MMA is a dumbed down Jeet Kune Do?

Question

I feel we have not reached that level of thought yet that Bruce Lee first discovered 40 years ago. MMA, though it gets the "blending" portion of Jeet Kune Do correct, still is far behind in the evolution of martial arts.

For example, although styles are being mixed, they are not being mixed in the manner that a Jeet Kune Do practitioner would be mixing them. Rather then mixing this high kick which works for me, with this take down that works for me. We're still going to BJJ/Muay Thai route. Even worse, we still have some backseat martial artists here who watch a few UFC matches and their eyes light up thinking they've seen the revelation. The revelation that every art except BJJ/MT is useless.

Jeet Kune Do teaches to let go of names of styles, as that is all they are and despite the name, its not going to make the moves any better. People don't get Muay Thai'd on the street, they get beat up or beat someone else up.

What are your thoughts of MMA's current state of thought vs JKDs?

Answer 1

You know how I know you're wrong? You think Muay Thai + BJJ = MMA.

Answer 2

"I feel we have not reached that level of thought yet that Bruce Lee first discovered 40 years ago. MMA, though it gets the "blending" portion of Jeet Kune Do correct, still is far behind in the evolution of martial arts."

MMA is like America (Capitalism) and JKD is like Canada (Socialism).

MMA is all about winning - the best fighters doing whatever works to win are the ones that move up the list and the ones that lose - move down the list. MMA will evolve on its own as new styles emerge to defeat the old styles. MMA is a very new sport and there are only a handful of actual MMA instructors out there. Most fighters have a wrestling coach, a MT coach, a BJJ coach, and a conditioning coach. Sometimes multiple roles are rolled into one person but a complete coach is VERY rare.

On the flip - there are probably thousands of JKD instructors.

Additionally - a fight ready MMAer vs a JDK guy (equal size and experience in their respective fields) would spell curtains for the JKD guy.

(Very biased MMA fighter)

Answer 3

I think that jeet kune do was but a part of the evolution into was has become MMA. Considering that many still strive to confuse them shelfs with the though of which or what is better. Let me ask you a question how far have any of you been able to push your shelfs and once you feel you have reach your limits when even further. If you do this you will come to a realization that I think bruce found that pain and suffering is good for the soul and if you are willing to go above and beyond that thresholded you find out what you are made off. One more thing this might piss off some of you but if Bruce was alive and he had the level of skill he had at his prime and was invited to fight in the octagon he would be like every one else getting punched in their and any one has a fighters chance.

Answer 4

It is my opinion (for what it is worth)... the reason MT and BJJ are the 2 most visible styles in UFC... Is because both styles teach you learn to fight effectively, fast.... So if I were to take a natural athelete (for fun lets say Micheal Jordan in his prime).... and he were to come to me and say I want to fight in the UFC.... with his drive to win, his determination to succeed, in a relative short amount of time (probably less than a year), you could teach him enough MT and BJJ to add to his natural ability to do pretty well in competetion,.... now is it possible that someone with less ability could be trained in 5 different Martial Arts for 20 years and beat him without knowing any MT or BJJ.... absolutly ... but (again just my opinion) why would someone that only trains in Martial Arts for cash competetion, want to spend 35% of his class time with meditation, history of the art he is learning, forms, elaborate stances and techniques (that are so seldom effectivly used)... they just want to learn to fight... some will spend there own time researching the culture if they so choose, but it is not the driving force behind their studies.... these guys train to fight (and I do believe as the sport grows, you will see a much different style of fighting in the UFC in 10 years, and then again in 10 more years).... but honestly give a pure athelete 1 year of hard core training, nothing except effective fighting techniques, against your average Martial Artist with 5 years of "traditional schooling" (all the things I think are very important, forms stances balance proper technique) and I think the natural athelete wins... After reading all the post on here, that knocked the MA i studied, and only gave praise to MT, I joined a MT school to see what it was all about.... Its really fun, and I am learning new things.... Its not better, its not worse... but I have picked what I like from the two style, and thrown some out :)

Answer 5

I have to completely agree with your statement about the "revelation" many people are having about all martial arts other than the few used in the UFC and other such organizations as being labeled useless, or not "combat functional." I think it's sad. Bruce Lee's belief when he made JKD was to look at ALL martial arts with respect, and then pick techniques from among them for their high level of effectiveness, personal preference, or physical skill. MMA is supposed to stand for "Mixed Martial Arts," not "Mixed BJJ and Muay Thai." There is no such thing as a non-functional martial art. All martial arts were created out of a necessity for combat: either during war, for self-defense, for assassination/espionage, or for competition. MMA is supposed to transcend regular martial arts by combining the best moves from all to create the best and most personalized system. So in my opinion, MMA is NOT a dumbed down JKD, but UFC and it's companion organizations practice a dumbed down MMA, extremely dumbed down. MMA and JKD are supposed to be brothers, but sadly, because of the UFC, they are both being misunderstood and misused. I wait for the day that I see some Kung Fu in the UFC.
Happy Training.

Answer 6

mma dumbed jeet kune

Answer 7

jeet kune do also teaches economy of motion and to be straight to the point muay thai and bjj pretty much are straight and to the point they have effective attacks without all the unnecessary fluff in between

theres still a variety of different styles being mixed anyway theres boxing, muay thai, kickboxing, savate, different forms of karate, bjj, wrestling, judo, sambo tons and i think most people use what works for them though they have a preference. even bruce lee had a preference his jeet kune do was heavily influenced by boxing, savate, fencing, wing chun

plus i dont think bruce lee discovered anything really special ideas of mixing fighting styles have been around since vale tudo days in brazil dating back to at least 1920s and pankration in 650b.c.

Answer 8

JKD is a philosophy, not a martial art, or a sport.

MMA is a sport, still evolving.

How many succesful MMA fighters use JKD as their fighting style? none.

UFC is only one organization that organizes MMA fights, check out others, even better, check out vale tudo matches (vale tudo is the father of MMA). Muay thai and BJJ are no longer enough to get you far on MMA, you also need wrestling and boxing training, or other arts like sambo, judo.

Answer 9

Bruce Lee never discovered this, it was done Centuries ago, by practioners of others arts constantly evolving and developing what worked for them and what was successful in Combat.

You will find that NO elite Pro MMA athlete does only Muay Thai, and BJJ. They incorporate techniques from all over, they do boxing, kickboxing, wrestling, etc. Each one has a different blend, and different way they go about things, a different style. This is VERY much in line to Bruce Lee's philosophy.

It wasn't to take ONE technique from here, or ONE from there. It was to find what worked period, regardless of where it was from. I think Bruce Lee would be pretty amped about MMA and where it is. He is the founder of modern day alive training, it's principles have been around for centuries (and he would have been the first to tell you that)

Yes, names don't matter, styles don't matter, training principles do.

Cunamo/Anyone else:

If you think Modern MMA is just BJJ and Muay Thai, then you have a VERY closed mind, and honestly not a lot of knowledge of Martial Arts. Otherwise you would know Muay Thai is weak with hands, and footwork, BJJ lacks strong takedowns, takedown defense, and scrambling, not to mention it is done with a Gi. You see MMA fighters using moves from a variety of arts, and many with traditional arts as a background. You see spinning back kicks, Judo and Greco Throws, boxing jabs and footwork, kicks from various disciplines, etc.

"There is no such thing as a non-functional martial art. All martial arts were created out of a necessity for combat: either during war, for self-defense, for assassination/espionage, or for competition."

Actually this isn't true. There were arts created specifically for spiritual perfection and physical exercise.

I know of very few arts that were made specifically for competetion, or for assasination. (Despite what you might believe)

There are plenty of NON functional arts, thanks to people who are outright frauds. While they may have some useable technique (usually borrowed from somewhere else) they also have things that would frankly be so ineffective in a real situation that it would be utterly dangerous to try, much less confidently think you can do something you cannot.

While I do believe that you can get SOMETHING from nearly any art, I think that you have to learn to apply it in an alive manner, making MANY martial arts somewhat ineffective due to poor training principles, and techniques based off of Kata, as opposed to practicality.

Also, please show me how and where The UFC or ANY OTHER MMA Organization has pointed to an art and labeled it as combat ineffective? Maybe some practioners or competetors of those Organizations may have said that, and with good reason. They recognized what worked and what didn't.

MMA is doing what all real, good, and alive things do, and that is evolve. While you may feel that "they are supposed to take the best from everything" what happens if most of the "best" for an individual is mostly Muay Thai and BJJ? What happens if that person is VERY effective using just those two?

It is about what WORKS FOR YOU period. And ultimately what is effective. If thinks are falling by the wayside it might be because they are ineffective, that is not to say they won't be effective for someone else. However in large there are philosophies and training principles that are utterly ineffective and unrealistic, and there are MANY arts that train in these principles.

So obviously the Arts that actually train effectively will be more predominantly shown to be effective. Until the rest of the Arts realize the error in their training methods they will continue to fall behind the curve.

"I wait for the day that I see some Kung Fu in the UFC."

Like Kung Fu technique? You'll be waiting a long time.

Kung Fu practioners? Cung Le, Jason Delucia come to mind, surprisingly when they fight it looks very little like Kung Fu though....

Answer 10

Jeet Kune Do teaches to let go of names of styles, as that is all they are and despite the name,
So giving it a new name Jeet kune do. lol that is the best joke I've heard all freakin weak. lololololololololol. Dude do you have any idea what you talking about.