Chinese kung fu, or martial arts, or whatever you'd like to call it, is world famous.

Movies featuring kung fu stars (like good old Bruce Lee, or Jackie Chan) beating their opponents up with cool, brilliant and sometimes humorous moves are well known on every continent.

‍But despite the spectacular movies, you may have asked yourself: could kung fu really help me in the real world?

A "mixed martial arts" (MMA) coach in China put it to the test a week ago. He beat a master of tai chi, a traditional Chinese martial art form, in just ten seconds, in a face-off that was live-streamed and widely watched online.

Fierce debate has been going on ever since the fight, asking whether tai chi masters are cheaters who cannot really fight.

While classified as a martial art form, tai chi is a much slower and more philosophical discipline than other forms of kung fu, with many people practicing it for its health benefits.

MMA has grown in popularity in the West in recent years, and combines multiple disciplines from various cultures such as kickboxing, wrestling, Muay Thai and Judo.

The debate over whether or not tai chi can really be used to fight is so hot, that even Chinese Internet tycoon Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba Group, has weighed in.

He seems to be on the side of tai chi, saying "of course tai chi can be useful in fighting" in his 1,500-word article posted on Weibo, a popular microblog in China.

"I've been a 'poser-fan' of kung fu for many years," Ma said, citing his years spent reading kung fu novels and learning tai chi.

He also explained his personal understanding of tai chi, by saying "tai chi was not born to fight. Fighting is only a part of the philosophy."

For Ma, the tai chi form used in fighting is different from "tai chi in the parks", referring to the activity seen across China which is only a form of exercise for people to keep healthy.

"But MMA was created for fighting from day one," Ma added.

Ma was disdainful of the tai chi vs. MMA fight, saying they could not be compared.

"It's like saying 'basketball is better than football' just because people score more points in basketball."

Ma's words received more than 15,000 Weibo comments hours after being posted on Thursday morning. The comments were very mixed, just like those about the fight.

The most up-voted comment is a simple "cool", while another hot post said "we 'support' the MMA coach just because we're fed up with cheaters faking tai chi."

But some said "even a business genius like Ma can be fooled by tai chi cheats."

Kung fu and MMA fans can expect more fights coming up, with the MMA fighter mentioned above, Xu Xiaodong, calling out for challengers online.