How mixed is mixed martial arts?

Back in the early 90’s, Mixed Martial Arts was introduced to the United States by way of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. At that time, it displayed the many different forms of martial arts--Jeet Kune Do, Tae Kwon Do, Sambo--and put masters of each discipline against one another to see whose skill was supreme and which style of martial art was truly dominant. Fighters back then excelled in their particular styles and hoped that theirs would be able to counter all others, even though some styles had never faced each other until that point (c’mon, like Jeet Kune Do versus Capoeira could have happened anywhere else except a video game). Nowadays, a Mixed Martial Artist has a variety of skills, but some styles are chosen more often to study than others, namely Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and any form of kickboxing.

Whatever happened to Jeet Kune Do? There was a huge following when Bruce Lee was teaching it in the late 60’s. In fact, the philosophy of “be like water” should have made this one of the more adaptable martial arts with the understanding that a fight is about position changes. It’s about maximizing force while using less energy, and I’m sure the one inch punch could also come in handy at some point.

What about Tae Kwon Do, the South Korean national sport known for its combination of flying kicks and quick leg work? How about Sambo, the hybrid Russian martial art mixing wrestling, judo and karate into a style worthy of study by the former Red Army? Don’t even get me started with the various forms of Kung-fu.

The current sport of MMA does encourage the fighter to broaden their knowledge of different martial arts. After all, doesn’t knowledge equal power? Can you imagine what would happen if a true MMA fighter stepped into the octagon against a single skill martial artist from, let’s say Ninjutsu? I know the outcome…Patrick Smith versus Scott Morris, UFC 2.

~Ghetto