When we think movies, rarely do we think genuine martial arts. Often we find over exaggeration coupled with exuberant sound effects compensating for real martial arts talent. Bruce Lee was different though, as he always sought to incorporate real martial arts into his movies. How effective were his techniques though? Frame by Frame, we will take a closer glance and compare what he’s doing with what the top of Martial Artists are doing today (MMA, Muay Thai, Boxing). Thank you for joining me as we take a closer glance.

The transcript below is from the video “How Real Was Bruce Lee’s Fight Choreography?” by MindSmash.

MindSmash (YouTube Channel): 

Dana White (UFC President): 

“Bruce Lee is 100% the father of mixed martial arts.”

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

“Hello, one of the reasons why Bruce Lee was so polarizing is because many would say, “He was just an actor only seen in movies but at the same time, noticing his speed and technique, many could feel technicality at work.  There had been many professional fighters who have ascended to the top taking on Bruce Lee’s technical and mental understandings, firmly standing by Bruce Lee’s contributions to martial arts.”

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

“Many others saying he was just an inspirational icing to their style.  Sharing real martial arts is something Bruce Lee always strived for.  When I look at him, I see a researcher or a man who took an objective approach towards testing techniques to see if they would work or not.  As a result of fighting simplicity and short-range motions was his philosophy.  You know definitely a lot of groin strikes and eye pokes, but here we’ll be looking at few of the techniques that he implement in his movies to see if it could be applied to a practical setting.

Thank you for joining me as we take a closer glance.  Bruce Lee, a right-hand dominant standing Southpaw.  His focus was not power but speed, timing, precision, The Way of the Intercepting Fist.  His goal was to beat you to the strike, which was definitely easier when he shifted his dominant side forward.  We see a lot of work from Bruce Lee’s dominant leg standing in lead.  He was actually noted for his kicks.  Here he appears to be flicking his foot at his opponent’s fist.”

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

Now, this is something we do not see too often but I do know in Muay Thai, Lawrence Kenshin did an amazing breakdown of how the Thais will often focus their arms with their powerful shins, breaking down the muscles you need to punch or even defend.  Thus, I do see some practicality striking at the hand.  Although, I would know that it does not transfer momentum through the opponent’s body, which means they aren’t stifled if they decide to come forward against a strike.

His kinetic chain is perfect.  Watch how the back foot perfectly steps in as the lead foot moves up.  His upper body leaning back as a fulcrum like a seesaw, leveraging mass into the kick.  It’s very quick but it has real threat built into the technique, his signature Oblique Kick intercepting your advance.  Oblique kicks are not a lot more common in mixed martial arts.  We see them from both Yoel Romero and Robert Whittaker.

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

Here, the Muay Thai base starting out adopting this technique.  Here, Bruce Lee landed first, not just because he is quick.  His opponent knew he had to step into striking range before landing his own blow.  The moment he did so, that’s when Bruce Lee chambered.  Leaning his torso back, moves his head away from his opponent’s strike, but also leverages mass into the kick.  By the time his opponent starts chambering his own kick, it’s too late.  Bruce Lee’s kick is already incoming, boom!

Now, this is a very annoying technique to deal with when mastered.  If you can fire it at your opponent’s head, their body…  If you have precise and strong leverage behind the technique… timing will make it a very frustrating tool to deal with.  Although, Stephen Thompson did get caught for this technique, any technique can get timed against.  With Stephen Thompson, he was frustrating Pettis with it.

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

But the moment he used it while Pettis was at the cage, Pettis took the momentum, then ricocheted off the cage to creatively fall Stephen Thompson on the recovery.  It would not have worked for Anthony Pettis any other way.  Here, another Wrist Kick.  Then as he feints to kick again, from the chamber transitions to a roundhouse, Question Mark Kick – catching his opponent off guard.  This is signature of fighters like Saenchai or Israel Adesanya, Lerdsilla often feinting off a low kick or knee, only to chamber than transition into a roundhouse.

Interestingly though, Bruce Lee executes this exact same philosophy but with his lead leg.  His kinetic chain is once again perfect.  The back foot moving in simultaneously as lead leg rises.  Bruce leans back with his torso to leverage his mass and also to move his face away from potential follow-up; the lead arm stolen out as it counterbalance to the torso.  More balance and power as we were striking from a more stable position and watch this!

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

The pivot out, the back foot leveraging more body weight into the game, which in turn also, turns his hips over into the roundhouse.  These are subtle details of a perfect kick.  A dangerously real technique used in the movie.  If Bruce Lee were to connect for real with anyone who executed this technique perfectly as Bruce Lee did, connected for real, there would be real consequences.  This only signifies how much control Bruce Lee had over his body.

He’s injuries didn’t fall accurate at all, all merely stopping right at the edge of doing so.  When you grasp this, you realize how amazing Bruce Lee’s control was.  Bruce Lee had proficiency with both legs it seems.  When your opponent is backing away from your roundhouse, if you make that read – you want to be able to catch them, following up with your other leg; spinning hook kick.  The element of surprise, crashing against stone.

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

The pivot out, the back foot leveraging more body weight into the game, which in turn also, turns his hips over into the roundhouse.  These are subtle details of a perfect kick.  A dangerously real technique used in the movie.  If Bruce Lee were to connect for real with anyone who executed this technique perfectly as Bruce Lee did, connected for real, there would be real consequences.  This only signifies how much control Bruce Lee had over his body.

He’s injuries didn’t fall accurate at all, all merely stopping right at the edge of doing so.  When you grasp this, you realize how amazing Bruce Lee’s control was.  Bruce Lee had proficiency with both legs it seems.  When your opponent is backing away from your roundhouse, if you make that read – you want to be able to catch them, following up with your other leg; spinning hook kick.  The element of surprise, crashing against stone.

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

Here, if you know your opponent wants to space swinging, level changing, the timing against it with the double able at their hips moving to the shot.  TJ Dillashaw neutralized as much of John Lineker standing back is a simple philosophy really.  But it’s easy to see why wrestling is so annoying to deal with versus standing back, feinting high can gift wrap the time he needed to level change, then enter low.

Back to Bruce’s case though, he feints high.  Ducks the punch and then gets his head through the outside.  Familiarly, he scoops his opponent’s hips from under him.  This is a devastating takedown in a real altercation.  If the opponent does not know how to properly break fall which is usually the case with strikers, they often end up crashing their back of dome against the pavement.

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

You can tell Bruce’s fellow actor knew how to break the impact of the fall, not allowing the back of his head to touch the ground.  You can do this by smacking the ground with your arm which cancels out a bit of the force, reducing the load your neck has to resist against to stay up effectively keeping your head from smashing against the ground.  From here, of course Bruce has to finish with a groin strike.

After all, despite being a founding father of mixed martial arts, his techniques and understanding is emphasized all for the real world.  Seeing this now, I hope you understand that Bruce Lee was far more than just an actor.  He wasn’t just throwing silly pattycake at people.  He had real leverage behind his techniques because in truth, his techniques were real.  Unfortunately though, many could not see it without a trained closer glance.

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

You can tell Bruce’s fellow actor knew how to break the impact of the fall, not allowing the back of his head to touch the ground.  You can do this by smacking the ground with your arm which cancels out a bit of the force, reducing the load your neck has to resist against to stay up effectively keeping your head from smashing against the ground.  From here, of course Bruce has to finish with a groin strike.

After all, despite being a founding father of mixed martial arts, his techniques and understanding is emphasized all for the real world.  Seeing this now, I hope you understand that Bruce Lee was far more than just an actor.  He wasn’t just throwing silly pattycake at people.  He had real leverage behind his techniques because in truth, his techniques were real.  Unfortunately though, many could not see it without a trained closer glance.

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

After all, Bruce Lee was fast.  He was very fast and he wasn’t actually seeking to harm his fellow actors, thus you could not encapsulate that the realistic physics of what would happen unless he was to.  He was definitely far ahead of his time and in some aspects his knowledge still is today but the truth remains, Bruce Lee was a true martial artist.  Even if you’ve never seen him fight, the effectiveness of his techniques and philosophy can be seen used to this very day.

Understanding this, I can’t help be humbled by the greatness of this old king.  The reaches his mind had during that time, during that era is a testament to what an open mind can achieve.  What humbleness to learn and grow can overcome in a world where many feel they don’t have a voice!  This small Asian man stood as a giant showing us that the odds do indeed matter, if you’re willing to match your vision.

MindSmash (YouTube Channel):

To that end, thank you Bruce Lee for all your contributions.  Thank you, Bruce for this lesson.  You will always be missed.  If my work elevates you, please subscribe and hit the notification.  Thank you if you did.  It truly lights up the channel.  Thank you.  So let us know if you enjoyed.  It’s a good karma and until next time, peace.”

“Let the future tell the truth, and evaluate each one according to his work and accomplishments.  The present is theirs; the future, for which I have really worked, is mine.”  — Nikola Tesla