What is the influence (if any) of Jeet Kune Do in MMA?
Are there MMA fighters who use Jeet Kune Do?
We discuss these questions and more below.
What is Jeet Kune Do (JKD)?
Jeet Kune Do, literally translates to “The way of the intercepting fist”.
Also called JKD for short, it is a martial art conceived by none other than Bruce Lee.
The philosophy behind Jeet Kune Do was to eliminate the useless and inactive traditions of martial arts and absorb anything that was effective, which is quite similar to the philosophy of mixed martial arts.
Jeet Kune is definitely a hybrid or mixed martial art that was around even before UFC.
Other mixed martial arts or hybrid styles include Pankration from Ancient Greece and Kajukenbo from Hawaii.
Bruce lee and Jeet Kune Do
Bruce Lee started his training at the age of thirteen and learned Wing Chun under Sifu Yip Man.
However, unlike other students, Lee’s brother, Peter Lee also taught him western fencing and boxing, which broadened his mind as a martial artist.
With his knowledge, and exceptional talent, Bruce Lee started to change, improve, and some might say, even “Mix” these martial arts, creating his own style, which he called Jun Fan Gung Fu at the time.
As he got older, Bruce Lee started to feel that traditions were too caught up in their way, that they wouldn’t be effective in a real fight.
He started to take a step back and improved his own style for a martial art that is now known as Jeet Kune Do.
It is possible that Bruce and his team designed the first ever MMA gloves with free fingers for grappling.
He used them in his famous fight scene against another Hong Kong legend Sammo Hung.
Influence of Bruce Lee on MMA
Many people believe Bruce Lee to be the father of MMA.
And there is a lot of evidence that supports this claim.
Not only did Lee see the shortcomings of traditional martial arts, but he also professed them publicly using his charismatic personality and status as a respected martial artist.
i) Bruce “Mixed” it Up and Trained the Best Techniques for Him from other styles
He used a wide variety of techniques in competition and showed their effectiveness.
In some fights, Lee has also used Ground and pound, which many people associate with Modern MMA.
In his book, and many of his films, he has also shown the use of submissions. Later on, Lee professed the theory that there was no single style of fighting, in fact, he believed that fighting styles only limit the abilities of a fighter.
He believed in taking everything that worked and forming a style that was ideal for one’s self.
He famously said;
“Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically yours”
ii) Bruce Advocated Effective Sparring – Not Common in Many Traditional Styles at the Time
Bruce Lee was also a strong advocate of Sparring and pressure testing, something that most traditional martial arts did not do regularly at the time.
Even if they did spar, it was always with a tight set of rules.
Lee famously said that a person who learns Western boxing and wrestling for one year could beat a lifelong traditional martial artist.
Lee spoke about the concept of sparring, which is also a big part of MMA.
Therefore, though MMA was developed long after him, and still changing every day, he was the one to form its idea and profess it to everyone in a world where everyone was too stuck in the ways of their fighting style.
Are there any Jeet Kune Do fighters in MMA?
According to Bleacher Report, there are a few current MMA fighters who do have a background in Jeet Kune Do.
Jerome Le Banner and Ben Saunders are two such MMA fighters who have trained Jeet Kune Do.
However it is true that in the cage, JKD is mostly used to compliment their MMA fighting styles.
Both MMA fighters do fight in South Paw stance even though they are Orthodox fighters.
This is because as taught by Bruce Lee in Jeet Kune Do, it is better to fight with the ‘power’ hand in front.
So while there aren’t many Jeet Kune Do fighters in MMA, also JKD itself really is a ‘mixed martial art’.
But more for real world fighting and self defense as opposed to cage fighting with rules as in MMA.
However, when you think more broadly, Jeet Kune does want a complete fighting style, it was more of a mindset, a way of approaching the art of fighting.
Many people believe that Jeet Kone Do was meant to be a dedicated style of fighting, with specific rules and ways.
But that was not what Bruce Lee’s philosophy was about.
In Many ways, almost every fighter in MMA is a Jeet Kune Do, since MMA is in many ways the evolution of Jeet Kune Do.
Jeet Kune Do is not a sport – MMA is…
Still, another fact to acknowledge is that Jeet Kune Do is not a sport while MMA is.
Therefore, there are many things that are illegal in MMA that are practiced in Jeet Kune Do. One example is the finger jab, which was practiced to be an eye poke.
Moreover, there are many combat techniques that are very effective in combat but are illegal in MMA.
This is another reason why Jeet Kune Do is not specifically practiced in the MMA cage.
However as in the case of current MMA fighters who have JKD training – it is more the concepts of the style that can be integrated into MMA and not just techniques.
