Bruce
Lee, the great kung fu
action movie star from the 1970s, was quite well known in the martial
arts community before he became famous through his films. He
had
already been inducted into the prestigious Black Belt magazine’s Hall
of Fame before becoming a star.
One of the reasons why
Bruce Lee was an important figure in martial arts was that he developed
his own style of fighting called Jeet Kune Do, which means ‘way of the
intercepting fist’. What he had done was put together some of
the
most effective and practical techniques from different fighting styles
into his own method of combat. He even included western
boxing
and wrestling techniques in Jeet Kune Do. He did away with
traditional forms or karate kata claiming that they were not practical
in a real street fight.
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His
views were quite
controversial among the martial arts community back then because many
traditional stylists thought that Bruce Lee had no place to criticize
styles that were developed over hundreds of years. But Lee
continued to demonstrate his Jeet Kune Do as demonstrations at karate
tournaments and his skills attracted the interest as well as friendship
of many prominent top competitors as well as masters including Chuck
Norris, Jhoon Rhee and Joe Lewis.
Bruce Lee always claimed that each
person’s Jeet June Do could be different according to individual body
types and personal tastes. He wanted to convey that each
person
can use whatever techniques that work for him or her as long as they
were practical. Jeet Kune Do was often referred to as a
non-classical style as opposed to classical karate or kung fu, which
relies on set forms and techniques.
Lee
had compiled many
of his theories into notes and drawings into a book called the Tao of
Jeet Kune Do, which is now a classic in any martial artist’s book
collection. Many of his former students have also published
resources and give seminars based on Jeet Kune Do concepts.
On
many scenes in his movies, Bruce Lee demonstrated the concept of Jeet
Kune Do. For example, during the famous final fight scene in
the
Roman Colisseum from ‘Way of the Dragon’ with Chuck Norris, it was only
when Lee’s character started using non-classical techniques by moving
around like a boxer rather than rigid stances, that he started to win
the fight. Chuck Norris’ character was completely baffled by
the
non-classical ways that Lee’s character took on.
It
is quite ironic
since mixed martial arts
(MMA) and the Ultimate Fighting Challenge
(UFC) are so popular these days. In fact, we can attribute
Bruce
Lee as the forefather of MMA since he was so ahead of his time in using
techniques from different styles of fighting into his own
method.
See the Bruce Lee article
for more information on this legend.
Today,
the vast majority of modern martial artists accept the fact that the
most practical techniques on the street are not rigid classical
techniques and that a mix of styles may be very effective. In
many cases, forms and kata are now performed for the beauty and art
aspect of martial arts rather than their practicality. Motivational and
diversity
speaker Clint Cora,
who is a world champion in martial arts forms, is an example of
somebody who was deeply influenced by Bruce Lee. Although
Clint
uses Jeet Kune Do concepts in self-defense, he also trains in forms but
just for the art, fitness and competition aspects of martial arts.
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