was Bruce Lee the father of MMA?

           Bruce Lee was and still one of the best martial artists who appeared in Cinema since 70s, and he brought an amazing entertainment to the martial arts society, He became a brand himself and his name was directly connected to martial arts and fighting styles.

There is a theory that Bruce Lee was the father of mixed martial arts fighting, some would believe that while others would not agree about it.

During the Long Tournament in 1967 Bruce Lee demonstrated a fight with a partner that contained many techniques in front of a big audience to introduce his style to the community, some would say that Bruce Lee did not believe in styles but he has a style, and even having no styles its self is a style :)

The mixed martial arts competition is attracting fighters from different styles especially that the prizes and rewards are too high :)

all fighters fighting in MMA train most effective martial arts and fighting styles to use them inside the MMA cage.

Seven years after that demonstration of Bruce Lee in the Long Tournament, the mixed martial arts competition was created in 1980, with the rules, Weight classes, equipment, sanctions  etc.. 

Luckily we have a video of Bruce Lee during that Tournament in 1967, and the quality of the video was great, so the techniques can be clearly seen.