Ben Saunders and The Way of the Dragon

He was the fighter with a near constant smile. The jovial cast member who won over fans through his seemingly casual approach to a tough sport during the sixth season of SpikeTV’s “The Ultimate Fighter.” A lanky and unconventional martial artist, Ben Saunders (6-0-2) seemed to approach the UFC Octagon with optimism in his mind and the inspiration of Bruce Lee in his heart.

A member of American Top Team, Ben Saunders is poised for a return to the Octagon at the UFC’s “Fight for the Troops” 10 December, north of Charlotte. During the live charity event being televised on SpikeTV, Saunders is set to face former Navy SEAL, Brandon Wolff (5-2).

An almost comic book mythos fills the air as a soldier of the military special forces faces a soldier of the Dragon. One question from the curious is how will Jeet Kune Do continue to fare in the mixed martial arts arena. Much less against a fighter with former military combat training.

Bruce Lee’s legacy has stirred a reasonable amount of debate within the modern world of MMA for years but it also provides a guiding light of sorts for Saunders as he battles his way up the rough path of Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight ranks.

During his first introduction segment on “The Ultimate Fighter,” Saunders laughed as he announced that his style of fighting was Jeet Kune Do. Many viewers where left with questions as to whether Saunders was merely joking around for the benefit of the camera eye. But he was not joking. He was serious.

Saunders recently told Fighters.com, “if it wasn’t for Bruce Lee I would not be where I am today. I wouldn’t be who I am today. Bruce has influenced my life since I was around eight years old.”

Finding the true definition of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do is different according to who you ask most times. After all, Bruce has departed long ago. And in the void that “The Little Dragon” left, questions and arguments abound. Is Jeet Kune Do a style, a system or just a philosophy? Is it something more akin to concepts such as the Bushido code of Japan or is it a practical fighting application?

According to Saunders, “A lot of people look at the legend behind Bruce Lee and the whole Jeet Kune Do concept  a certain way because not many people have fought in MMA with a Jeet Kune Do background and done very well. I’ve seen a few fights with people who have claimed Jeet Kune Do as a style or whatever and they got destroyed.”

In some circles, the idea of Bruce Lee is nothing more than a fable of the Hollywood machine. But to an often older generational segment of the martial arts community, an argument is pushed forward that Bruce Lee was not only an authentic fighter but even the father of mixed martial arts itself. Ben Saunders and other UFC notables such as “The Barbarian” Tim Boetsch (8-2-0) are vocal proponents of Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do in the face of criticism many times.

“I have been messed with over Jeet Kune Do since at least 1995 or 1996,” Saunders told Fighters.com. “Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai kickboxing where the premiere styles at that time. The thought was that if you didn’t know Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu or Muay Thai everything else was garbage.”

Saunders continued, “Even myself. I would look at Tae Kwon Do or Karate and think that it was just not practical. But the truth is that any technique is practical if a person trains it enough and they can accomplish it in a live scenario.”

One clear idea birthed from Jeet Kune Do is improvisation. “Be like water” became a common motto within the realms of Bruce Lee as well as a constant assertion to cast off what is useless within combat settings. These ideas are certainly echoed by Saunders.

“Bruce Lee believed in simplicity,” affirmed Saunders. “You know, things like direct attacks instead of doing something that might require a lot more cardio or place stress on the muscles to perform,” Saunders told Fighter.com.”

Skeptics of the Bruce Lee legend often solely play the Hollywood card at some point within any debate regarding the practicality of Lee’s ideas in real fight scenarios. Much less Lee’s invention of mixed martial arts or even some distant influence on the now wildly popular combat sport. But Saunders staunchly defends his hero’s contributions and Lee’s Hollywood success as pivotal to MMA’s creation.

“Look back on the seventies and how “Enter the Dragon” blew up and then suddenly everybody started taking Karate and Tae Kwon Do. It was then that martial arts became a huge success in America and really around the world,” said Saunders.

Saunders continued, “I don’t know where the world would be now without Bruce’s influence. The UFC definitely would have never happened when it did. There’s no way the Gracies would have been able to come over here in 1993 and put on that first event if Bruce Lee hadn’t made martial arts as big as he did beforehand.”

But the question still remains. How is Jeet Kune Do applied in a the sporting environment of a mixed martial arts bout. In this evolved age of MMA where gameplans are celebrated and augmented by well-roundedness within several different martial arts disciplines, many critics of freeform fighting concepts ridicule Jeet Kune Do as a reckless and risky approach within a highly competitive sport.

Saunders told Fighters.com, “The biggest thing is that Jeet Kune Do is a philosophy. It is about practical application of martial arts techniques. And it’s also a way of life. Most any technique is practical and can be done in MMA.”

Saunders continued, “Once a fighter hits an advanced level where they have their basics down; whether it’s Jiu-Jitsu or Muay Thai; Once they reach an advanced level then it doesn’t really matter what a fighter uses. Through Jeet Kune Do there is no style. The lack of style and open-mindedness and just techniques in general is what makes everyone individual martial artists.”

Prior to the rise of MMA in 1993 at UFC 1 through the introduction of the Gracie family, there has always been a constant, contemporary voice for Jeet Kune Do in the larger martial arts universe. A voice that continued Bruce Lee’s concepts of a hybrid fighting approach based on a mixture of several otherwise opposing combat styles.

Respected martial artists such as Dan Inosanto and others such as Matt Thornton heralded Jeet Kune Do from the seventies into the eighties and beyond. Ben Saunders holds such Jeet Kune Do developers in high regard as many of these contemporary Jeet Kune Do personalities served as a direct influence on his current fighting style.

“I’ve read tons of books on Jeet Kune Do. And watched videos,” Saunders told Fighters.com. “When I was fourteen I trained with Sifu Neal Cauliffe. And Neal trained under Dan Inostanto. That’s where a lot of my basic striking came from. You know, jabs, crosses, hooks, low kicks, side kicks and stuff like that. I always wanted to meet Dan Inosanto obviously.”

Saunders revealed, “I actually got the privilege to meet Bruce’s daughter Shannon Lee just a couple of weeks ago. There’s a documentary about Bruce Lee being made and I was asked to be involved in it.”

“Shannon Lee interviewed me,” continued Saunders. Dana White was the one that told them about me. They were doing interviews with UFC fighters and Dana told them I was a hardcore Bruce Lee fan. So, I was flown out to Las Vegas to do the interviews.”

In the current hour, the clash of Saunder’s Jeet Kune Do concepts within the sport of MMA can be further gauged by his upcoming performance against Brandon Wolff during this week’s UFC fight night. When asked about the challenge, Saunders strongly but respectfully announced his confidence going into the fight.

“Honestly, I think I am better in all aspects of the game. Whether it be the stand-up, wrestling, takedown defense or jiu-jitsu,” said Saunders. “But, none the less, Wolff’s supposed to be a really tough guy. That fact alone has a tendency to make for one of the hardest people to fight. You know, those people that just do not give up.”