Bruce Lee

[Ghostface923]

How do you think bruce lee would do in mma today?

[Unlimited]

How do you think bruce lee would do in mma today?

the best

[ufoalf]

He'd do bad to say the least.

[Tko4]

Most of what looks good in movies doesn't work. I trained in karate for many years, and bought into all the "death punches" and all the hype of 10th degree black belt masters. Bruce Lee was a kung-fu master, so he would destroy everyone. Chuck Norris was the baddest man on the planet. Some 90-year old Shanghai master with a white beard could kill everyone in the world with his crazy fast hands. As I kid, I bought into all that stuff. But the more I learned about fighting, the more I realized most of that is bunk. I had a brown belt in karate and am not afraid to admit that I would get wrecked so badly in an MMA fight it wouldn't even be funny. So how would Bruce Lee do? About as well as any strong guy with some good standup skill but virtually no ground game.

[younghypnotiq]

he definetly wouldnt do bad. he was very strong and fast especially for his size. if he learned some TD defense he would be a force

[elixirvtec]

If he went into mma with only what he knows. He would do bad. If he train in some grappling and take down defense then I think he would do pretty good. But I don't think he would be a title holder.

[Beebs]

He'd get the the shit beat out of him.

[Beebs]

Let's say he fights at 135 pounds in a different org, you think he gets the shit beat out of him? He had all the striking and submission knowledge, he would do well with the correct training for an MMA setting if you ask me. Not to mention his amazing physical gifts.

How so? He never competed in any sort of striking or submission competition. The vast majority of his training was in kung fu, not really a good sign. He spent maybe what, a few years actually trainging in anything resembling an mma style, and even that was mostly on his own, when real competitors like LeBell came to train with him, they beat him.

If he wasn't a movie star and plagerist "philosopher" nobody would have even known him then, let alone now. There were a large number of people around in his own day and long before who were crosstraining and would have beat him.

I would put money on anybody with an A-level Shooto license at 135 to beat him.

[ufoalf]

LeBell was like twice his size...

If he had trained for couple of years in today's MMA he could be top fighter at 135 easily. In terms of talent and natural ability he overtakes BJ Penn imo :).

Than again Beebs feels otherwise :lol:.

[don owens]

he would have his ass handed to him by mediocre fighters

[younghypnotiq]

he would ddo well

[Beebs]

In terms of talent and natural ability he overtakes BJ Penn imo :).


That is beyond absurd, what the hell is there to base this off of? Nothing, that is exactly all there is, nothing but movies.

BJ Penn, won the mundials with 4-5 years of training, is the best 155 pound fighter, probably ever, has beat the best 170lb fighter ever, and fought as high as heavyweight, pretty well at that.

Bruce Lee on the other hand has done......well, I can't think of a single fucking thing that he has done, can you? Wait I take that back, I think he won a cha-cha dancing championship, but he's never done anything worth mentioning, or anything at all, in terms of combative competition.

[Beebs]

Honestly I'm still shocked at the BJ Penn comment, BJ fucking Penn.

Lee would get tied in knots by this "BJ", forget BJ Penn. That makes me want to puke, its like comparing Sylvester Stallone to Mike Tyson.
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Actually heres an insanely awsome picture of BJ in his last fight, where he busted Yasuhiro Akagi's Cauliflower ear open, making it bleed all over and causing a TKO.

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[ufoalf]

lol, i didnt say he can beat BJ Penn.

[Sheehan]

I dont see how anyone can make an assesment, If he was living in this day and age and wanted to do MMA thats what he would train at including stand up and ground work, all you could say is that a man with his dedication to training would probably go far.

[achillesthegreat]

Wasn't it Bruce Lee who preached versatility like they are doing?

Wasn't it Bruce Lee who said fanciful stuff doesn't work and someone with boxing and wrestling experience would beat it?

Something tells me Bruce Lee would have the smarts and train hard enough to do ok.

Bruce Lee did fuck up ALOT of different arts. He has sparked boxers, kung fu specialists etc

Lee is misunderstood. He is not invincible, he simply wasn't proven like a Fedor or Mayweather. On the flipside he wasn't some myth.

[achillesthegreat]

Defeated British boxer Gary Elms by knockout in the 3rd round in the 1958 Hong Kong amateur boxing championships by using Wing Chun traps and high/low level straight punches. Before he met Elms in the finals, he knocked out three boxers in the first round. Hawkings Cheung, his fellow Wing Chun street fighter, witnessed the event.

Bruce Lee knocked out Wong Jack-Man in Oakland, California in a 1965 no-holds barred challenge match. It was Lee's last official fight. It lasted three minutes.

Lee knocked-out Chung, a Choy Li Fut fighter, in Hong Kong in a 1958 Full-Contact match. The match was refereed by Wong Shun-Leung.

Lee knocked-out Uechi in 10 seconds in a 1962 Full-Contact match in Seattle. It was refereed by Jesse Glover.

[Relentless]

he woulda kicked chuck liddels ass

[achillesthegreat]

Lee weighed 128 pounds when he died.

[RDJ]

Defeated British boxer Gary Elms by knockout in the 3rd round in the 1958 Hong Kong amateur boxing championships by using Wing Chun traps and high/low level straight punches. Before he met Elms in the finals, he knocked out three boxers in the first round. Hawkings Cheung, his fellow Wing Chun street fighter, witnessed the event.

Bruce Lee knocked out Wong Jack-Man in Oakland, California in a 1965 no-holds barred challenge match. It was Lee's last official fight. It lasted three minutes.

Lee knocked-out Chung, a Choy Li Fut fighter, in Hong Kong in a 1958 Full-Contact match. The match was refereed by Wong Shun-Leung.

Lee knocked-out Uechi in 10 seconds in a 1962 Full-Contact match in Seattle. It was refereed by Jesse Glover.

If that is his entire record he may be the most overrated man on the planet.

[Sheehan]

If that is his entire record he may be the most overrated man on the planet.

well its not like UFC and PRIDE was around back then, use your brain.

:-(

[ChadHutchingson]

With his fortitude Bruce might have been a champ.

[Raden]

Bruce Lee has proven nothing other than in movies...

[younghypnotiq]

If that is his entire record he may be the most overrated man on the planet.

lol agreed.

[Beebs]

well its not like UFC and PRIDE was around back then, use your brain.

:-(

Boxing, karate, wrestling, judo, kickboxing, muay thai, all thriving sports at that point in time, and to even quote the guy himself "all you have to do to beat a martial artist is wrestle and box for a few years", and yet....all talk.

[Koa]

Boxing, karate, wrestling, judo, kickboxing, muay thai, all thriving sports at that point in time, and to even quote the guy himself "all you have to do to beat a martial artist is wrestle and box for a few years", and yet....all talk.

WTF is with all the hate for Bruce Lee? He was the guy that was all about mixing skill sets to create an ultimate style, was all about teaching martial arts to anybody willing to learn, and its the main reason why so many people in the martial arts world hated them. He felt there was no superior style, but that there were aspects of just about every style out there that work for different people.

He was a mixed martial artist! If he were around today and venerable, he'd be all about MMA! He was extremely dedicated to the ideology of MMA during a time when everyone felt their particular style alone was superior.. GEEZ! Quit hating!

With so many people around today willing to learn, mix and match skill sets, I'd argue he'd be among the most open minded people around, would probably train just as hard as anyone.. How good he would do is up in the air..

[achillesthegreat]

What absolute haters.

That obviously isn't his whole record. They are just numerous IMPRESSIVE victories that only morons wouldn't recognise.

[Nuke]

This is why I hate fantasy talk. Who knows and who cares how Brucle Lee woulda done? Fact of the matter is we all know he would of loved how far MMA has come along since his time. Stop whining about it Bruce Lee would probably be an organization (UFC president) owner himself right now.

[bulakenyo]

WTF is with all the hate for Bruce Lee? He was the guy that was all about mixing skill sets to create an ultimate style, was all about teaching martial arts to anybody willing to learn, and its the main reason why so many people in the martial arts world hated them. He felt there was no superior style, but that there were aspects of just about every style out there that work for different people.

He was a mixed martial artist! If he were around today and venerable, he'd be all about MMA! He was extremely dedicated to the ideology of MMA during a time when everyone felt their particular style alone was superior.. GEEZ! Quit hating!

With so many people around today willing to learn, mix and match skill sets, I'd argue he'd be among the most open minded people around, would probably train just as hard as anyone.. How good he would do is up in the air..

Exactly. :good

Im not a big Bruce Lee movie fan, so I think Im pretty unbiased. I read one of his biographies, and guys, he REALLY is a MMA pioneer. He saw the beauty in all styles of combat, and he picked what was the most effective to use in real life situations.

He preached the use of all parts of the human body as a weapon. He preached ending a fight as quickly as possible, to finish it on the first blow if you can. For example, a streetfight, he adviced a kick to the groin or injure the opponents knee and shins.

He felt that in a real life or death streetfight, you are at a disadvantage if you just employed a stand up style. He recommended eye gouging, hair pulling, biting, punching, kicking, wrestling, joint manipulations etc.

Im not saying he'll win over BJ Penn, but If he was alive today, I know he'll be the biggest supporter of MMA.

[Beebs]

What absolute haters.

That obviously isn't his whole record. They are just numerous IMPRESSIVE victories that only morons wouldn't recognise.

It's not hate at the man, I'm indifferent about him, its his cult like following, it like they make Chuck Norris jokes but without the joke parts.

And for the record, those NHB street fights were won according to him or his wife, most other people who are somehow connected to the Wong-Jack-Mon fight seem to think Bruce lost pretty handily. And I for one have never seen any documentation of his Hong Kong boxing championship.

[cross_trainer]

A few things:

* Bruce was never really a fighter. He looks pretty fast in the sparring footage that survives from a demonstration at a tournament, was clearly very athletic, and has an OK (if circumstantial) fight record. So he could thrash your average goon in a brawl, but I doubt you'd see him beating good professional boxers or wrestlers. He isn't even the most qualified actor in martial arts--Chuck Norris and Victor McLaughlin were better.

* He was, however, a great martial arts theorist. This is undeniable--he had the respect of a goodly number of top-ranked martial artists, including Norris (top-ranked karate fighter in the late 60's) and Lewis (who credits Bruce with developing his kickboxing style). Jeet Kune Do was something that people had been doing for years, but Lee allowed the concept to become mainstream. Ironically, an actor got it right in the 60's and the Gracies--who still stick to a single style--never did.



In conclusion: Great analytical mind, decent-to-good martial arts ability. Definitely a MA theorist deserving of quotation, and his influence on the martial arts was generally good. He was not a great FIGHTER, but then again, neither was Cus D'Amato. He's closest to Emmanuel Steward--a great abstract grasp of combat sports combined with respectable "amateur" experience.

[achillesthegreat]

It's not hate at the man, I'm indifferent about him, its his cult like following, it like they make Chuck Norris jokes but without the joke parts.

And for the record, those NHB street fights were won according to him or his wife, most other people who are somehow connected to the Wong-Jack-Mon fight seem to think Bruce lost pretty handily. And I for one have never seen any documentation of his Hong Kong boxing championship.
I totally agree about the Chuck thing but what he did has to be respected. Like CT said he was theorist, he trained fucking hard and I doubt every impressive accomplishment he had was fake.

Like I said, ultimately he simply wasn't as proven as a professional combatant but still deserves respect.

[acb]

It's not hate at the man, I'm indifferent about him

Lol you clearly hate the man. You sound like he stole something from you personally.

[Beebs]

Lol you clearly hate the man. You sound like he stole something from you personally.

No, like I said, I hate his cult of personality, which steals from people who rightfully deserve credit for being fighters.

[Beebs]

Ironically, an actor got it right in the 60's and the Gracies--who still stick to a single style--never did.

I would thouroughly disagree, where are all the succesful JKD style fighters, because I can't even begin to count the number of succesful gracie trained fighters.

[RDJ]

What absolute haters.

That obviously isn't his whole record. They are just numerous IMPRESSIVE victories that only morons wouldn't recognise.

Impressive, compared to world class fighters? C'mon. Bruce Lee was a good athlete, but not a fighter.

[cross_trainer]

I would thouroughly disagree, where are all the succesful JKD style fighters, because I can't even begin to count the number of succesful gracie trained fighters.

There aren't any successful Jun Fan style fighters. JKD is the concept of cross-training--and there are many, many successful cross-trainers around (I myself am an extremely successful cross-trainer).

The Gracies have, by and large, stuck with BJJ.

[RDJ]

Bruce Lee was doing submissions, and fighting in the streets when ALL of these guys are in their Fathers Nutsacks..

Your point is?

Even the Gracies respected and has never badmouthed Bruce

And your point is?

Fuck in enter the dragon or some movie in 1970!!! He armed bar someone on the ground...People pause and think... First time ever in a motion picture...If he was born later and had the same mind he will be great

.And to see him disrespected here is kinda unbelievable..:huh

Wow!! He did something cool in a movie, he must have been the best fighter ever!

[achillesthegreat]

Impressive, compared to world class fighters? C'mon. Bruce Lee was a good athlete, but not a fighter.
I've already said he isn't as impressive as the true pros but it is impressive he fought numerous styles and his theories are certainly compelling and I agree witht them.

Lee was not Fedor or Mayweather but he wasn't some myth.

[cross_trainer]

Fuck in enter the dragon or some movie in 1970!!! He armed bar someone on the ground...People pause and think... First time ever in a motion picture...If he was born later and had the same mind he will be great

Cagney armbarred a guy in a 1940's movie, Blood on the Sun. Great Judo fight scene in that movie.

[aramini]

Bruce Lee was very important to the evolution of martial arts - his theories of using what worked and discarding empty tradition that has no application are the cornerstone of MMA. He was an original thinker, and a great one. I don't care if Sherk would destroy him, because Bruce was something very important to combat arts, an essential influence and in my mind the true creator of MMA. He wasn't a physical slouch, but I am confident he MIGHT be competitive with some good fighters his size because of his conditioning and strength at that low weight.

A Tyson or Couture match up is ludicrous, but another 125 pound fighter might very well have some problems with Bruce. You have to appreciate that without Bruce everyone would still be throwing reverse punches with the other hand glued to the hip in martial arts competions. Philosophically he deserves the respect he gets, though perhaps not through competition.