I have been trying to avoid this, but I just can't hold back anymore! Is it just me, or is anyone else with longtime experience in Bruce Lee's fighting methods sick and tired of seeing these so-called Jeet Kune Do "masters", "grand masters", etc. on Facebook and other places of the internet who are certified by out-and-out FRAUDS, posting their multitudes of "grand master of this" and "grand master of that" certifications all over the place? It takes many, many years of VERY HARD WORK to "master" anything, much less be considered a "grand master" of something (takes a lifetime)! Some of these guys look like the might be in their late twenties or early thirties! I am saying this right now ... WHAT A JOKE!!! Get real people! I have been involved in the martial arts now for FORTY-FIVE YEARS! While others have referred to me as a "master", I do not use the title, as it is more of an honorary thing anyway as far as I'm concerned! Whatever happened to HONOR and HUMILITY in the martial arts? Sure, someone may want to be certified in Jeet Kune Do, but if the certificate comes from a FRAUD, then what good is it? Either GET REAL and become certified under someone who is LEGITIMATE, or be prepared to one day suffer the consequences! If you are one of these people, you are just making a fool out of yourself and ripping other people off! Time to WAKE UP and smell what you are shovelling, because it doesn't smell so good! Sorry to be so blunt, but I am sick and tired of FRAUDS in the art that I have worked all of my adult life to be qualified to share with others! No one is going to be upset with you for deciding to change and do the right thing, but many are going to be upset with you when they find out how bad you have ripped them off! GET REAL and do the RIGHT THING or start calling what you are doing SOMETHING ELSE! I don't expect much response from this, but if it makes you uncomfortable to read it, you may want to think about some things ... as in making a few changes! It's never too late to do the right thing!

Keep Blasting!
Sifu Lamar M. Davis II
Senior Instructor
HARDCORE JEET KUNE DO
[email protected]
http://www.HJKDCGFA.com
http://www.HardcoreJKD.com
http://www/HJKDmag.com
http://www.youtube.com/HardcoreJeetKuneDo
http://www.DragonBlastMA.com
HomeOffice (205) 467-9039
Cell (205) 577-3929

"Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit First - ALWAYS!"

"The REAL future of Jeet Kune Do belongs to US, the few, the proud, the HARDCORE! Now, what are we going to do with it?" _ Sifu Lamar M. Davis II

Well, I agree. I tried posting a rather complimentary thread earlier on but it seems to have been ignored. So, let me offer my two cents here.

Do you want to know who has valid JKD certification? The answer is NOBODY. Not one person.

I'm sure every JKD person in the world would love to have been taught and approved by Bruce Lee. Sadly that hasn't been possible because Bruce Lee obviously died at a very young age and - even while he was alive - his acting career drew his attention away from the idea of creating a martial arts governing body. There's good reason to believe that Bruce Lee wouldn't have wanted any of this. I'm sure we all remember the "What is there to teach?" quote.

So there is no unified JKD governing body. There's a handful of people who trained with Bruce Lee. However, all evidence suggests that those episodes lasted for very short periods of time. Yes - Bruce Lee did dish out a few JKD certificates to Inosanto and the like but the circumstances surrounding those events are a mystery to the outside world. We have no idea what Lee's intentions were when he produced those awards. Of course, whether Bruce would approve of what those students of his have since done with is name and his system is certainly up for debate.

So, what I'm saying is that it's all basically a crock and all those certificates count for nothing. ...or do they?

When it comes right down to it I suppose we - the human race - have a choice. We can either let Bruce Lee's martial arts system die or we can keep it alive.

The obvious follow up question then is, "is it worth keeping JKD alive if it means creating a world of fraudsters, in fighting and even court room wars?"

I'd say it probably is! I think there's value in keeping that kind of knowledge alive for historical reasons, but only if the good guys can get their act together.

You see, while certificates might be meaningless the good news is that we have the web, and with the web we can easily check out peoples' lives. That's all we need! All of those fraudsters that you're thinking of are very obviously fraudsters. No reasonable person who has done more than a minute's worth of research is going to buy into that crap. It's plain to see who the fraudsters are and who the genuine instructors are.

I've got some more good news. Do you think that fraudsters are making a lot of money? They're not! They're struggling. Look at the grand daddy of all the fraudsters - the professor. You know who I mean! That guy is charging 65 dollars per hour for private lessons. For a guy who's supposed to have 8,500 members in his organisation that's peanuts. I wouldn't get out of bed for 65 an hour. He must be desperate.

I'm going to give you some advice that you don't want to hear. Rather than focusing on the fraudsters I think you should positively focus on yourself. I think you should get a marketing expert working for you. I'm not a marketing guru and I'm not looking for work. However, over the last fifteen years of my life I've met and worked with some fantastic marketing experts. These people understand how to position products, services and people. There are indeed people who do that kind of thing for a living and they are as dedicated to marketing as you are to martial arts. Some of them are brilliant. So, my speculation is that if you had a brilliant marketing mind working for you then you wouldn't have to worry about fraudsters. They'd be worrying about you!

If you want some private, free advice about this kind of thing then you have my email address.

Hi David!

Thank you for your comments! I am not actually "worried" about the frauds, just upset regarding those who are being ripped off by them!

Keep Blasting!
Sifu Lamar M. Davis II
Senior Instructor
HARDCORE JEET KUNE DO
[email protected]
http://www.HJKDCGFA.com
http://www.HardcoreJKD.com
http://www/HJKDmag.com
http://www.youtube.com/HardcoreJeetKuneDo
http://www.DragonBlastMA.com
HomeOffice (205) 467-9039
Cell (205) 577-3929

"Hit Hard, Hit Fast, Hit First - ALWAYS!"

"The REAL future of Jeet Kune Do belongs to US, the few, the proud, the HARDCORE! Now, what are we going to do with it?" _ Sifu Lamar M. Davis II

To my understanding, Ip Man never gave anyone any type of certification or permission to teach. Bruce Lee came to America and taught it anyway, and eventually started teaching what is known as Jeet Kune Do. Does this mean Bruce, William Cheung, Leung Ting, Ip Chun, etc. are frauds? I don't think so. I'm not saying there aren't true frauds out there riding on the coat tails of famous names like Ip Man and Bruce Lee, but certifications aren't everything. It's the ability of the fighter that counts.

I don't think the skill of the people that you named are in question. I think the original post by Sifu is more concerned about those who don't know the difference between "a master" and someone with claims and certifications, but no skill/knowledge to back it up.

Todd Lambert
http://www.hamiltonjkd.net
[email protected]
Hamilton JKD YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/HamiltonJKD