Next Great MAist

[disgruntled]

who do you guys think will be the next "Bruce Lee" type person?

Bruce Lee not only was a great MAist, and made some great videos, but he also revolutionized MA. he was a visionary. i can list several great MA movie stars, but none that i can think of, have the ability to affect MA on a whole like bruce Lee did.

do you think that there will be another person?

[sirdarksol]

Sadly, I think that the next person who will have this kind of effect on the martial arts could very well be a crock.
If you think about all of the really popular martial artists who write books and produce videos, the majority of them teach, at the very least, questionable arts.

[DOCBROWN1705]

I have to agree. I can not think of anyone (at least not now) that has the ability, or drive to make that kind of impact on a world level.

[sirdarksol]

Originally Posted by DOCBROWN1705

I have to agree. I can not think of anyone (at least not now) that has the ability, or drive to make that kind of impact on a world level.

I can think of people who have the drive and have the potential, but they don't have the chances. Any sort of celebrity status is mostly luck. Achieving and maintaining it may require effort, but there are people who put forth great effort and merely fail to be in the right place at the right time. This is mostly a matter of luck. (Like getting yourself attached to Sam Raimi. Who would have thought that the college kid who made Evil Dead would end up making a blockbuster trio of movies?)

[disgruntled]

i see your point, but i don't think that a crock could revolutionize the MAs that much. or at least i hope not. the masses might get miss information, but i would like to think that the MA community is more educated.

[sirdarksol]

Perhaps existing martial artists are better learned.
However, think of our time on Martial Forums. Whenever something about Ashida Kim came up, there would be quite a few people supporting the hack.
The issue would not be current martial artists, but the uninitiated who are sucked in by ridiculous claims.
I'm not saying it's going to happen, just that it might.

[Hatori]

I think Tony Jaa from ONG BAK and THE WARRIOR KING has made a big impact recently. There is no denying that he has great skills and I think we should all keep a eye on him as I think he's gonna be H U G E ! ! ! !

[disgruntled]

i definately agree. Tony Jaa has revolutionized what we expect from MA movies, and he is an amazing actor.... the only reason to discount him is that i don't think he will take that step beyond and influence MAs as a whole. Bruce Lee truely changed how people conceptualize MAs. even Jet Li was a little revolutionary in the movie "the One", yeah bad movie, but he showed how different MA style develop a character and affect a story..... much like Bruce Lee's last unfinished-ish movie..... but Jet Li's concept was more developed, not more about this style vs. that.

[rolltroll]

i have to point out that the Gracie family did bring about a change in the ma world, for a long time before 93 it was thought that only stand up fighting was needed to survive, then the first ufc came and woke everyone up from the dream and now we see ma'ist at least addressing the issue of being taken down seriously again.

[sirdarksol]

Conversely, the Gracie family has contributed to making people believe that ground fighting is the only thing necessary. If I understand it right, they are the origin of the claim that goes something like "80% of fights end up on the ground", yet nearly everybody I know who has been involved in more than one fight says that their fights never go to the ground.
Aside from that, most traditional schools did, indeed, teach their students to deal with fighting on the ground. Both of the schools that I have practiced karate in teach students how to fight on the ground. Most of this is directed at standing again, where a karateka is at a greater advantage.

I do agree that they have had a huge impact on the martial arts, but I feel that their impact was more to create a shift from martial arts to martial sports. Not that I have a problem with martial sports. I like kendo a lot, I love watching fencing.