There are many who say that Bruce Lee was the father of MMA. However, I disagree with this statement. If one listens to the words of Bruce's students, one will find that Bruce did not reall like the idea of mixing other arts with JKD. This can be reflected in Bruce's letter to Jerry poteet, when Jerry asked Bruce Lee if he could mix some Jeet Kune Do drills in with the kenpo karate that he was already teaching. This was the letter that he got back from Bruce Lee: X is Jeet Kune Do. Y is the style that you will represent. To represent and teach Y, one should drill its members according to the preaching of Y. This is the same with anyone who is qualified and has been approved to represent X. To justify by interfusing X and Y is basically the denying of Y ......... but still calling it Y. A man, as you put it, is one who is noble to stick to the road he has chosen. A garden of rose will yield rose, and a garden of violets will yield violets. People like Dan Inosanto led to the birth of JKD concepts. there fore, is it not fair to say that it is Dan amongst others who are the true fathers of MMA?
i wouldnt give someone that title, it was a basic FIGHT, and over time. weve seen the evolution and combonation of what works best.
Yes but Lee was one of the first to mainstream cross-training and share his ideas and concepts with the world.
aaahhhh come on people!!! it is no secret that dan had been taught and been a student of many arts during his time with Ed parker and during his time in the forces, so crosstraining was no a new thing, god, all the karate instructors from okinawa and japan trained in other arts. BL saw where the MA was going and didnt like it, he brought practicality to MA, if you look at american karate at the time there was no contact, bruce brought that in, he looked at diet and training gear, some things that MMA people use today. and as far as mixing junfan and jkd with kempo, it would have been a step backwards, if you look at BL fighting method series Dan illustrates kenpo in that book to highlight why it would not work. BL was always looking to blend his art and improve it Do the research mate
Mainstream it where? Clearly, it had been maintstream in Brazil since the 1930's. If I'm not mistaken, Praying Mantis Kung Fu is supposed to be a mixture of eighteen different styles of Chinese boxing. Also, there's a difference between "mixing martial arts" and "mixed martial arts." When we say "MMA," we don't mean wing chun blended with kempo and escrima, because someone thought that would be a good combination; we mean the style of fighting that emerged out of no holds barred contests, typically focusing on an even mix of striking and submission grappling.
Come on guys, research.......MMA has been around since the GREEKS fighting in front of people of the time... :bang: p.s. everyone one and their gramma wants to claim their the best or started something new.......Has anyone ever heard of the term "OLD, IS NEW AGAIN" Take "IT" Easy, Sifu John McNabney
Edward Barton-Wright was combining jujitsu, boxing, savate and stick fighting to form Bartitsu back in the late 1890's. This was in England and became fairly popular in its time (to the point of appearing in Sherlock Holmes) so well before the Gracies.
Yes - Bartitsu. Very good style. I should have specified in my original post that i was talking in terms of JKD practitioners. A lot of people assume that it was Bruce who started the whole mixing of arts, which he did to some degree, but it was Dan in JKD who really took it off. Of course, Eclectic MA existed before either of the two got started.
preying mantis for example, come from looking at different systems, as the founder was struggling to make the art he was training work for him.
I think Carlson Gracie Sr. is responsible for a lot of the modern day MMA matches. That's just my opinion thought.
I'm sorry...I think this man was around way before Enter the Dragon ever came out... http://youtube.com/watch?v=uPSCtjzco7M And here's the History of Vale Tudo...also before Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vale_Tudo
