Bruce Lee might be the ‘father of MMA’ – UFC president Dana White said it, but the kung fu icon’s only official fight against a boxer was mixed martial arts
If such an idea seems ludicrous to modern MMA fans – who might consider the action inside the octagon a mix of kick-boxing and wrestling as opposed to kung fu – it shouldn’t. Martial art Jeet Kune Do favours “any technique or means which serves its end … Efficiency is anything that scores,” according to Lee, its creator.
These words perfectly embody the current spirit of MMA, which utilises the best elements of different combat disciplines to arrive at a complete “ultimate” fighting style. This is different from UFC’s earliest days, though, when the promotion company put on fights between specialists in individual styles to settle questions like “who would win a fight between a great boxer and a great wrestler?”
Philosophy aside, Lee wasn’t just about lightning quick strikes and deadly one-inch punches either. The Tao of Jeet Kune Do provided plenty of detailed information about various grappling techniques and submission holds fighters could use – the kind of offence that would look right at home inside an MMA ring.
This has even been caught on camera. In an early scene from Enter the Dragon, Lee faces off against an opponent played by star Sammo Hung in an exhibition bout filmed at Ching Chung Koon temple in Hong Kong. Here, not only are both fighters wearing kempo gloves, which happen to resemble the kind of gloves worn nowadays by MMA fighters, but Lee wins his bout by executing a version of an armbar, a move popular with MMA practitioners.
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