BRUUUUUCE!!!

No, not Springsteen.

For centuries, the black belt has been a symbol of dedication, expertise and respect. It is the sign that a Martial Artist is a master of his craft. When Mixed Martial Arts got started, in the Vale Tudo and NHB days, a black belt in any style was given his credit.

Style vs. Style fights pitted Judo black belts and Karate black belts against one another (or whichever style you prefer for the example.) Regardless, athletes and Martial Artists have become more intelligent on the issue of cross training since those days .

Only training Judo, or Freestyle Wrestling or Muay Thai is a recipe for an incomplete skill set, and has been for years. Where there is a hole in your game, a good opponent will exploit it. This leads participants to train every aspect of the sport. Whether standing, clinching, on the ground or in transition, fighters train techniques for the right situation. The result is your modern Mixed Martial Artist.

Bruce Lee had the idea that one style was not complete. As quoted in the 1994 book Bruce Lee: Fighting Spirit, he said, "Use only that which works, and take it from any place you can find it." This is what MMA is seeing today. Fighters utilizing every tool available to them and it is making for highly competitive athletes.

Obtaining a black belt in one particular Martial Art will take the individual years of practice. For those people who want to delve into Martial Arts for the chance to compete in MMA, a black belt is not a requirement. Because of this, many practitioners are foregoing the classical approach of advancing ranks. While still honing their skills, albeit slightly differently, these practitioners are still training the muscles rigorously to remember set movements.

Very few Mixed Martial Artists have been able to emulate the philosophy Jeet Kune Do. Bruce Lee's thinking centered around remaining formless and patternless. It was revolutionary at the time. He stressed opening one's mind to every available option and not relying on patterns or muscular memory. This caused the artist to be "anchored down to a reactionary pattern."

MMA requires knowledge of an innumerable amount of techniques and a complete MMA fighter is able to apply those techniques, without thinking, only reacting. However, the patterns still exist. Transitions from one attacking move to another are common enough that defenses or counter-attacks match the transition. The cycle continues until someone makes a mistake; a lapse in judgement or conditioning. By remaining aware enough to avoid these patterns and mixed up the approach, and pairing that with highly conditioned bodies, makes a dangerous opponent. The some combatants in the sport have it all; no missing pieces. MMA will be dominated by these types of fighters; dynamic and unpredictable, fighting with fluid tenacity.