Ben Saunders' Jeet Kune Do Reigns Supreme at UFC 106
by Dave Walsh on Nov 21, 2009 10:04 PM EST
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There aren't many fighters in MMA that claim to practice anything beyond the bare essentials. We hear about kickboxing, muay thai, boxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, maybe judo, but anything beyond that is usually a grey area or a gimmick.
Ben Saunders met Marcus Davis in the cage tonight, and as expected the fight didn't go to the ground and involve any high level jiu-jitsu. Oh no, this was all about the stand up. The fight featured a lot of clinching, and Saunders, whose primary discipline is the mysterious Jeet Kune Do system, developed by Bruce Lee over the course of his lifetime. For those who aren't well versed, JKD is a style without style limitations, it is about sampling from anything that can help you win a fight and using good form without falling into ceremonial hangups.
Saunders utilized a clinch throughout the fight, as Davis was at a severe reach disadvantage and kept in tight. This just left him open for a thai clinch and knees whenever there was room. Two textbook muay thai knees to the face dropped Davis and Jeet Kune Do was victorious along with Ben Saunders.
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Ben Saunders fight was really sick. Most guys throw their knees in a tedious, robotic manner but Saunders literally let them fly like a featherweight fighter. I think at one point his knees went on auto-pilot.
I don’t why Davis didn’t avoid the clinch. I’m sure they watched the video on Saunders vs. Brandon Wolff.
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Saunders can claim what he wants, but his stand-up style is heavily rooted in Muay Thai. As far as I knew JKD was more of a theory than a fighting art though.
Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
by lowellthehammer on Nov 22, 2009 4:47 PM EST reply actions
It is more theory
Basically, anybody can claim they practice JKD. That is kind of the running joke behind calling JKD a style. There are actual JKD gyms in different parts of the world and people who claim to be JKD experts, but they completely miss the point on Jeet Kune Do.
Most of my talk about Saunders and his JKD are tongue-in-cheek because I think its ridiculous for a MMA fighter to claim they practice JKD. Clearly everything he was doing was muay thai adapted for MMA.
Its funny, recently when people ask me what I do, I say JKD as a joke. Because since I moved I haven’t found a suitable gym to train in and have a long enough history where I feel like I have no need to stop training on my own.. Most gyms have no grasp on any sort of martial art at all.
I’ve been to a few muay thai classes now where I was told it is ‘Thai tradition’ to start the fight off slow and feel out your opponent, like it is some sort of mystical ceremony. It isn’t, it happens in Thailand because promoters tell the fighters to start slow so that people in the arena can finishing placing their bets.
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Too true about people missing the point as far as JKD goes.
Without pain, without sacrifice, we would have nothing.
by lowellthehammer on Nov 22, 2009 9:12 PM EST up reply actions
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