If Bruce Lee was alive today, what would he think of UFC, Pride, Elite XC and contemporary MMA in general?

Upon asking Bruce Lee what he thought of MMA (if he were alive today), he would promptly slap the top of my head and in a scolding voice, emphasize to me, "Don't think - feeeeeeeel!"

I have answered a similar question to this before, and I honestly think he would find it fascinating. What many actual practicioners of MMA understand but a lot of fans fail to realize is that most MMA fighters have a strong foundation in at least one traditional martial art. Bruce Lee did as well (Wing Chun), and so long as this was kept in mind, I am sure he would enjoy it and maybe even participate in one regard or another. As another answerer mentioned, he would be too old to participate as a contender himself, however.

Keep in mind too, though, that as others have pointed out, when most people refer to "MMA" it is with reference to the sport, not for actual self-defense. Lee generated his concept of Jeet Kun Do as a means for defending one's self, not for sport.

I don't think he would too enthuisastic about it. Bruce Lee is very philosophical and very commited to the philsophy, mystery of the martial art.

Even though he created his own style the reason why he decided the create his own style was too show the martial arts world that all these karate and kung fu stances would not be useful for a real fight out in the street. His style revovlves around more realtistic way of fighting. Fighting in order to escape.

But I think he would have a lot of respect for the fighters but the sport itself he might think is bastadization and exploitation of martial arts .

I think he would be proud. He was one of the first proponents of Cross training. He took parts of Judo, wrestling, and boxing and added them to his repertoire. You could say that Bruce Lee is the God Father of MMA.

He would have been in his 50's when the first UFC took place and almost 70 now, so I doubt he would have been a competitor. However I think he would probably have discovered BJJ in the 1980's, when Rorion & co. first moved to LA. I think he would probably have been instrumental in promoting the first few events, and I think he'd have been a respected trainer, probably for stand-up or for overall strategy, by many fighters. I think he would have liked the quality of athlete, the full-contact/limited rules environment, but I think he'd be critical of modern MMA due to the added rules, weight classes, etc. Just basing this off of his writings, interviews with those who knew him, and the views he held when he was alive.

If Bruce Lee were alive today he will be the fastest martial artist around but not the strongest he probably will love the UFC,Pride and EliteXC and tempted to participate but his philosophy of life will not aloud him to get involve he probably will stay making great movies and teaching others Jeet Kun-do and giving seminars around the world. The fighters will respect him a lot but at the same time they will be thinking he is to small and weak to fight in those events.

i don't think he would approve of it with all it rules. and some of it like the ufc he would consider a joke.

i find it a leap to think that jkd is the same as mma they are not even close.

Actually Greek Pankration would have been the forerunner to MMA competition, but Lee would be credited as bringing the importance of crosstraining, of well-roundedness and truth in combat to the forefront. He would have been an active leader and proponent for it, perhaps frequently commentating, training right alongside everyone. However, one shouldn't mistake his JKD for MMA, as one is a contact sport and the other is a street-oriented martial philosophy with a billion more facets to it.

in the first place bruce didn't create mma, the concept of mixing styles and cross training has been around for hundreds of years long before bruce was even a thought.

as for what he would think, he does go with his philosophy of jkd

edit:> big dj leadge, you know very little about anything in martial arts.

bruce lee was not the first to combine various style or philosophy.

jkd is not a martial art it is a philosophy

mma is not a martial art it is a sport

they are 2 different things with 2 different goals.

if have forgot more about jkd then you ever knew.

edit2:>

big dj ledge then by that definition matsumura is more of the father of mma then bruce. sokon matsumura 1798-1890, he combined far more style then bruce did and he stated it is better to be a generalist and know about all aspects of martial arts then a specialist and limit yourself to one set of skills.

or perhaps it would be matsumura instructor who taught Matsumura this principal, Kanga Sakukawa 1733-1815.

i can run off a list of instructors who founded there styles on that principal long before bruce was born.

unless you want something closer to modern times like vee jutsu, or sanuces ryu. both from the same principals of mixing styles, are a lot closer to mma then jkd. an created a decade earlier then bruce founded jkd.

magazines are a poor place to do research in. there main goal is to make money and be profitable. not to be accurate. you midas well use wikipedia

and i said you know very little about martial arts not mma, there is a difference you know. but apparently reading and comprehension is not one of your strong suites either

He would probably think it was better than boxing since it is more technical and cerebral. He may also think that he could train the best fighter in any weight class and would probably be correct.

Seeing as Bruce Lee is the originator of Mixed Martial Arts as it's come to be known, I think he'd be pretty damn pleased. Bruce was the first to incorporate various fighting styles and overlook the the Far Eastern philosophy of 'one discipline only'.

I also believe that the majority of fighters hold Bruce in high esteem and it's a fact that Dana White, head honcho of the UFC, considers Bruce Lee the Grandfather of MMA.

Go back and look at pretty much every film he made and you WILL find he used a legit MMA move in each. Considering there was no UFC etc back in the day, I'd say that's considerable proof he is an MMA pioneer.

Oh, Shihan J go and look up what Jeet Kun do is actually all about. and to quote Bruce Lee himself -

"I have not invented a "new style," composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from "this" method or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see "ourselves". . . Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don't, and that is that. There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune-Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune-Do is simply the direct expression of one's feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is. Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive. Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one's back."

Basically, Jeet Kun Do = MMA.

EDIT - Shihan J, clearly you have top contibutor under your name so you can be both arrogant and oh so right. I'm also glad you're here to tell me how little I know of about MMA.

JKD is a philosophy, this was not questioned, but the underlying principle of the philosophy is the foundation of MMA.