WidespreadPanic -
BL's skills were thus:
1. Ability to do a 'quick kill' using eye attacks to set up a kill. He would not be allowed to use his 'x-rated' kill in three seconds methods in the cage/octagon/UFC arena. Therefore he would not have competed, could not be compelled to compete.
2. He had very, very low 'durability'. He was rather fragile, had poor eyesight, had one leg shorter than the other so had some structural problems. His 'chin' was untested. Therefore, unless there was a real REASON to fight in the ring/cage/octagon/ufc arena, such as to save the life of his child or to save his own life, he would not have competed. He would be in the same situation as a person needing to used 'deadly force', knowing that if convicted he'd be jailed.
3. He did not like to be touched. This is evidenced by comments made by Jesse Glover (private emails), James DeMile, and Dan Inosanto (published interviews). Thus he would not have 'come back better prepared if he lost in the UFC1, because he could not have handled this aversion to being touched to the point of learning BJJ or wrestling.
4. He had a severe ego problem. We talk about his philosophy and his desire to be in control of himself, but he could not have allowed himself to be 'submitted' by fellow students on the way to getting skill in BJJ, or wrestling (or any other range/venue). James DeMile talks about his temper when he accidentally clipped BL on the chin while sparing. DeMile says he had a firearm in his pocket and he was fearful that BL would kill him, such was his anger at being 'clipped' and he was moments away from feeling he'd have to shoot BL. Now, even IF this story is embellished, the point is, the ego and temper would have precluded BL from getting additional skill in fighting.
His real ability was to bring out the best in people, to show them the way to improve, yes partly by example. But he had his weaknesses and strengths and knew what those were and avoided the weaknesses. He would have made a pretty good coach if he chose to reveal some of his 'methods'. But Jesse Glover says that after he left Oakland he was worried about being beaten in a fight so he spent a lot of time HIDING his methods. He did not want the bigger, stronger americans to learn what he had done to achieve some of his abiity.
Some of his ability was similar to 'stage magic'.
Most of the fighting moves you see on screen are NOT what BL would have done in a real, full-on, to the death, bar fight, or alley fight where he had to protect a loved one or his own life. Almost all of what you see is STAGE FIGHING JKD.
He had an incredible stage presence that has rarely been equaled. We should respect him for that and not try to put him up for things or events he would not have participated in. You don't take a 'national treasure' like this and make him fight scrubs.
FWIW.
This post says it all best. I'll add:
Fighting: He obviously had good stand up ideas regarding the southpaw stance, right lead/left straight, feinting to draw, stop hit/interception and oblique kick - fighters good at those methods today cause a lot of problems for opponents (A.Silva/Machida/Jones)
But I doubt he had great timing to apply those methods against pros without heavy continued sparring. Against other Chinese classical martial artists though he would have likely destroyed them.
Fragility: he had a permanent back injury that caused him a lot of problems.
Its a testament to his impact that 50yrs later he still appeals to such a broad worldwide range of people. Many of those YouTube comments won't even be from martial artists.