Mixed martial arts can be best described as a combat sport that includes fighting techniques from various martial arts. The contribution of Bruce Lee to MMA is a significant one. Bruce Lee can be rightly called as the pioneer of mixed martial arts. Bruce Lee developed a new concept called “Jeet Kune Do”, a unique technique that involves fighting techniques from various martial arts.
Bruce Lee started training in martial arts when he was just 14 years old. He developed his expertise in Wing Chun style of martial arts. Besides gaining expertise in Wing Chun, Bruce Lee also studied other combat sports including boxing and fencing. Lee believed that combination of various fighting techniques can create an ultimate fighting technique. Through this way, he developed his own style of martial arts which differed significantly from traditional martial arts.
Bruce Lee can be considered as the first man to expose Chinese martial arts to the world. Until then, Chinese traditional martial arts were restricted to Chinese nationals alone. He felt the necessity of gaining expertise in different types of martial arts in order to become a great martial artist. Lee formulated his own style by taking the best offensive moves and best defensive moves of various martial arts.
Bruce Lee’s own style ‘Jeet Kune Do’ can be called as the first step towards today’s mixed martial arts. Bruce Lee considered speed as the necessary quality of a martial artist. Many of the modern training methods for MMA were developed by Bruce Lee. Moreover, Lee was the one who insisted the necessity of cross training oneself in different types of martial arts. Bruce Lee, who devoted all his life towards martial arts, can be acknowledged as the innovator of mixed martial arts.