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- Bruce Lee's JKD versus MMA, discussion.
This is probably one of the most
controversial topics out there, about people
talking about JKD versus MMA,
it's a lot of MMA fighters
and practitioners might say "oh, you know JKD
is impractical" some might see that Bruce
is the pioneer of MMA, like, kinda the Godfather of MMA,
we have a lot of like, both sides, right?
And then you have JKD guys saying "oh, no it's
strictly for self-defense.
You know, forget these sports tournament stuff."
At the same time, when you kind of spar together,
they're not so tough anymore.
So, Sifu, what do you think?
- When they make reference to Jeet Kune Do,
and normally it's a reference to Bruce Lee,
you know, they'll say "oh, this fighter's representing
some of Bruce Lee's punches, or representing some of his
kicks," and things like that.
You could tell some of the MMA fighters
are starting to apply some of his philosophy,
you know, or some of his tactics, in fact.
And, by reading his material they might take some pieces
here and there - Yeah, yeah.
You know, and that's really cool, and I strongly appreciate
you know, these guys getting in the ring,
going all out, - Training and all.
Training hard, ready to take impact, I mean
this is gonna be a total reversal on their entire health,
because I mean, how long can you sustain that much damage,
to your own body? - Yeah, yeah.
There's a lot of recovery time, they gotta go back
and train aggressively for the next fight,
but these guys have a lot of heart,
they're very, they have, you know, they say
the gut
to do it. - Hundred percent.
A hundred percent.
Now, the piece of the Jeet Kune Do, of course,
this cannot be a way to let's say "this guy's a JKD fighter"
I think this is why they eliminated
all the style piece of it, because now, it's just
two combative individuals, inside a ring,
to see who's the best?
It doesn't matter to even know
what you're
training in anymore. - Mm hm.
These guys are gonna get ready to
win, that's all they're, they're focused on.
Nobody's talkin' about "oh this is my style"
or that style. - Yeah.
They're getting just good at certain gyms,
to prepare for the fight.
- Yeah.
- So, if you wanted to use some of those tactics,
from Jeet Kune Do, I would say some of it can be applied.
- So, the philosophies, and principles, right?
- Yes, yes, but this is about combative sport.
You know we're talkin' about okay, somebody going home,
safely, hopefully, you know.
Something I know we've experienced some MMA fighters
that have passed away. - Yeah.
But it is a dangerous sport, you know?
So are you ready to take on that challenge,
to jeopardize your health and well being inside that match?
You know, some people
want to do that - Mm hm.
From the very beginning.
I've noticed MMA evolving throughout the years,
from you know, using no hand pads.
- Yeah, yeah, no holds barred.
- Yeah, different weight classes, didn't even matter.
They just went in there and... - Yeah.
- Back then, the first few.
- Right, the first UFC fight was nuts!
But you know, they got to where it's now a sport.
But those guys go in there ready, to really take
someone's head off. - Yeah.
So, and that's their mentality, is to make sure it's ready.
Now, we talk about Jeet Kune Do, we look at self-defense.
Now, you gotta separate the two, because
they don't work together.
You saw, you'll see some of my videos,
where I'm always hittin' to the groin, because
I can't take any chances, I'm a small individual.
And, if I can be quick enough to just hit,
and escape? - Mm.
That's what I'm going to do, and that's what
I'm going to teach my students.
- Mm, and so target-wise it's very different.
In JKD we aim for the eyes, we aim for the throat,
we aim for the groin,
those kinda, there. - Right.
The shin or the knees. - Right.
Those are the primary targets.
In MMA it's a little bit different, with the gloves.
And what you, I'm not saying, MMA's phenomenal.
What we are saying, is that both can learn from each other.
Versus this ego talk. - Right.
Where "oh I'm this style, and you are, you are no good."
And you know, I'm gonna challenge you and this and that.
Why? - Yeah.
Like, why, I say we're all trying to be better,
we're all trying to improve ourselves,
become a better version
of ourselves. - Right.
Become a better martial artist, and I think
you have to take into consideration where,
that in self-defense, is
very very different. - Mm hm.
'Cause in, in a ring, in an MMA fight,
even you're fighting in a cage, most of the time
you start off far away. - Right.
But in self defense, most of the time
you start close quarter. - Correct.
You don't see a guy, like, quite far away,
oh, let's put the gloves on, let's you know, let's go.
- Right, right.
- It's not like that, right, you go, zero to a hundred miles
just like that. (snapping)
- Exactly, you're in a critical stage,
where your senses have to be heightened,
and you're able to defend yourself in such close quarters,
and what, how would you respond within that much space?
Sometimes you don't have enough time.
Your first reaction, 'cause in that critical stage
it is a reaction piece, is usually the right answer,
is if you did react, whether you ran, or hit,
or left the scene, it's the best answer for you.
But just keeping your senses, you know, and
your situation could change all the time, so
increasing your awareness is key, number one,
how do you speak to individuals?
How do you disengage
from an argument? - Yeah.
Safely, and actually control the situation.
That's the best line of defense.
The second is, yeah, if it gets too extreme,
then you have to find that balance between you
and another individual. - Yeah.
If you're close quarters now, and now,
if somebody starts
engaging you - Yeah
you have no choice. - Yeah.
And you have to attack.
- And I think, in martial art, if you are learning
the understanding the art aspect of it,
not just the fighting physical aspect,
I think as you train, you should have more control
of your emotions,
your temper. - Mm hm.
If, the more you're training, let's say,
of course we need to train
the killer instinct. - Mm-hm.
We need to have an emotional content, but as you train more,
if you get always, like, always
"I'm always angry, - Right.
Someone's gonna hurt me."
But that's not a very healthy
way to live. - Oh, absolutely.
So, you gotta kinda change it up and say
okay, yep, we gotta turn it on and off.
Right, you have to have that emotional EQ to do that.
Not "Oh I'm so tough, you know, I'm gonna hit someone."
- Yeah.
- Well, yeah, no it's not like that.
It's when only when it's necessary, you can turn it on.
And I can turn it off.
Speaking of close quarter, true story.
One time I was in a, kind of like a club,
kind of a pub kinda place, and I saw a strong Caucasian guy,
got into an argument with a Filipino guy.
And they were just arguing and, like, pushing around.
And then the Caucasian guy's like "well you wanna fight?
Let's go, let's fight."
And you can see like,
all macho man - Right.
And this and that, well the little Filipino guy,
all he did was pull out like a clip knife,
and he just go like that.
Now, it was lucky, 'cause when the guy was,
when the Filipino was cutting, the Caucasian guy,
he freaked, 'cause he was cutting his throat.
So, he freaked and he just cut his chest.
So blood started pouring out, police came, right?
It just, that is not MMA.
- No.
- You don't think about that, on the ground, yeah
you do all that stuff.
What if the guy's got a knife?
What if the guy's got another friend?
All you've got are multiple opponents.
- Right.
What about, what if it's raining?
What if it's sunny?
What if it's winter?
All this consideration, indoor outdoor.
We don't have that, it's always
(thumping)
a mat. - Yeah.
It's always a cage, it's got a referee.
None of that when you're out there.
So you gotta think about,
think about that. - Mm-hm.
A very different scenario, right?
- Exactly.
- So we train for a very different purpose.
I'm not saying like, all, of course,
we're training for self-defense, but
it's not the purpose of martial art, I think, personally.
- Well yeah, I mean again it all comes back to the teacher,
on how you're being taught. - Yeah.
If you just are starting to learn martial arts,
what you call "self-taught" then you're gonna
- You might.
- You're gonna find a different world out there,
you're gonna think of your own ideas about what should
or shouldn't be done, sometimes you need to be taught,
and disciplined a certain way.
You gotta find those right self-help books
that can improve your own situation, first.
And then sometimes, it's probably not best to learn
self-defense if you already have an issue
with that... - Temper, emotion.
That temper,
and all that stuff. - You just...
That needs to be controlled first.
- Yeah, yeah, and so I think, as you get better,
you should be, have more control of your emotions.
You have more control of, just more mature, right?
You don't need to go "oh, I'm so tough, I'm so this
and that," right, as you train, and also the way we train
even like, bare hand techniques, with gloves
or without gloves, you condition your hands,
it's very very different.
You hit someone, with this.
Versus if somewhat,
like the finger jab, - Right.
It's a very different idea, it's a very different concept.
You're gonna take his eyes out, take his throat.
- Yeah, yeah.
- When you know, of course, at first I'm sure young guy
go through "I wanna be tough! Yeah,
hit as hard as you could - Right, right.
I wanna knock" you know?
But as you develop the power, now you know
if you hit someone, you could actually
hurt the person very badly. - Right.
Now you think about, okay, maybe I need to be
very very careful - Right.
with my weapons, right, because you could just,
you might accidentally hurt someone very badly.
- Correct.
- Right?
- Every martial art out there, they train
with safety. - Yeah.
Even in Jeet Kune Do, I mean you have to put some gear on,
you gotta protect yourself, there needs to be some control,
okay, while you're doing it.
And it's limited, it's limited in any way you look at it,
except when you say, "Okay, go."
Okay, now, but see, these two fighters in an MMA fight,
they're ready for it, they know they're going to engage.
We route them - We'd be preparing for that
yeah. - For months.
- Right, now, when you're out there,
they have those same senses, you know,
if they're walking down the street, and all of a sudden, hey
I don't like that guy because I saw him fight,
or I don't like his attitude, or whatever,
and all of a sudden he, this guy's planning
to take this guy out, maybe as walking down the street.
Now, I'm not saying this - Right
so that somebody's gonna end up doing it,
but this is what I'm saying, is that,
somebody's preparing to either attack you, or
somebody is not emotionally stable, and will attack you,
if they feel that their ego is threatened,
or something is causing to get in their way.
So, those are the kind of odd scenarios
that we're looking at to get away from.
And in Jeet Kune Do, it just helps you
increase that awareness much better, and simply
attack an individual in case he does
intrude into your space. - Yeah.
That's the intent, is to escape an attack
and leave the scene safely.
- Yeah, just to go home.
It's your job to go, go to your wife, your daughter,
you son, your husband, like, go home safely.
It's to get home, that's your job.
And that's why we learn these, learn martial art.
And I think it's nowadays, if you think about it,
yes we wanna learn the art,
but if you actually just wanna hurt someone,
get a knife, get a gun.
What's so difficult about it, why train
20, 30 years. - Yeah.
To do this, so I hope that if you're training,
there's a deeper purpose to why you're training.
It's a self discovery process, just like Bruce says,
once you know,
a punch is just a punch - Yeah.
Once you master the art a punch is no longer a punch.
Right? - Right.
Once you understand the art, a punch is still a punch,
a kick is still a kick, it's that self-discovery process.
So, although we're learning to fight, but then
we're also learning
not to fight. - Mm-hm.
And then, at the end you might find out, kind of
maybe the only, the only enemy, like,
let's sound a little philosophical, but,
your enemy is yourself, right? - That's true.
- It's very true
- It's truly yourself.
You're eliminating your own defect,
and you're trying to become a better person.
So, it's not just a JKD versus MMA discussion,
I hope that gives you a little bit of perspective,
about martial art, about MMA, about these things.
It's fascinating when you read these comments on my channel.
And you look at the comments.
The comment tells a lot about,
tells you a lot about the person.
And the person's like "Oh this is not so tough,
oh, that's so wrong."
And I said "well,
that's you."
And, chances are, I don't even need to meet the person.
That's not a happy person.
The happy person doesn't say that,
right? - Mm-hm.
A happy person, a fulfilled person, is usually
coming from a place of gratitude.
- Mm-hm.
- Say "Oh thank you so much, I learned a lot,
it's helped build my confidence, improve my skill."
That's the right attitude. - Yeah.
If you have, if you start you day hiding behind a keyboard,
faceless, putting someone down, and so tough
and this and that.
Right, that's your life. - Yeah.
I mean that's your life.
Our lives the same, we still train, we're still happy,
we're still rolling, and that's how it is, right?
- Yeah, what I really appreciate about Dan's point of view,
and myself of course, is that, we learn how
to deflect blows, it's, it's not interfering with us.
We're here to help you. - Yeah.
I mean you're watching our video, so you can learn.
And we're happy to continue teaching you.
As long as you, you know, give us some information,
some questions, we'll listen to those.
Absolutely, the complete negative ones?
- Yeah we don't spend time with 'em.
- I mean it's wasting our time,
really. - Yeah.
But, at the same time, it's given us some
information from others
that could actually join - Mm.
And actually learn from this channel, so,
we appreciate everything you can give us.
- Yeah, so until next time, hope you enjoyed the interview.
Actually I dealt with some great insight,
great story from Sifu.
Be water, my friend.
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