Bruce Lee

[RidleyRockets]

I just had a frustrating argument/debate with a friend who for some reason thinks that Bruce Lee was the greatest fighter to have ever walked the earth. He went as far as saying that that if he were alive and in his prime today that he could have destroyed the competition in any fighting organisation be it the UFC, K1, Pride etc.

The only reliable evidence i could find about Bruce as far as real fights were concerned was an amateur boxing tournament he won in his teens. Apart from that there is a lot of hearsay, conflicting acounts and second hand stories.

What are your opinions on the matter?

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

I find your lack of faith disturbing. You need re-education.

 

[AKIRA]

I am a huuuge Bruce Lee fan. But I won't let that affect my view on this matter.


Ok, what you guys see in the movies is NOT what Bruce Lee is about. People seem to forget that he is also an actor, and in his fights in the movies are NOTHING like how he'd fight in real life. Bruce Lee is sort of like an engineer. He developped his own martial art style Jeet Kune Do - "way of the intercepting fist". He basically didn't beleive in all the fancy crap that goes along with a lot of other martial art styles. Jeet Kune Do was all about taking the most practical, efficient and effective parts of various martial art styles and combining them into one style.

RidleyRockets, you have to understand that Bruce Lee had unbelievable strength, power and speed. I think in a one on one fight with many UFC/Pride/K1 fighters he would most likely win if he was in his prime today. I'm definately not underestimating any of those fighter's skills, it's just that Bruce Lee is so much more than that. He spent the majority of his life studying the physical and mental aspects of martial arts, so in that respect he's on a higher level than those other fighters.

But I guess we'll never know. Just my opinion on the matter.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

But I guess we'll never know. Just my opinion on the matter.

Zombeh Bruce.

ZOMBLOLS.

 

[The Monkey]

Why did he die, anyway? He's the sort of guy you'd expect to live until he's 150 or something.

Anyway, some of his movies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q9kYKtvYU0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdlCNF-F5oI

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

This thread is now about how awesome Bruce Lee was in real life.

Yeah, fuck you hand!

 

[mchammer75040]

Alot of the original students that teach JKD now talk alot about how skilled he was, and if you look around on the net you can find vids of him training. He was pretty damn fast, and I remember seeing a video of him doing two finger push ups. On the surface his style is identical to any kickboxing style out there, but what made his unique was his scientific approach to how he delivered a punch..etc. I wont go that much into it, but I took some classes in JKD awhile back and I have to say Ive always been impressed by how much thought he put into everything from the stance to how to deliever a punch.

He approached it like a science with economy of movement in mind as opposed to kung fu styles that have long drawn out katas and useless crap. I think he could have done quite well in any kickboxing championship simply because he was so damned determined. If you read some bios on him he actually ****ed up his back BEFORE he did any movies. The doctors said there would be little chance he would ever walk again, let alone kick. Most people would be dejected but not him, thats why I would consider him a true master.

 

[MiccyNarc]

I remember reading that chuck norris beat bruce lee in a karate championship. Wish I could find a source.

 

[The Monkey]

^

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLO1YIWQuXE

 

[RidleyRockets]

RidleyRockets, you have to understand that Bruce Lee had unbelievable strength, power and speed.

Sure he was fast, but no faster than featherweight/welterweight boxers. His strength wouldn't have been anything special since he was 135lbs most of his active years, he was just too little to have "unbelievable" strength.

I think in a one on one fight with many UFC/Pride/K1 fighters he would most likely win if he was in his prime today.

This is where i disagree mostly. Bruce Lee had virtually no ring experience and no fight record. I don't care who impressive he looked in training or looked on film, you can only really judge someones ability in fighting by seeing them fight.

I'm definately not underestimating any of those fighter's skills, it's just that Bruce Lee is so much more than that.

I would say you are greatly underestimating the skill of top MMA fighters. These men make their living by fighting in real fights where people get hit.

He spent the majority of his life studying the physical and mental aspects of martial arts, so in that respect he's on a higher level than those other fighters.

Are you saying that top mma fighters don't spend their lives training and studying? How is he on a higher level than mma fighters when they actually step into a ring and put what they have learnt into practice against other top competition?

But I guess we'll never know. Just my opinion on the matter.

I agree with that, but we can atleast make an educated guess (plus it's fun).

 

[mchammer75040]

Sure he was fast, but no faster than featherweight/welterweight boxers. His strength wouldn't have been anything special since he was 135lbs most of his active years, he was just too little to have "unbelievable" strength.

This is those vid I was talking about with the two finger pushups and so on, this was before he did any movies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S_Yfndw_j4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybQcyHHzC8E

This is where i disagree mostly. Bruce Lee had virtually no ring experience and no fight record. I don't care who impressive he looked in training or looked on film, you can only really judge someones ability in fighting by seeing them fight.

He supposedly fought alot when he was younger and got into scuffles on the movie sets he went to, but I of course dont have any concrete proof of that its just from what the people who knew him said. His philosophy of martial art demanded that he spare and put what he knew into play rather than just training on a heavy bag and so on.

I would say you are greatly underestimating the skill of top MMA fighters. These men make their living by fighting in real fights where people get hit.


Are you saying that top mma fighters don't spend their lives training and studying? How is he on a higher level than mma fighters when they actually step into a ring and put what they have learnt into practice against other top competition?

Yea I agree, there are tons of fighters out there that have probably put in an equal amount of time into their training as him by now. Ive read interviews with MMA guys, some train 50 hours a week or so. God I couldnt do it.

 

[co05]

Wasn't he so fast that the cameras filming him couldn't capture his movements?

 

[The Monkey]

From Wikipedia:

Bruce Lee's celebrity and martial arts prowess often put him on a collision course with a number of street thugs, stunt men and martial arts extras, all hoping to make a name for themselves. Lee typically defused such challenges without fighting, but felt forced to respond to several persistent individuals.

Bob Wall, USPK karate champion and co-star in Enter the Dragon, recalled a particularly serious encounter that transpired after a film extra kept taunting Lee. The extra yelled that Lee was "a movie star, not a martial artist," that he "wasn't much of a fighter." Lee answered his taunts by asking him to jump down from the wall he was sitting on. Bob Wall described Lee's opponent as "a gang-banger type of guy from Hong Kong," a "damned good martial artist," and observed that he was fast, strong, and bigger than Bruce.

Wall recalled the confrontation in detail:

"This kid was good. He was strong and fast, and he was really trying to punch Bruce's brains in. But Bruce just methodically took him apart."
"Bruce kept moving so well, this kid couldn't touch him...Then all of a sudden, Bruce got him and rammed his ass into the wall and swept him, he proceeded to drop his knee into his opponent's chest, locked his arm out straight, and nailed him in the face repeatedly."

After his victory, Lee gave his opponent lessons on how to improve his fighting skills. His opponent, now impressed, would later say to Lee, "You really are a master of the martial arts."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_lee#Challengers_on_the_set

 

[Cpt Tenacious]

I just had a frustrating argument/debate with a friend who for some reason thinks that Bruce Lee was the greatest fighter to have ever walked the earth. He went as far as saying that that if he were alive and in his prime today that he could have destroyed the competition in any fighting organisation be it the UFC, K1, Pride etc.

The only reliable evidence i could find about Bruce as far as real fights were concerned was an amateur boxing tournament he won in his teens. Apart from that there is a lot of hearsay, conflicting acounts and second hand stories.

What are your opinions on the matter?

I'll tell who's the best fighter on earth........Popeye.
He once ate a can of spinage while plains were shooting him up, then he turned into a plane, caught some bullets put them in his mouth and spit them out taking the plain down. Popeye is a bad ass mother F*cker.
Popeye Fact = Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris had a baby, his name was Popeye

 

[RidleyRockets]

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruce_lee#Challengers_on_the_set

That's some of the hearsay i was talking about in an earlier posts. The guy recalling the story was a friend, admirer and co-star of Bruce so a pinch of bias isn't out of the question.

It's a shame that it wasn't filmed, you'd think with all those cameras around someone would jump at the chance of recording Bruce Lee in a real on set fight but i guess we will never know for sure.

 

[lePobz]

I'm luke, i'm 5 and my dad's Bruce Lee.

 

[RidleyRockets]

I'll tell who's the best fighter on earth........Popeye.
He once ate a can of spinage while plains were shooting him up, then he turned into a plane, caught some bullets put them in his mouth and spit them out taking the plain down. Popeye is a bad ass mother F*cker.
Popeye Fact = Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris had a baby, his name was Popeye

Agreed. His girlfriend was a slut though.