Macaque attack! Chinese martial artist gets into a punch-up with some MONKEYS after trying to pet wild animal

This is the moment a kung fu expert squares up to a fang-baring monkey for what looks like some serious gorilla warfare.

The man, identified as free fighter Mr Xie, took on a feisty Tibetan macaque during a visit to Mount Emei, in south-western China’s Sichuan Province.

Footage of their scrap enraged some social media users who said he should have stayed further away from the wild animal.

Others who have visited the mountain thought it was a fitting payback towards monkeys that are notorious for ambushing tourists for their food.

The scrap began when Mr Xie tried to pet one of the macaques.

In the video, as he touches the monkey, it attacks him and he counters with a jab, leaning over the railing to deliver more blows.

While his back is turned, another macaque rushes in to defend his pal and Mr Xei drives it off with a flurry of air punches.

Tourists watched on in apparent disbelief while filming the strange martial arts bout and later shared the images on social media.

A few days later, Mr Xie also posted footage of the scrap on Douyin – TikTok’s Chinese counterpart – in response to online attention.

He said that he practices free fighting, so when the monkey sneaked in a punch, he swung back as a reflex.

He said: ‘Of course, I held back. After all, they are protected animals. I have to let them go, I just wanted to scare them off.

‘Certainly, this kind of behaviour is definitely wrong, so please don’t imitate it.’

Officials appealed to the public to keep their distance from the monkeys.

Douyin user Baba wrote: ‘After all these years, someone finally stood up to the monkeys.’

Another user posted: ‘He has done things that countless people want to do but do not dare’.