MMA: Almost Real Fighting, But Bruce Would Frown
by The Mountain That Rides on Feb 1, 2012 1:36 AM EST
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PrintMixed martial arts has certainly made a splash in combat sports in the last twenty years. Fans of fisticuffs are no longer forced to choose between a single discipline but can feast at the buffet of mingled sciences. We have witnessed the rise of Brazilian jiujitsu, the domination of wrestling, the emergence of refined striking, even smatterings of judo, capoeira, kung fu, and sumo. We've seen masters of their crafts struggling against one another for supremacy, driven by motivations of glory, wealth, and fame. Experts have been dismantled by lucky shots, unbeatable legends have crumbled when their weakness is exposed, contests have been won by sheer slug-brained stubbornness, and sometimes referees get it right. The soap opera of physical contest has played out gloriously over the past several years, and I've been an avid fan and even a sometimes participant. No regrets.
But I don't think we'll ever see a real fight.
Let me explain. In my opinion, the contests we watch, be it UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce, or any organization, are just that; sporting contests. To be a true fight, the variables that have been removed must be reinserted. There's no way this can be accomplished in an organized setting. So the tragedy is in place that the greatest and truest fights are almost guaranteed to never be seen by a large, paying audience.
Let me preface the following by saying that I thoroughly enjoy watching these contests. I'm not bitching. I think the current set up we have as an audience is the best we could hope for unless we lived in a constantly monitored more dystopian universe than we currently occupy. But I sincerely believe that "The Godfather of MMA" as I've seen him called would shake his head at our current format. At best he might call it, "A good start."
The Variables
When
Simple enough. All fighters know when they are going to fight. Even at the worst, last minute replacement scenario, a fighter still knows the date and they've been planning to fight on that specific date. Many elite fighters even train their bodies to be in the best shape they can possibly be in on that specific day. "Peaking" they call it.
In a real fight this would be an unknown. Will you be fighting today? Will you have just eaten? Will you be sleepy? It would be interesting to see what would happen if some of the current champions were challenged immediately after dinner. Can GSP nail a double leg before breakfast? Can our contestants be considered true fighters if they aren't prepared to fight at all times?
Do you think Mr. Lee was planning on fighting the man who jumped over his backyard fence that particular day? If you don't know the story educate yourself.
Where
In every single organized mixed martial art fight I've ever seen, read, or heard about, the human battle bots always knew exactly where they were going to be fighting. In that cage, in that ring, on those pads, in this state, that city, etc.
In a real fight this is random. Are you at your house? In a public bathroom? At the movies? Would Dominic Cruz's style work in a restaurant?
Bruce was suddenly faced with a real fight on a movie set. Think he'd planned for that? Or was he authentically badass enough to immediately take out a noisy naysayer? If you don't know this story, Bruce won. Emphatically.
How
This is where it's the most painfully obvious that we're watching a sport; there are rules, time limits, referees, gloves, groin cups, no long nails, no twelve-to-six elbows, no nut shots, on and on. The people we see laying it all on the line have it made. "All I have to do is tell the Ref the pain is too great and I'm out of here." "I just gotta smother this guy for, let me look at the clock, twenty eight more seconds, and I'm done."
In a real fight, guard your balls because they'll be fair game. And headbutts hurt like hell! And when you're tired and worn out there is no clock on your side. Finish the fight or run away. You can't battle for fifteen minutes then call it quits. And don't even get me started on breaks between rounds. And if you're fighting near a wall? That wall can be your best friend or the bastard that took three of your teeth and the skin off four knuckles. Would "human cockfighters" be as eager to get pushed against the octagon if the octagon were made of concrete? If wall and stall fighters had to get skin grafts on their backs after every bout I'll wager they'd find a new strategy. And I don't mean letting the wookie win. Could Jon Jones throw those flashy kicks if he's wearing clunky boots and slim fit jeans?
Bruce Lee didn't get to ask a ref for help when he was cornered by two zebras. But there wasn't a ref there to tell him he couldn't knee the first one in the ovaries and drive the other's head into the windmill at the mini golf course. Start fact checking me.
Who
With the exception of taking a fight on short notice, everyone knows, sometimes months in advance, who they're going to be fighting. They can prepare for that person's specific style and study their strengths and weaknesses. Some fights have been won more by careful planning than skill. More than that, fighters know that the person they'll be facing come fight night will be roughly the same size, again with exceptions(I'm looking at you, Pride FC, Anthony Johnson, and Thiago Alves).
In a real world fight your opponent could be anyone. A crazed junkie, an ex-lover, a rabid dog. And they could be any size. A fat ass goliath, a twiggy lightweight, a dwarf with too much booze in them. Imagine if come fight night names were drawn from a hat. Let's see Uriajah Faber's face when he gets matched up with Cheick Kongo five minutes before go time.
Bruce did a standing split to kick Kareem Abdul Jabar in the face. Yeah it was a movie, but he friggin' did it. And he kicked Chuck Norris' ass too, just for perspective. If Chuck's tears can cure cancer, Bruce's must've prevented tsunamis.
These are just a few examples that spring to mind. I'm sure there are thousands more. And again, I love watching the contests we have now. But they aren't exactly real fights. I'm no Bruce Lee scholar. And I'm not a fighter. I'd probably get submitted by Pat Barry and knocked out by Michael Bisping. But let's not kid ourselves. The fighters we see are there, at a certain time, a certain place, wearing certain gear, with a ref and rules, to provide entertainment. Yes the contests can be violent, potentially life and limb are at stake, but it's so regulated that they can hardly be considered true fights.
Mr. Lee was one of a kind, a fighter trained to be ready for anything at any time anywhere, motivated by discipline and self improvement. He was a philosopher, an incredible cha-cha dancer, and a certified butt whooper. I think he'd applaud the effort made by anyone who begins the path of a martial artist, but, with very few exceptions, most of the people who throw down in these shows are far and away from a real fight.
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We were all inspired by Bruce Lee, but...
Bruce Lee was an actor. A great athlete and competent martial artist yes, but I think that holding him up as the gold standard of a martial artist is like believing Christopher Reeve could really fly, or Sylvester Stallone could single-handedly decimate an army with a machine gun and a bow and arrow. If his movies hadn’t been great commercial successes, who would know who he was? He would have been just one of tens of thousands of talented martial artists worldwide.
Bruce Lee was an actor, but...
He was a martial artist first. In my opinion THE martial artist. I hold him up as the gold standard of a martial artist because of what he achieved off the screen. A quick glance at wikipedia will list a few of his accomplishments. Read “The Tao of Jeet Kune Do” and you’ll see how dedicated he was to his craft. If his movies hadn’t been great commercial successes his students would still have carried on his legacy. He might not have been as popular, but I feel he would have been as equally revered.
by The Mountain That Rides on Feb 2, 2012 3:33 PM EST up reply actions
I was as fanatical as anybody about Bruce Lee as a young man. He inspired me to go into martial arts. At one point, I used to dress like him, and actually carried a picture of him around in my wallet. That’s how devoted I was. And of course, I read ‘The Tao of Jeet Kune Do’ and also ‘Bruce Lee’s Fighting Method’ which was like my Bible at one time.
Then I grew up. Two things happened. First, I learned to think, and realized that Bruce is only famous because his films were successful. They promoted the idea of Bruce as Superman, and of course when we watch movies, we suspend disbelief. This means we actually did believe Bruce Lee could beat up 20 men at once, and kill a man with a single punch.
Of course, this isn’t true. Also, much of Lee’s philosophy was not his own- he too was a student of great teachers, including Yip Man. There have been hundreds of similarly great philosophers, fighters and teachers, including the founders of all the great styles. If you know martial arts, you know their names- I don’t need to list them. But because they weren;t great movie stars, their books and image have not embedded themselves in popular culture. Bruce Le’e’s brand was created by Hollywood.
The second thing that happened to me was I became a real martial artist, and trained with, learned about and observed some truly fantastic fighters. This allowed me to put Bruce Lee’s abilities into perspective. Here is Bruce hitting a heavy bag:
Nice, but far from superhuman. That punch will not kill anybody a la ‘Fist of Fury’. He is fit and strong and fast, but I can see better bag work watching Sugar Ray Leonard or Manny Pacquiao train. I can also see flaws in Bruce’s technique, such as his tendency to favor his right leg over his left, the fact that he doesn’t raise his knee properly when kicking (because he only had formal training in Wing Chun, which has no high kicks, etc). Meanwhile, you have legendary martial artists like Mas Oyama, who killed bulls with his bare hands.
Here is Bruce doing some light sparring at home (and favoring one leg as usual):
Again, not bad, but I’ve seen hundreds of martial artists with faster, sharper techniques and more effective fighting skills. He doesn’t look quite so spectacular, when he’s not kicking guys who are paid to fall down the moment his foot moves in their direction, does he?
So in short, Bruce was a great martial artist and a creative, deep thinker. I still love him. But the reality is very far removed from the myth. If he were alive today, maybe he would be physically on par with GSP or Jose Aldo, and be known for his innovative approach to training. But he still wouldn’t be close to superhuman, or even on par with the great founders of the different styles, none of which Jeet Kune Do has come close to matching in popularity.
great fucking post!
You should get more in depth and make a fan post. Good shit mot.
2 week sig bet goldmouth/rashad nightmare83/ davis
Nobody’s perfect, not even Bruce. I’d have serious doubts about anyone trying to take on twenty opponents unless they attacked one at a time at the exact spot where the next strike was going to impact. Movies are fake. But do you regret being a martial artist? I don’t think there will ever be a style that is the supreme single martial art. Hence my enjoyment of mma. But there’s the problem of teaching “no style”. Nobody is a master of everything. So how can you successfully teach multiple styles? It has to rely on the student as much as the master to learn more than what’s being taught. A good teacher can recognize a student’s strengths and encourage development. A good student will explore every avenue possible and find out for themselves. Otherwise you end up predictable and one dimensional. I fell off the single-style wagon when I realized the style I was learning was only useful defensively against other people who practiced the same style. So I began exploring other styles, eventually learned about wing chun and then Bruce. It was great because it seemed like he’d already asked the questions I was asking and gave a terrific example to follow.
Sure Bruce might’ve been a nobody if not for his films. But isn’t it fantastic that the films exist and inspire! The style he used in his films was much flashier and camera friendly than the style he created. And some of the effects by today’s standards are downright laughable. But if they were enough to inspire people to go out, research, and learn for themselves, how is that a bad thing? That’s part of the reason I hold him up so high. Other teachers might have created styles with greater popularity. Maybe even better methods with more substantiated credibility. But did they encourage people to think and apply themselves, to expand as much as possible and ferret out as much knowledge as they could? I have to admire Bruce more than others, not for the fighting in his films, but for using the films as a bullhorn to tell the world about martial arts.
by The Mountain That Rides on Feb 4, 2012 1:19 PM EST up reply actions
The level of stupid in this post is amazing.
If you dont like drugs then dont do them.....give them to me!
if bruce lee could have made 1 million and a cut of the ppv
He would have gladly took part in some of this “not so real fighting” Is this post serious? If its not a fight at an unknown time and place against an unknown opponent,then its not a real fight? The gods of fail have sent their prophet. And his name is The Mountain That Rides.
2 week sig bet goldmouth/rashad nightmare83/ davis
I can't speak to the motivations of Mr. Lee.
Perhaps he would have jumped at the chance for fortune and fame. But the idea behind my post is that the fighters we see in MMA are training to fight in a sporting competition; Bruce truly lived the martial way. He had official and unofficial fights, fights with rules and fights on the street. He was prepared to fight at all times against any opponent, not just prepared to fight a certain opponent at a certain time under a strict set of rules. The fights we see are as real as they can be under the circumstances, but with very few exceptions the fighters themselves are sports competitors and not true martial artists. Thus, I believe Bruce would frown.
by The Mountain That Rides on Feb 2, 2012 3:47 PM EST up reply actions
A lot of those stories about Bruce’s street fights are myths- urban legends created and spread because we want to believe in the image he projected on screen. There isn’t a single recorded instance of Bruce fighting in any competition or rules-governed event, while we have footage of other martial artists from his era like Chuck Norris, Benny Urquidez, Bill ‘Superfoot’ Wallace, etc, etc.
As for street fights, having read his official biography, the only one on record is when he was challenged in his dojo by some guy. By Lee’s own account, the fight ended in a draw when he gassed, and this encouraged him to include running in his training regimen.
Did you really make a post to go against Shambler's?
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SMMFH!
Sig Bet:
4-2,
Condit over Diaz - Shivan"Diesel"Tiger
by Cruz Jackson on Feb 1, 2012 8:24 AM EST via mobile reply actions
Heeeey wait a second...
"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to go to his class."
- Choi, Hong Hi, Founder of Taekwon-Do
lmao SFW porn FTW.
After a botched kick atempt in the AFC championship game vs the Patriots, Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff attempted to commit suicide. Unfortunately, he could'nt kick the chair out from under himself...
by ClinchKing on Feb 1, 2012 5:50 PM EST via Android app up reply actions
Clegane, get your ass back in the field
We’ve got trout to kill.
by Patrick L. Stumberg on Feb 1, 2012 4:44 PM EST reply actions
Momentarily Sir
I have dragon whelps to dispose of first.
by The Mountain That Rides on Feb 2, 2012 3:48 PM EST up reply actions
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