Why is Bruce Lee important in MMA, despite not being a fighter?

[piropiro]

He popularised martial arts in the west (prior to BL it was mostly boxing with marginal interest in wrestling and karate).

He introduced the idea of picking and choosing what works from multiple disciplines and styles (before it was mostly practice one exclusively and shun the others as inferior).

He literally featured primitive MMA type tournaments/challenges in at least 2 of his movies.

Definitely a big influence, however IMO very overrated technically as a martial artist and hugely overhyped as a "fighter".

 

[kdday]

Mma doesnt have its own history so it's gotta try to attach itself to something or someone else thats adjacent to seem more grand.

His philosophy about martial arts is also the type of thinking that would've eventually evolved into what mma is

 

[BowserJr]

Yeah Lebell is another early legend that was mixing styles well before Lee. At least in terms of grappling. But as far as them training, did Lee actually train with Lebell or were they just acquaintances/friends? If so did he pick up any meaningful amount of knowledge from Lebell? If so did he incorporate it into his style? It's difficult to ascertain what's true and what's not about Lee's actual fighting abilities because I hear and read so many conflicting accounts. He was certainly cutting edge in terms of health and sports science. He was cutting edge in terms of what he brought to entertainment and how martial arts and fight scenes in general are depicted in film and television but I still stand by the opinion that his contributions to MA as a whole are overblown, especially in terms of MMA. There are a lot of other guys out there with better arguments to the claim of being the first true modern mixed martial artist and frankly they're probably out of Japan or Brazil, not America.

About 7.5 min mark. The whole video is interesting though

 

[TimeToTrain]

Without Bruce Lee, there would be no mixed martial arts introduced to the western world. And without mixed martial arts evolved from the western world, the eastern world would be stuck studying traditional martial arts still.

 

[Substance Abuse]

honestly, this is a refreshing break from "jon jones ducked _______" threads every 20 mins

It's basically a one sentence OP asking if he could beat Merab, lol.

The title and poll is only there to mask it's true intent.

While I agree that the Jon Jones threads here are seemingly ubiquitous, this thread still fucking sucks. The users are saving it with their posts.

 

[RockyLockridge]

It's basically a one sentence OP asking if he could beat Merab, lol.

The title and poll is only there to mask it's true intent.

While I agree that the Jon Jones threads here are seemingly ubiquitous, this thread still fucking sucks. The users are saving it with their posts.

my comment was to highlight the sad current state of affairs

 

[Substance Abuse]

my comment was to highlight the sad current state of affairs

You're not wrong, but...

 

[GrantB13]

He probably had more influence on the individual fighters themselves than directly influencing the sport. But I'm speculating. I don't know much about Bruce Lee specifically.

 

[DagOban**]

If you take Bruce Lee as he was when he was 25 and put him in the octagon, he would get beaten. But this is the wrong way to think about it.

Bruce Lee had a very modern MMA mindset and philosophy. He was exploring other martial arts, always trying to perfect his fighting and always trying to figure out what really works.

So following that mindset, if you transpose Bruce in another era, he would be totally leading MMA innovations. Embracing Jiujitsu, wrestling, and everything else.

I'd say he'd be a major player.

 

[Sasha]

I went undefeated in career mode as Dana White

You mean "opportunity mode"

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

He isnt important to MMA. Dude died 20 years before the UFC started. nobody in MMA fights with or has ever fought with his style, and the concept of mixing martial arts by far predates him. The most credit you can give him is some of the early 90s NHB guys maybe initially got into martial arts as kids because they watched his movies.

If he had been around and in his prime in the 90s and stupid enough to go into MMA he would have gotten stomped out by fucking Tank Abbott or Guy Mezger or something and that wouldve been the end of the charade.

 

[VAfan]

considering how analytically minded he was, he probably would have started cross-training like crazy and adapted to the times if he were fighting today. and of course he was an influence, even if it was only subconscious. what kid didn't watch those movies growing up and immediately start karate chopping his friends all over the place.

 

[jsbx45]

I think Bruce Lee got a lot of kids into the Dojo like, 40 years ago. MMA, meh, not so much influence.