Bruce Lee & the Evolution of the MMA
By Luigi Lizares Yunque
A wise man once said “It is not where you go, but the journey itself”. This was an adage I consider to what life confers me.
This article does not depict my tedious existence or my lame experiences; rather it will elaborate the foundation of MMA and its journey of progress up to the present. Let me refresh your memory as I take you back to the commencement of the said art form. It’s just as reviewing on how rabid your knowledge before taking an MMA fanatic pop quiz. I wouldn’t be going back tracks as far as the ancient Olympics and discuss about Pankration, since it might take me more time than growing my beard; and also it would be slightly insignificant. Instead, I’ll begin with the establishment of how MMA was introduced and recognized to the modern world.
In 2004, Dana White the President of the UFC said that “Bruce Lee is the father of mixed martial arts”. This statement is actually open to debate. There are a lot of forums on the internet right now that has been going back and fourth about this subject and it doesn’t seem to die out. In my opinion, Dana White’s statement is both true and false.
True, not just because he was a popular television and a movie star, not just because he almost single handedly brought martial arts to Pop Culture, but because he developed a fighting method that incorporated different martial art styles.
When Bruce Lee emigrated from the Hong Kong to the United States he was just a black belt of Win Chun kung fu and an amateur boxer. But an incident happened to him during the mid 60’s that changed his outlook towards the fighting arts.
In an interview with Black Belt magazine; Bruce mentioned that he got into a fight in San Francisco, and thus his opponent started to run. He started to chase him and kept on punching the guy behind his back. His fist began to swell after hitting the guys head a number of times. It was at this moment that he realized that Win Chun Kung Fu was not at all that practical when it came to a real street fight. This was the moment he decided to alter the way he fights.
He developed his own fighting method called Jeet Kune Do or JKD (The Way of the Intercepting Fist). It incorporates punching, kicking, trapping and grappling. His foundation for JKD were Win Chun, Boxing and Fencing; but he added Judo, Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Savate, Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu and some Wrestling into it. It is a fighting system that is supposed to evolve and adapt. He never really wanted to give it a name because if given a name it has to apply to a specific parameter, and that martial arts should exist outside parameters and limitations. Bruce would rather have called it “The Art of Expressing the Human Body”.
One of his more famous quotes is: “The best style is no style, the best form is no form”, he stressed that to be an effective fighter you must take what works from different martial arts and discard what is useless.
These words still echo with professional MMA fighters today. Gone are the days that one art will be enough to win a fight. A modern MMA fighter always has to evolve. If he doesn’t he would never be as competitive. Case in point was the finale of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) season 12, when Jonathan Brookins took on Michael Johnson. Round 1 was all Michael Johnson. Brookins had no answer to Johnson’s flurry of punches. He staggered a couple of times but Michael Johnson wasn’t able to finish the fight.
During the 2nd round Brookins was smart enough not to keep the fight standing, so he used his wrestling to its full potential, and took the fight to the ground where Johnson was utterly defenseless. This carried over till the 3rd round and eventually Brookins won with a unanimous decision by the judges and was crowned “The Ultimate Fighter”. Michael Johnson’s said after the fight that he had to work on his ground game in order to be more effective on his back in his future fights. This is what Bruce Lee meant by adopting and evolving. Not being limited to a set parameter. “The Best Style is No Style”. On that note, I have to agree on Dana Whites statement that Bruce Lee is the father of modern MMA.
But going back to what I said earlier that his statement might not be true, is the fact that Bruce Lee wasn’t the only one who developed a fighting style that incorporated different disciplines. In the history of the fighting arts, there are a lot of notable figures that developed a mix of both stand up and ground techniques into their own style. And this was way before Bruce was even born. Bruce Lee was just the one that made martial arts mainstream due to his iconic status and popularity. I’m not talking Mixed Martial Arts; I am talking about martial arts in general. When people saw him on the big screen, they were enamored on what he was capable of doing and decided to take up martial arts; any martial arts for that matter. People did not see it as Mixed Martial Arts back then, but rather Kung Fu or Karate. So if the qualification for the title “Father of MMA” meant that he or she has to be the first to develop it, then it is definitely not Bruce Lee.
With regard to modern MMA as a sport, we can trace its roots in the 1920’s in Brazil. It was called Vale Tudo meaning “anything goes”. It was more of a no holds barred competition rather than mixed martial arts. Vale Tudo was used by the Gracie family to exhibit their Gracie style of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Even though it was mainly used to prove that Gracie Jiu Jitsu was superior to all other martial arts it was an avenue for all styles to punch kick or grapple their way to victory. To my opinion the re-birth of MMA did not happen during the first Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) in 1993. During the first UFC, it was much like Vale Tudo competitions in Brazil. It was still a competition on which style was more superior. Again Gracie Jiu Jitsu prevailed. Royce Gracie one of the members of the Gracie family was hand picked by the UFC’c founder Rorion Gracie to represent the family. He won 3 UFC tournaments; UFC 1, UFC 2 and UFC 4. The tournament gained a huge fan base and its popularity exploded. Japan also started their own version of the UFC in 1997 called the Pride Fighting Championship or Pride FC. The first Pride FC was headlined by Rickson Gracie, who was considered to be the best fighter in the Gracie family. He won the inaugural event against the popular Japanese wrestler, Nobohiko Takada via armbar.
I have to give credit to the Gracie family for ushering in a new sport to the western world. But stylistically the Gracie brand of Jiu Jitsu was not a cross of different styles. It was just during the early years of both the UFC and Pride FC that the fighters began to add more disciplines to their repertoire. This was the evolution of a true mixed martial arts fighter. Some of the fighters that I look up to till this day were the fighters who brought both stand up and a ground game to the ring/octagon.
Among my favorites during the early years of the sport, was Marco “The King of the Streets” Ruas. He was at that time regarded as a complete fighter, being able to strike effectively on his feet, and was also able to finish a fight with a submission on the ground. He won the UFC 7 tournament by beating the 6’8”, 330lbs. trap fighter Paul Varelans. The Former UFC Middleweight Champion Frank Shamrock is another one of my favorites. I consider him a far better fighter than his foster brother Ken Shamrock. Most considered him as the blueprint of a modern MMA fighter.
One of my all time favorite is the former UFC 8 tournament champion Don “The Predator” Frye. From the stare down up to the end of the fight, this guy was intense. If you have been following MMA as long as I did, you would never forget his fight against Yoshiro Takayama on Pride FC 21 which I consider a classic.
There were other fighters that were at par, or even better than the ones I mentioned. The reason I chose them for this article is because if you look at the MMA champions of today, you will not find anyone that is one dimensional. From the reigning UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo all the way up to UFC’s Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez, all the current champions are multi faceted, and are complete fighters.
This is the time that Mixed Martial Artists really are Mixed Martial Artists.