It could be argued that Bruce Lee was the original mixed martial arts fighter. He built Jeet Kun Do to be exactly what MMA is all about: taking the best, most effective and practical things from all martial arts styles and combining them into what he felt was the most effective method of fighting.
I know that the majority of MMA matches and street fights end up on the ground and Bruce was definitely known as an upright fighter, but having studied a wide range of styles, not to mention he had actual real-world fighting experience, I would imagine this fact did not escape him and he would have had a healthy knowledge of ground techniques, especially had he lived and had the opportunity to develop his craft even further.
Taking all of that into account, all things being equal(disregarding he’d be 70 years old by now, etc.), how do you think Bruce Lee would fare in a modern MMA competition? IMHO I would imagine that he’d kick some serious ass.
It’s not an entirely fair question to Bruce. It’s sort of like asking how Bronko Nagurski would play in a modern Super Bowl, or how Jesse Owens would rank in the 2012 Olympics. Bruce’s innovation and gift was to make martial arts training in the Western world as serious a pursuit as any other sports training, to divorce it from its pseudo-magical history and make it as real as boxing. His contributions in many ways gave rise to modern MMA and spanned far, far beyond simply who he could beat in a fight.
Oh, no doubt. This is strictly (obviously) purely hypothetical “could Bruce hold his own” kind of thing. I understand that nobody goes undefeated in MMA, there are just too many variables in play; I’m certainly not contending that Bruce could come in and dominate, but assuming he were alive, in his prime, and knows what modern MMA fighters know, unfair or not, how do you think he compares?
I think he was strong enough and athletic enough to more than hold his own, he’d probably be close to dominating in his weight class (if he chose to pursue MMA). However, the flashy, cinematic fighting style we all know and love would be of only limited use. He’d have to incorporate judo and wrestling techniques; submissions, etc.
I believe MMA fighters are grouped by weight, so as long as he’s not going up against someone named Kareem, I think he’d do fine.
If he were to have intentionally entered the MMA, he’d have worked on his ground game and combined with his penchant for actually thinking about martial arts and strategy and all that, I believe he’d do just fine.
Okay, for fun then. He probably couldn’t have fought UFC. He was too small! He “walked” at about 135 lbs., which would have made him a prime contender for WEC but made him a little too light for UFC. His student Dan Inosanto has stated that he probably could have ranked as a top pro lightweight or junior welterweight boxer, and he’s almost certainly right - his boxing skills were very, very tight. His grappling skills were questionable by modern standards, but he lived in the pre-Gracie era and would have dived into the ground game headfirst with the same near-religious zeal that he approached all training with.
I suspect he would have undergone the same enlightening experience as the rest of the strikers did, in the early days of MMA.
Yo8u’re good at what you practice, and if the other guy can get you into a position where you have no experience, you are in a world of hurt. I own a copy of The Tao of Jeet Kune Do, and it contains very little about grappling or groundwork compared to the extensive analysis of punching.
It would have gone down just like all the other early UFCs went down - the initial advantage of the striker disappears once the first clinch is effected.
Give it a couple years for him to practice defending a shoot and ground-and-pund, and he would have done OK.
He’d get clobbered in his first few bouts, but by many accounts he was a very adaptable fighter and a quick student, so he’d learn the skills he needed to make a comeback.
He studied wrestling and judo, so he wasn’t just a striker. In fact, I recall reading a quote from him one time that said something like “to beat a guy who has been doing kung fu for 10 years, just do wrestling for 6 months.” He knew what was up. His grappling would suffer from not knowing BJJ (as far as I know), but he’d learn it quick. He had discipline and physical abilities that few if any fighters have today. He’d do well. Especially down at his weightclass where the competition still isn’t very deep.
I studied under one of his student’s-students for a couple years, and we all loved the Bruce anecdotes from our sifu.
He was an obsessive experimentalist and adopter from other styles, you can bet that he would have been observing and analyzing the successful techniques of MMA participants and training those techniques heavily. In his weight class, he would have been top tier.
As noted above, Bruce did study grappling. If he were alive today, you had better believe he would be training whatever was available, and whatever worked. Look at Danny I, who had no qualms about donning a BJJ gi and white belt when in his 50s. So I think it is somewhat unfair to BL to presume he would have fought today with the same technique he practiced 4-5 decades ago.
Look at the success someone like GSP has had, who picked up the ground game relatively late in his career. No reason to assume BL would be any different. After all, he did say “Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it.”
Bottomline, BL was phenomenally quick and strong - 2 attributes that would go far in the octagon. I think he would be at or near the top of the current lightweights. Would love to see him against BJ Penn! And he’d a tons of fun to watch in the lighter - non-UFC - classes.
(I’m undoubtedly a tad prejudiced, as I started off in JKD, and still consider much of its approach very useful for any martial artist.)
Weight definitely is an advantage, but there is the possibility that BL would bulk up to join the weight class.
I thought BL’s striking speed might do him well against BJ. But I tend to not pay as much attention to the lighter weight classes - my fave fights most often seem to take place between mids/light heavies. With what little attention I pay to the little guys, I REALLY like GSP.
He probably couldn’t have fought UFC. He was too small! He “walked” at about 135 lbs., which would have made him a prime contender for WEC but made him a little too light for UFC. His student Dan Inosanto has stated that he probably could have ranked as a top pro lightweight or junior welterweight boxer, and he’s almost certainly right - his boxing skills were very, very tight. His grappling skills were questionable by modern standards, but he lived in the pre-Gracie era and would have dived into the ground game headfirst with the same near-religious zeal that he approached all training with.