Yuri Boyka vs Chen Zhen

Does Yuri have what it takes to beat the mighty Chen Zhen? I will be using Jet Li's Chen for this battle. Takes place in the same dojo minus the people. Chen Zhen thinks Yuri killed his master.

@i_like_swords Can Yuri do it? :P

@darthaznable: Close fight, for sure, but based on that video alone I'll take Boyka. It was impressive that he solo'd so many of those students, but they were just that - students. He was one shotting a lot of them with pretty weak blows and even collectively, they were pretty weak sauce. Likewise with the guy Chen fought later - Boyka has defeated better. Chen himself is a skilled fighter, and skilled enough to rival Boyka, but based on what I've seen so far Boyka is stronger, can take a bigger beating, and is just as skilled (if anything, more skilled).

@i_like_swords: Possibly but Chen wasn't even trying. The whole fight was more of just a joke to him. Chen is highly capable of changing up as need be and is pretty fast. As you saw his punches and kicks weren't that weak. It takes quite a bit of force to push someone that far. Yes I know the floor was slippery but in other instances like picking a guy up by his nuts. That's crazy imo. Here's another fight he had where the guy went Taskmaster. I will admit Yuri has crazy agility but that won't be a problem for Chen, he is well grounded and has remarkable balance. It takes quite a lot of force to knock him down and even then he just rebounds immediately.

I wouldn't say that they were weak, especially since he was throwing them around the room just with his kicks alone.

@darthaznable: Likewise, Boyka and fighters of his caliber are capable of kicking and punching people across rooms in a similar manner. I'd say strength is equal although Boyka did kick straight through a wooden bench so I may give him the nod there.

They have a very similar fighting style, although Boyka's is a little bit more acrobatic. They both make use of fist, open palm, and elbow strikes, as well as a variety of kicks and even headbutts. There's no real way to distinguish between their skill levels on that field, but there a few distinct advantages Boyka has in my opinion.

He's the more resilient combatant. Sure, Chen can take a beating, but he hasn't taken the shots Boyka has to the chin and bounced back. He also hasn't fought through a tournament of the world's best fighters with a near-broken kneecap and still won. More than that, Boyka is so durable he actually uses his own head, and as well as punches, to block strikes, injuring his opponent in the process. In fact, in this fight where Boyka is injured, he ends it by using his injured knee to complete shatter the other guys leg:

I also feel like Boyka has proven to have a better grappling and ground game, which is an important edge. He's shown a variety of submission holds, reversals and has a solid ground and pound. That coupled with his arguably superior strength and durability, should allow him to take a small majority over the equally skilled Chen. In my opinion.

I didn't say all of his blows were weak. I was saying, he was one shotting a few of them with shots that were weak. Shots that Boyka could ride pretty easily. Not saying he is weak or that those weak shots were necessarily his best shots, but if those students are the type of opponents who will fall to such weak strikes, then it doesn't necessarily prove he can defeat Boyka.

@i_like_swords: Well of course they're similar. Chen is using JKD which is what I would call pre-MMA. Chen utilizes boxing, kung fu, fencing, and even a little bit of jujitsu. 1:13 The force from his punch is so hard it moves the skin on the guys face without his fist actually touching him. The fight is incredibly fast and as shown, Chen is able to pin point where to hit his opponents open spot and counter accordingly thanks to boxing and fencing training studying. The guy kicks through cinder block fence thing and Chen takes his kicks and punches like they were nothing. Half the fight he didn't even want to really fight the guy. Again at the end of the fight he shows another good strength feat by sending the guy flying.

I will admit Yuri has a good pain tolerance and his ground game is better due to his emphasis on it. Chen imo should be able to barrage him and like I said before, counter Yuri's attacks according. Chen, even when mad never loses his cool. If Chen see's Boyka is injured he will continually attack that spot.

All chen needs to do is see yuri's leg then its game over. If yuri can take it ( which I've seen him do) then he could win. Nice match though.

@darthaznable: I'm not in disagreement, he is fast. But honestly I think part of the speed is just due to the pacing and style of the film. I mean, blowing a small gust of wind through a guys face with a 6 inch punch?

I still stand by my initial points, but I will say that if you are including Boyka's knee injury in this fight, he should lose, because there is no real way of getting around that disadvantage. However, if his knee is healed, Boyka should be able to win a 6/10 IMO.

@i_like_swords: Well yeah. It was post Bruce Lee so no one was as fast so camera's were sped up a bit to emulate it. But for the battle Boyka is healed. Both are in peak performance. I only used the injury reference just in case Chen manages to injure him. I would say if it gets on the ground, Boyka has the capability to pummel Chen while standing he, I think Chen would be able to out react him or just throw a barrage. Imo it's a stalemate giving all the possible outcomes. GG :D

Chen Zhen win in a close fight

Boyka takes this. His durability feats are crazily high. If he is pissed off he wins the fight automatically. Zhen will tag him more than what Yuri will do to Zhen, but he'll brush it off. Boyka almost has a move for almost any possible disadvantage position. If Boyka puts him to the ground, it could be game over there. Boyka is also very unpredictable with his movement.