not a lot of aggression. He's not going after eyes and throat. He's not trying to fuk sao the neck and finish with elbows. etc. That's not because he doesn't know. I've seen him do it in other videos. Like you said, he's being a good partner and putting on a good show. 4) Even having said #3, lets talk about the fighting on its own merits. You can still see points in the video where Kevin does get the jump on the initial phase of the engagement (because his hands are so fucking fast), but doesn't exploit the advantage to finish. Round 1, he wins the initial hand exchange and he touches Jesse's chin when Jesse pushes him into the head kick. If Kevin had been "fighting" instead of "presenting", that chin touch is an eye or throat strike and that exchange proceeds very differently. Rounds 2 and 5, Kevin just flat out beats him on hand speed and Jesse sort of acknowledges that he's been hit in the face. Round 3 and 6 Jesse defers the trapping fight (which is not his game), steps back and fires a good kick. Kevin didn't do anything wrong really...he gets beat because Jesse is no scrub. Round 4, Jesse kind of bodies him with size...Kevin's defense is decent and maybe Kevin would have denied the sweep and clipped him on the jaw, maybe not. Thats not anything to do with his Wing Chun, its just size differential. Round 7, Jesse actually wins the trapping fight and fires a kick that would have knocked anyone out. Thats just Jesse being really good -- incidentally, it also shows how Okinawan karate is a cousin of Wing Chun. Would Kevin have done better in Rounds 3, 6, and 7 if he'd crashed the line? Maybe, maybe not. If Kevin doesn't get the initial burst on Jesse (like he did in Rounds 1, 2, and 5) to seize the initiative, then he's just running into a bigger dude and he's apt to get bodied and swept (because that's what Jesse's Okinawan Karate excels at).

🥋 OSU 🥋 Greetings from the Netherlands

His MT and BJJ look good, but I’ve always thought he doesn’t apply enough forward pressure with the WC. He allows too much space snd looks glued to the floor. It’s like he gets stuck in demo/drill mode of doing WC with someone instead of doing WC to someone.

Yea, no respect for drills. I agree.

Let's think about, what if Kevin Lee and Jesse Encamp fought each other, for real. First, Kevin Lee would be a lot more aggresssive. This is coming from a Hung Gar practitioner. Similarly to Hung Gar, in Wing Chun, the principle in fighting is to always be attacking, always be pushing your opponent backwards. Lee was not pushing Jesse backwards. And if you don't push a taller opponent back, then the taller opponent will get to create space in order to land their punches and kicks more effectively. If you noticed in the first round, Jesse had to push Kevin in order to get that side kick in. If he doesn't push Kevin, that kick lands way past Kevin and isn't effective. If Kevin was more aggressive, he would have trapped the arms that Kevin used to push him and then deliver a kick, head-butt, or elbow. Also, Wing Chun kicks would be effective in disabling Jesse's legs. Also Kevin could've employed leg blocks. I'm sure Kevin's legs must be like stacks of bricks by now, having trained on the wooden dummy, in kick parrying. A couple of nice parries would have destroyed Jesse's legs and ability to kick. And I think, training in kung fu in general, trains your body to be able to withstand more punishment during a fight than other disciplines. I mean, c'mon, what other practioners train with a wooden dummy or punch large vats full of rice? I'm just saying that Kevin could probably take a few kicks from Jesse and keep going. But in that 5th round, Kevin's punch would've ended that fight, because it would've been right to the face, completely unblocked.

A lot of people on the internet, having no real substance to their own lives. And so that means that they have to put other systems/people down to feel better about themselves.

Hell yeah. Kevin lee's awesome. I follows youtube channel . Seems like a really cool guy. It would be cool Meet. And training with.

I think guys need Master Wong!

I think Kevin is a great content creator, but one thing I don't love watching him and Francis Fong is that the hands are fast, but it doesn't look like they have much forward energy from the legs or body, they are mostly just standing there. THEN...when you watch him vs Jesse, look at how he never really has pressure, he doesn't understand distance, and Jesse mostly gets him by controlling range and Kevin often shoots out strikes that don't reach him. I'm not surprised that you picked up on that because of everyone on RU-vid you probably have the best forward pressure. My point is that the forward pressure should be there in his training with his instructor, there's no point in chi sao without leg pressure

Love your channel but the best wing Chun is really Hsing I. Keep up the good work.

Wonderful video and I loved your comments. I think the problem here is you have two, extremely skilled martial artists, of linear systems galore. Wing Chun and Shotokan both dislike going diagonal ( in my experience from training) . So,in the end it became a matter of size, not skill,in the clip. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Kevin does sound like a nice guy

Drills build skills

Totally agree with your appraisal of Kevin's skills. His Alan Baker and Erik Paulson videos are great viewing just to mention two recent ones. His work with Francis Fong is always entertaining as well as educational. With all of his videos he is out sized and out weighed. And I suspect you're right re the flaws being his kind nature and time being Sifu Fong's demo partner for RU-vid promotional purposes

Francis Fong

When I saw the video I thought the exact same thing as you. He looked way too static. Having watched videos of him sparring he's got much more mobility in speed than evidenced here. Granted Enkamp has a lot of physical advantages, and he's no one to be taken lightly, but I think Kevin Lee's showing here was far below what he's capable of. As you noted, it almost seems like he was in demo mode. He seems to have a very humble nature and likely that works against him in these kind of settings.

Every martial art out there has drills that don't look exactly or translate directly to combativr techniques...judokas do the throw entry drills, boxers hit the speed bag, wrestlers lean their foreheads and grip fight, wing chun guys do chi sao drills....what's so wrong with that? NOTHING!

You have alot of keyboard warriors on Y T, Common comment is, That ain't gonna work. What these morons should say, is, it's not going to work for them. I've seen many videos of folks getting bums to get in the ring with them, and calling them Wing Chun. I do respect Kevin Lee, he's a humble great guy, and i respect what he does. Brings in many different people who studies different arts, and he pressure tests what he has learned. As for Jessie Encamp, i have tons of respect for this dude, he exposed a lot of popular style B. S.., and he is a kind man. I loved his video on the U F C, after the 1st 7 of the U F C's, i lost interest. It is Scripted entertainment on the bigger matches. The lower card fighters fight their butts off for peanuts. And for the record, i am not a Bruce Lee fan boy, he had some good ideas, but he was an actor, you can't get in a real fight then go on set with a banged up face, come on, it's all P. R., public relations B. S.. Bruce ,(To my Knowledge) only trained In W. C. for under 3 years, he tried to fill his void of limited Knowledge with other arts. I get a little tired of people praising a dead actor as the greatest fighter of all time. M.M.A. is good training, but it is for the cage under controlled rules, try going to your back and beg someone to roll around with you on the street, see how well that works out for you. Just my 2 cents, good video sir.

What’s interesting is you’re one of the teachers who can look at a video and tell a persons level. Most of the so called martial artists I’ve seen in comments can’t do that

Where is kevins wing chun?

I could be wrong Izzy but anyone that trolls around interviewing other Martial artist isn't concentrating. Short Asian guys like us are not like Manny or the Monster or Izzy for that matter. So! great question! 💔

Hey Dom, have seen Sifu Goksel Erdogan ( Ving Tsun guy) out of Germany...would love to get your take on his skill. Thanks.

Like boxing mittwork

I really love all of his stuff, only issue I take is that "selling" what your Sifu does only harms the art as it is playing the victim. The jolty expressions look good for newbies but awful for combat sports guys, in reality he should be letting tension go and training his own stuff, even during demonstration. The beginner steps like a normal reaction to a jut should just be skipped over or explained methodically like in class. Rather than being forced to watch the same mistakes over and over. Again, love his stuff

Never heard of him 😂

I respect anyone who will mix it up with Jesse Encamp, he fights with his brother all the time who is a pro mma guy, and Jesse has mixed it up with bare knuckles guys in the karate world, he also has reach on Keven, so respect to Kevin, his haters wouldn’t do this with Jesse.

Izzo, Kevin is legit! i believe, he is older than you i was a student of Sifu Fong , Kevin was senior student, i believe he has an engineering degree, i was with them both, at the school in midtown Atlanta, early 80's

What would happen if Jessie did wing chun for 6 months and Kevin did point fighting for 6 months then did the video again

Kevin is good, he wasnt using any forward energy against the karate guy though. The karate guy had forward energy and he won. If Kevin had used some forward energy he would have won.

Makes me laugh when people look at a drills and treat it as that is the fight. No ones goung to chi sau or hubud for 20 minutes in a fight, thats not what's its for , you'll use 1 maybe 2, 3 of the moves at a time . Its a complete misunderstanding of what's been showed . I watch jesse a lot by missed that video kevin should have maybe moved forward and used kicks with jesse but didnt oh well . Jesse has far more experience of dealing with other styles

From the beginning to at least 5:35 you can not see any fakery on lee's part. Notice his feet and body as Sifu Fong draws him in so quick and controlling that he (Lee) is at an angle trying to pull away. Buy the way, Sifu Fong is just on another level of the arts. To tell my story with him even I would not believe. But I was there.

16:10 💀💀💀

At and before again the stance Lee takes is one that is a training stance. For wing Chun it is good. It is almost a mutual respect stance. After that it comes down to whom ever is proficient with his hands. Not so with the Karate master. It is only the begin point. The kick to Lee's head is evidence to that. One boxer showed me by immediately invading my space and literally burying his head on my chest and very tight hooks and body punches and not allowing me to back up was all she wrote. Lee's static stance was the equivalent of a 120 lb punching and kicking bag. This was a huge reason Bruce Lee abandon Wing Chun proper. Just one man's opinion.

I think you do a bit much with the defending, regarding Savate then Kevin sure is dangerous, has shown it many times. Regarding Wing Chun, Kevin still has a lot of work to do. If you watch attentively you see that Jesse takes a lot of stable positions, Jesse himself had these tests done already a lot of times in the Karate Nerd in China Series and in Okinawa. Even if Kevin would have flipped the switch, he would have ended beeing destroyed like the big number from China. Do you know Ding Hao? Even his teacher got embarassed, when a boxer put one hand behind his back and won only with jabs. A lot of people training these old shaolin styles seem to missing the fundamentals, they only fight at one of the three doors. For Kevin to elbow jesse, he would have needed to get over the bridge, this is beyond Kevins skill at the moment. After seeing your make up of your channel, i kind of expected a little more honesty and down to earth attitude.

Wonderboy Thompson KICK = nite nite.....NO I do NOT want to fight a life long dedicated Karate guy or Wing Chun guy.😊

Not very familiar with him, I saw him in one of Jesse's videos before tho. For some reason he reminds me of Adam Chan with hair lol

It's pretty simple, really. Watch a class. If non-cooperative, hard contact sparring isn't a regular part of class and when sparring the students are doing what appears to be crappy kick boxing then the chances are the answer is "No", none of them are real.

Choy Lee Fut??