Bruce
Lee is NOT the "Father of MMA"
Bruce
Lee Is NOT
the “Father of MMA”
by
Kip Brockett
Back in
2004, UFC president Dana White made a comment that still has people
talking. He stated that the late Bruce Lee is the “Father
of MMA”. In this article, I will state the reasons why I
disagree with this statement and will also give my thoughts as
to the true “Father of MMA”.
“Actually,
the father of mixed martial arts, if you will, was Bruce Lee.
If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought, and
many of the things he wrote, he said the perfect style was no
style. You take a little something from everything. You take the
good things from every different discipline, use what works, and
you throw the rest away.” 1
Dana White, 2004
First
let’s look at some of the reasons given FOR Bruce Lee being
given the title of “Father of MMA”.
These
are convincing points. And I have to say that I had to re-think
my position after digging deeper into this article.
Before we go any further, we need to clarify some of the terms
that we are using here. Although the following may not be official
definitions, I think they will serve us for this examination.
