This is factually incorrect.
Sanda is a rules set (actually, a group of rules sets) not a martial art. Sport sanda is trained as an independent rules set, but it's not much like kickboxing for a number of reasons:
1) You can't stall in sanda, so people don't pace themselves with jabs and probing shots. The strategy using in boxing and kickboxing, to enter, score and leave is useless in Sanda.
2) Clinchfighting doesn't resemble boxing, kickboxing or Muay Thai, because throws are common scoring techniques.
Sanda's core techniques come from a synthesis of kung fu (including mongolian wrestling and shuai chiao) and *maybe* sambo, because we know sanda was partly based on the standardization that created sambo and there was some cross-country exchange of instructors. It hasn't taken much from Muay Thai because Muay Thai strategies don't work well in sanda matches and vice versa. But kung fu schools compete using the rules set pretty often using whatever mix of techniques they prefer. Tai Chi sanda players usually go for standing sweeps and throws from the clinch.
Sanda is actually related to old style leitai fighting, which has also been standardized in Taiwan.
Sanda does reflect what CMA is about in that there's no ground game. It's CMA's big weakness, but CMA's general strategy is to knock a person down without accompanying them to the ground. This is a terrible idea in an MMA rules set, but it works fine as self-defense -- and better than pulling guard against a stable, standing opponent.
The observation that competitive fighters will do better is inane. This is true in any field. Most kung fu/CMA practice is designed to support a civil, casual practice, and in that sense it works quite well, as long as there's a good amount of progressive sparring.
