Front Stance vs Side Stance

Here is what I have learned about side vs front stances over the last year (before this year I used an unorthodox side stance in kumite point fighting in the late 80's, and in the 90's moved to a front orthodox stance as I learned K-1 Rules Kickboxing under Vern Miller.) First and most importantly, there are a lot of misunderstandings due to perspective, literally, which lead to a lot of vocabulary problems when it comes to talking about this. To illustrate, here's a screen shot on the basic kickboxing (with leg kicks) fighting stance from a Kwonkicker video:

It looks like two different stances, a longer almost side stance from left and right POV, and a shorter front stance from a front and back POV. BUT IT'S THE SAME STANCE! When watching a fighter and trying to figure out if they are using a long or short stance, you can't just look at it from one POV.

This is a problem when discussing martial arts in general. Most Traditional Martial Arts (TMA) have this stance or something nearly identical. Yet many TMA instead of sparring from this stance in their kata, choose to do other stances to help them win points in foot-fencing competitions (Kumite Point Fighting.) This is a problem when trying to figure out what techniques are found in kata/forms. 

Let's take Tai Chi as an example. Yang Style is the most common style of Tai Chi in the world and varies so much in differences in technique that some Yang Style schools are not recognizable as doing the same kata or forms. Most of the Yang style movements are supposed to be done from a stance similar to what Kwonkicker is showing above. However a lot of Yang Style practitioners have a much narrower stance more similar to a side stance. This is a problem because:

1. It changes the application of the moves in the kata, long stance suggesting more 1890 style bare knuckle boxing technique, short stance suggesting more of a Mongolian Wrestling type of technique.
2. It changes the footwork immensely. When they step in the kata are they keeping their feet apart with a front stance like in Muay Thai, or are they bringing their feet together to cover more distance like in a stepping side kick?

The two most influential Yang Style masters in the West as far as I can tell are Chen Man Ching and Hu Yuen Chou, who would have both had Yang Style lineage directly from the Yang Family before Wu Shu had it's way with Yang Style. Chen Man Ching was bluntly obvious about using a front stance:

But many of Hu Yuen Chou's students intentionally bring their feet together when stepping, and use a long narrow stance more similar to a side stance:

In that 1987 footage from Hong Kong, my original Tai Chi instructor Vern Miller was there. He took very careful notes on this, and Vern was adamant that Hu Yuen Chou insisted on front stance. Why the differences in Hu Yeun Chou's students? Perspective, see the Kwonkicker picture above.

There are many fighters who make the side stance work for them - Bill Wallace and Floyd Mayweather come to mind as undefeated champions. Yet I would argue that short stance fighting is better for self defense partially because it is more focused on the Knock Out, like what you would see with Mike Tyson or Manny Paqcuio. But recently I started watching a long stance fighter who is a KO artist, and he absolutely defies my theory here, Deontay Wilder: 

As I have mentioned before, there is actually a front stance AND a side stance in MANY different martial arts, including the Choy Li Fut I did (my K-1 Rules Kickboxing and Tai Chi training was part of my Choy Li Fut training.) What Deontay Wilder's KO punches look like are side stance Choy Li Fut techniques:

There's lots of people now in MMA using Kumite Point Fighting errors, such as dropping their hands, using a very long sideways stance, using an unorthodox stance, and so on. However, sooner or later, this is going to catch up with you:

 

From a martial arts consumer advocate perspective, the front stance is preferable:

1. Your over all striking habits will be better, in general it is the preferred stance in MMA even if some fighters defy orthodoxy.
2. You will learn to fight faster (Muay Thai because of it's efficient focus on teaching stand up fighting through light-yet-continuous sparring, is the fastest way to pick up actionable self defense skill. Same is generally true of Sanda and Knock Down Karate as well. The tricky high kicks of side stance styles will take longer to learn and be less effective.)
3. You will be better prepared for combining grappling with your striking, because the front stance is far better for sprawling and avoiding leg sweeps than the side stance is.