Since they are choosing the best of techniques and combinging them?
Since they are choosing the best of techniques and combinging them?
Not really. JKD is often misunderstood as a collaboration of "whatever works" and one's "individual way", but it really isn't.
JKD is based around Wing Chun, Boxing, and Savate, mostly. There is a curriculum, set movements, set punches and kicks, and a certification process for instructors.
MMA is generally a mish mash of stand up and grappling. The popular secret sauce these days is Muay Thai and BJJ, but really, it can be anything. I believe San Da is becoming more popular now and more people are turning to that.
addendum: basically every style claims to contain only "the best" techniques. IMO, that's a load of sh!t.
Sports fighting and self-defence are what, in philosophy, would be called different "problematics" - that is, different puzzles that one is trying to solve. These two problematics are related in many ways, and different in others. Consequently there are a lot of people who have/had interests in both.
JKD, in its simplest sense, is the search for what works, for you, primarily in terms of self defence. This means that lots of techniques which can't be used in MMA due to rules restrictions might actually be very important in JKD. It also means many people who possibly couldn't or don't want to do MMA, like people who are disabled, out of condition or just not interested, can learn self-defence techniques which - hopefully - work for them within a JKD curriculum. They could within MMA, I guess, but on a specialist course that looks more like JKD...
So in short, no. JKD - in theory - focuses on self defence and straightforwardly effective techniques in a no or limited rules scenario as its core curriculum. (In reality, a lot of the added fillipino stuff looks very fussy and not simple to me). MMA focuses on what is effective within a specific set of rules. And yet, there are cross-overs between the two, and one would expect that many MMA guys have a good knowledge of self-defence techniques beyond their competitive rule set.
I'd say JKD isn't supposed to be anything after reading BL's books, but he did have a core curriculum he described that's described in this thread. I don't think he had the time to build on it because he died too young... but everything I read lead me to believe that JKD was supposed to be a philosophy you adopt AFTER you spent time learning a core traditional art - the whole canoe across the river but don't carry the canoe once you're on the other shore. Then you were supposed to strip it away to it's fighting essence and cross train and borrow to fill any gaps you perceived.
So yes, in a way MMA is the same as JKD.
Last edited by YouKnowWho; 06-16-2013 at 03:35 PM.
http://johnswang.com
More opinion -> more argument
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JKD isn't a cut and dry issue, unfortunately. Due to this, there's many different answers as to what JKD is. I barely read any of BL's book, but I trained in JKD. All I can really say based on what I know is that:
- JKD was taught to me as a set style. My teachers were certified by Guro Dan Inosanto, who was - at least supposedly - certified by BL
- I haven't been to any other JKD schools, but looking on YouTube, I do get the impression that there is some influence that comes in from other arts.
Then there's the issue of Jun Fan/JKD/JKD concepts. I'm not an authority on JKD as a whole, only what I learned in class, but still... it's my understanding that each means something different.
Last edited by Kymus; 06-16-2013 at 04:42 PM. Reason: slight clarification
From Tao of Jeet Kune Do:
"I have not invented a "new style," composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from "this" method or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see "ourselves". . . Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don't, and that is that.
There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune-Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune-Do is simply the direct expression of one's feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is.
Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive.
Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one's back.
MMA is what JKD is suppose to have been.
Psalms 144:1
Praise be my Lord my Rock,
He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !
Isnt JKD certification and cirriculum go against the whole concept of JKD and what Bruce Lee said?
Also, what Im getting out of this thread is this:
True JKD actually is Mixed Martial Arts but it is not to be confused with MMA because MMA while the letters stand for the same thing is the name of a specific sport with rules.
So there is the literal Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and then there is the sport called Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) that seems to be where the confusion comes in.
Also JKD while it is supposed to be a mixture of martial arts defined only by the practitioner has become the opposite of what BL intended it to be, namely a style with cirriculum and certifications.
Am i getting close here?
I did some reading, and it seems to be like this..
There are two main branches:
JKD and JKD Concepts
One teaches only what Bruce Lee taught, the other teaches what Bruce Lee taught and adds in their own flavors as well.
Jeet Kune Do - it seems - is designed to be a foundation for one to then reach out from and adapt with.
So in a way, yes, JKD and MMA are kinda the same, but they're kinda not. They strive for something similar but in a different way.
Personally, I think it'd be great if more schools taught 2 or more arts. But this goes to the core of my fighting philosophy of change and adaptation and learning how to defend against different kinds of opponents and ensuring that you have the proper techniques for these kinds of opponents.
http://johnswang.com
More opinion -> more argument
Less opinion -> less argument
No opinion -> no argument