"If you're talking about combat, I mean, as it REALLY is – with NO rules -- well then, baby you'd better train EVERY part of your body!" (-- Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview)
Pages115-123 of the published version of Bruce Lee’s, “The Tao of Jeet Kune Do,” over 90% of this chapter on Grappling, done in his own hand, could pass for a UFC training manual! The man was very familiar with grappling! Is it any wonder that, two years ago, former manager of both Chuck Lidell and Tito Ortiz, and now president of the UFC, and producer of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Dana White, publicly acknowledged Lee's apparent abilities, ending by even calling Lee the father of modern mixed martial arts:
What does White know? Some of his credential’s: "I boxed in the amateurs before getting into submission fighting and got hooked. Actually, I owned three boxing gyms in Vegas. I trained and managed fighters and had a sports management company. One day I met Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell, who I started representing, and I got into this huge contract negotiation with Bob Meyerwitz, the former owner of Tito Ortiz’s contract….It’s a little tough for the traditional martial artists to swallow, because one system doesn’t do it. You’ve got to cross-train in many different systems. Actually, the father of mixed martial arts, if you will, was Bruce Lee. If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no style. You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away."
http://www.knucklepit.com/mixed-mart...dana_white.htm
Legendary boxers, Sugar Ray Leonard and Hector Camacho, and a host of others, have all noted, on separate occasions, that they were absolutely in awe of Lee's obvious fighting skills. From watching what - actual Bruce Lee fight footage? I doubt it. But from observing his speed, timing, understanding of a fight, etc., as demonstrated in his films and film clips of him in action. Remember, these guys are masters at detecting their opponent's strengths, weaknesses, timing, strategy, and so on, during pre-fight analysis of films of their opponent’s movements. They can read skill from movement!
“Alongside Muhammad Ali, he [Lee] is cited as a major influence by many K-1 and MMA champions: Bas Rutten, Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons, Wanderlei Silva, Emilianenko Fedor, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto, Rob Kaman, Ramon Dekkers, Frank Shamrock, Murilo and Mauricio Rua, Jerome Le Banner, Carlos Newton, Remy Bonjasky, Jeremy Horn, David Loiseau and Tito Ortiz among others.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000045/bio
World renowned MMA/JKD Trainer, and former Bruce Lee student, Larry Hartsell: My first martial art, in 1958 or 1959, was judo. At the same time, I was a high-school wrestler in the light-heavyweight class. From 1967 to 1970, I studied with Bruce [Lee] and Dan [Inosanto] and taught at Ed Parker’s.
Bruce had adopted boxing by then. He [mixed] it with Wing Chun Kung Fu. Also, there were grappling techniques he picked up from Gene LeBell and some stuff from Wally Jay’s small circle jujutsu, which he added to Jeet Kune Do.
Before his death [1973], he had added 33 grappling moves to the Jeet Kune Do concept. He got those from Wally Jay, Gene LeBell and Hayward Nishioka. And he had some chin-na [Chinese close combat skills used to subdue an enemy, and have total control not only of a part of his body but also of his entire body, before finally tying him up , http://www.shaolin.nl/chinna.html>]. and silat [an ancient, vicious, real world South East Asian – Indonesian/Malaysian Knife and Submission fighting system - <http://www.silatlincah.inuk.com/>]. He would mix the arts. He would enter to trapping and take down into a submission. If you read Tao of Jeet Kune Do, you’ll see those grappling [techniques].
http://www.jkdassoc.com/QABlackBeltMag.html
"He (Bruce) was just getting into grappling at that time”(1967) states Larry "and although he (Bruce) himself stated he wasn't very good at it, someone forgot to tell the people he worked out with. He could knock you down, tie you up and choke you out just like you and I would wipe our faces."
http://www.martialarm.com/martial-ar...ordinaire.html
By the way, as someone else recntly pointed out, all Bruce Lee's movies contain some form of grappling in them! How do the last battle in both "Return of the Dragon," (w/ Chuck Noriss) and "Game of Death," (w/Kareem Abdul Jabbar) end?
Joint locking/breaking and grappling choke holds.
The man who even once predicted that one day, something along the lines of today's MMA would be the norm, was simply ahead of his time.
Hey, why don't we start a "trash Miyamoto Mushashi" forum. I mean, he was also supposedly unbeatable, and we're lucky to have even a drawing of him, yet we buy it! Or how about Sun Tzu and his Art of War - another guy who apparently did not leave any video footage of his great battles behind! Worse, neither of these supposedly amazing individuals and astounding strategists (all borrowed), even to this day (!) - all borrowed has one witness alive today who can attest to their great mastery, as Lee does!
The reality is simply that if a Mushashi or a Tzu, or any other "legend" were alive today, they would have their detractors today too. Ali did and still does, for example! So that in the end, Bruce Lee bashing or admiration has nothing to do with "real proof." But with difference of opinion taken as truth. For me, my reality is that he was one incredible individual. You want to believe otherwise, then have at it...
Keep flowing, keep blasting, keep the peace... JKDan
Originally Posted by JKDan
"If you're talking about combat, I mean, as it REALLY is – with NO rules -- well then, baby you'd better train EVERY part of your body!" (-- Bruce Lee: The Lost Interview)
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