Bruce Lee’s martial art has gone through a lot of changes over the last thirty years. All of the original Bruce Lee students are doing their own specialty art except for Jerry Poteet who has stuck with what he was originally taught.

You might say that this is a good thing and you might be right but I believe that no one can do an original art other then the originator.

Bruce Lee had many natural talents and one of these was the ability to learn complex physical things very quickly. I don’t know about you but that does not describe me or most people who study martial arts or any sport for that matter.

Bruce was also obsessed with martial arts training , physical fitness & studying. You might even say he had obsessive compulsive tendencies.

I never had the opportunity to train with Bruce because I was to young but I have trained with two different first generation instructors under Sifu Bruce and am certified as a full instructor under Paul Vunak who is a second generation instructor.

Danna White said recently that Bruce Lee was the father of modern MMA, and I have to agree with him. Cross training in the martial arts has been around for hundreds of years if not longer but Bruce created a scientific street fighting style, a theatrical fighting style and a sport fighting style.

Joe Lewis was one of Bruce Lee’s most famous and successful sport fighters that he trained. Joe was one of the most successful Karate tournament fighters and the first heavy weight kickboxing champions in the U.S. and he did all this after he trained with Bruce.

I’m not taking anything away from Joe because he was a winner and a great athlete before he trained with Bruce but the principles and strategies that he learned made him complete.

One of the strong benefits of training in JKD is that it teaches you to fight at all ranges, but better than that it teaches you to transition and flow from one range to another seamlessly. It also teaches you to fight your fight and not your opponents. This is something that many of the UFC fighters should learn.

Fighting even in sport is NOT about how much abuse you can take or how tough you are its about winning and staying injury free for a long as possible.  

With each new person and generation that trains in Bruce’s art there will be modifications and even improvements in the art. One example is knife fighting. 

Bruce did not put much focus on weapons training except for in his movies. This influence can from guru Dan Inosanto who was chosen as Bruce ‘s successor after he died.

Filipino martial arts has been a great addition to my Jeet Kune Do training and has given me true combative street skills. I know that if someone pulled a knife or improvised weapon on me I would have a fighting chance to survive and come out of it victoriously alive.

I feel that many of today’s MMA fighters have the wrong attitude. This can be seen on the popular Spike TV show, The Ultimate Fighter.

Many of these so called fighters come to the house with very prideful and boastful mouths and talk all kinds of trash about how tough and great they are and how they are going to kill the other guy, but when they get into the ring many of these tough guys only have minimal skill level.

Please don’t get me wrong, I understand that trying to hit someone that is trying to hit you back is not the easiest thing to do and many of these guys are very tough and I give them credit for getting in the cage, but who are training these guys? Why do these fighters think they are so great and then go into the cage and look like a person who has only had a few months of training.

I understand that many of these amateur fighters are young and immature but why do many of them act like ignorant fools?  Is it really necessary to swear every other word. Maybe the fighters are trying to impress Dana White. You would think that a mature man with Dana Whites intelligence and business accomplishments would present himself in a more professional way especially in public.

 These fighters act like freshman college students on spring break not  fighters looking to make their big break.  Is it really necessary to have alcohol so easily available in the house. I personally enjoy watching the fighters train & compete but fast forward through all of the immature drama at the house and the lame trash talk in the van.

I believe that many of these fighters are scared or have many fears and this is why they act the way they do. Do these fighters really think that acting all tough, getting drunk, tearing up the house, playing stupid jokes or trying to start fights outside of the octagon is impressive in anyway?

Are these the future superstars and professional athletes that we want to look up to? Is this WWE or UFC?

Another thing that really bothers me is the fighters coming to the show out of shape or over weight. Where is the discipline? This is a fighters chance to make a big break into becoming a professional fighter and to earn a six figure UFC contract. Why wouldn’t you prepare to be at your best physically and mentally.

The following is a list of were these fighters are lacking or area’s of  improvement.  

1.  There defense is very poor or non existent.

2. Lack of conditioning

3. Poor mental focus

4. Alcohol addictions/abuse

5. Poor or non existent footwork

6. Lack of combination techniques

7. No power in their strikes ( poor mechanics)

8. Sloppy form and lack of techinque (see 2 & 7)

9. Over confident, big ego’s with not much to back it up.

10. Lack of self control and personal discipline