As the "Godfather of MMA" , how proud would Bruce Lee be of what MMA is today ?

rec’d

I always wanna hear how ppl’s experiences are at the live events being that I’ve never been to one.
OD, Ulf and you other complainers here’s a real motherfuckin fan post so y’all can stop letting your vaginas hang out.
I’m on my phone. Be reccing this once full site loads. Slow as shit today in Edmonton.

is there are a lot of people who believe MMA is as fake as pro wrestling. Then they show “proof.” like short clips that don’t show the whole fight, or understand what it really takes to KO someone. The best is when someone (online) claiming to have “20 years Martial Arts experience” saying MMA fighters are too slow and unskilled and when they train with them he laughs because they suck so much.

My coach is a 4th Dan Hapkido black belt. He loves MMA, he’s been practicing Martial Arts for 20 years.

What would Bruce Lee think? I think he would have signed up for the first UFC (if he was young enough, born in 1970 instead of 1948) and continued to evolve as the sport evolved. He was way ahead of his time in thinking about what combing styles could mean.

Recd.

I’ve said the same thing more than once- there is a whole world of martial arts outside the narrow world of what I now call ‘American MMA’. By historical accident (including the success of BJJ at UFC1 and the preponderance of collegiate wrestlers in the early UFC), BJJ, wrestling and Muay Thai as you say have become the staple of MMA.

I recently said exactly the same thing to my brother (he fights MMA)- it is riduculous that Anderson Silva or Machida throws a successful front kick and the whole MMA world drops their jaws. Such kicks are commonplace and pedestrian in Karate and Taekwondo competitions. This is the guy who awarded me my latest dan grade showing what a front kick looks like:

I also thought it was pathetic when Joe Rogan mentioned at UFC 142 that this was the first time in the UFC that someone had been knocked out with a spinning kick. That happens at almost every Taekwondo competition.

Parrying and blocking is also very poor in the UFC. As you say and show with Machida, basic open hand blocking skills are almost nonexistent. Interestingly, the only MMA fighter who has shown above-average skill at blocking and parrying strikes is Rampage.

As you say, side kicks should not be so rare. This is why Cung Le is one of my favorite fighters- he successfully applies a wide range of kicks, including side kicks. Two things make me optimistic, though.

The first is that Jones is setting a good example by learning and applying a wide variety of ‘unorthodox’ techniques. The second is that people are beginning to realise how easy it is to score with the so-called ‘unorthodox’ techniques. This will make them more popular.

For example, one marvelously effective technique often used to spectacular effect in Karate competition is the sudden leg sweep. When executed well, it invariably results in your opponent crashing to the ground. Here it is being used in competition:

This would be much more effective than the rote leg kicks everybody does. Interestingly again, the only person I’ve seen attempt it from a distance is Jones.

Until the UFC actively and massively recruits from other talent pools than just US collegiate wrestlers, what you want to see won’t happen soon enough. People adopt what they see working. BJJ is popular because people saw that it works. Ronda Rousey will make more people look more closely at Judo throws, and Machida has done well for the mae-geri brand. But there’s still a long way to go before the UFC showcases the best of martial arts.

and punches to the back of the head by certain fighters.

Awesome post, great use of gifs. Rec’d.