By: Ethan X (Good Looking Fighter)

In Part I we took a look at-

There are two things above all else that you never do as a martial artist. You don’t use your skills to prey on people……… And you don’t talk shit about Bruce Lee. Don’t worry. I’m not gonna hate on Bruce or Jeet Kune Do. This is just a couple criticisms that I have with the way Jeet Kune Do is taught.

First of all for those of you who don’t know, Jeet Kune Do isn’t a style, it’s more of a philosophy on combat that was “created” by martial artist and film icon Bruce Lee. As Bruce practiced it, it was heavily influenced by Wing Chun and western Boxing, and it took much of its footwork from fencing. The main principle of Jeet Kune Do is to use whatever is effective no matter where if comes from and discard everything else. So biting a guys finger off is allowed, eye gouging is encouraged, and today shooting someone in the face is widely accepted as a legitimate Jeet Kune Do technique. Sounds pretty legit right? Well, yes and no. And here’s where it gets complicated. The problem isn’t really with Bruce Lee’s philosophy of effectiveness above all else, it’s with the people who have taken over his legacy. That’s right. The problem with this “style” is that it’s not a style; therefore anyone can claim they teach JKD. This leads to a lot of shitty instructors.

Bruce Lee himself was an amazing martial artist. Some people think he was just an actor that couldn’t really fight, but in reality he was probably one of the greatest fighters of all time. Many people don’t realize that he was actually an amateur boxer with a 14-0 record. Of those fourteen fights, all of them were first round knockouts except for two. Of those two, one was a second round knockout and the other was a third round knockout. That’s a fucking insane record for anyone. This is amateur boxing we’re talking about. The one in which people wear headgear specifically to protect them from getting knocked out! Every single person he fought he knocked out. It was said that had Bruce gone professional, he would have been one of the top five boxers in the world. Bruce Lee was as legit as they come.

By: Ethan X (Good Looking Fighter)

This comprehensive, well-written discussion was written by Ethan, a Good Looking Loser contributor. The original post was on this thread in our Martial Arts Forum. I encourage you to leave your questions, comments, praise or hate mail there.

This article doesn't necessarily represent the viewpoints of Chris (Good Looking Loser). I have no qualified view of Martial Arts, it's cool stuff that I know virtually nothing about. I carry a semi-automatic gun and/or knife, where legal and when appropriate. I did pick most of the images for this article though, some coming from one of my video games- Mortal Kombat.

Introduction By Ethan X

I’m going to start off by saying that I don’t mean for this post to disrespect anyone or anyone’s preferred martial arts style. What I do want to do is give a realistic, no bullshit look at martial arts. I see guys all the time asking what kind of martial art they should learn. Most of the time when guys are asking this question it is because they want to learn how to take on another guy and win in a fight, not because they want to learn discipline or respect. Guys want to have a sense of confidence knowing that they can take care of themselves if they ever got into an altercation. So while there are other aspects to martial arts that can be beneficial (learning discipline, getting fitter, etc) I’m primarily going to be judging the following martial arts on their ass kicking potential.