The Bruce Lee myth! Do you buy it?

The mods need to make a was Bruce Lee an invincible martial art god or not sticky thread
 
moreorless87 said:
Even 19th century dandy boxer BJ? Bruce would have knocked his top hat and monocle off and pulled his handlebar moustache.

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He'd have beaten unmotivated BJ for sure, my good sir
 
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He'd win UFC 1 and we'd all be training Wing Chun instead of BJJ right now. :D
 
Lol no. Hel get gnpounded to bolivia by level c mma fighters of today
 
What makes you guys think he wouldn't be on top of whatever was effective at the time. If bjj was crushing it in competition, bet your bottom dollar he'd already be all over it and analyzing it for himself. I doubt he'd be surprised by anything that came at him.

That being said, he was a smart and speedy mofo but no one knows how good his chin is.
 
I have absolutely no doubt that Bruce could have easily competed in MMA and been successful. He was legit, believe it.

Read his book, listen to his interviews, watch the way he moved.



These garbage threads pop up every so often, and just make me laugh. Contrarian cornballs just want to try and drag down his image because he's so widely respected and revered.

Spend some time actually studying the guy and you might learn something about fight philosophy and energy transfer, instead of being one of those ignorant dorks that tries to downplay his skills because he's shown so much love by so many.
 
No, I don't buy it. His philosophy was sound. I'm sure he knew many effective techniques and was super athletic. But as far as actually being able to use those techniques in a fight, well I doubt he did the kind of training necessary to be able to do that. I think he even knew his limitations too. He knew that a boxer who wrestled could take him out and even said as much. I'm sure he could fuck up the average person though. Hell, with what limited training I've done, I was able to handle myself against people much larger than myself and was quite successful.
 
Probably too Azn to hang in todays MMA. Bruce Lee vs Genki Sudo would've been amazing back in the day though
 
How many MMA title holders are practitioners of Jeet Kune Do or Wing Chun?

None?

Ok then. Bruce Lee was great at a bullshit martial art. I'm sure he could slap around the average person, but I'd imagine he'd get wrecked by a modern fighter.
 
jgarner said:
How many MMA title holders are practitioners of Jeet Kune Do or Wing Chun?

None?

Ok then. Bruce Lee was great at a bullshit martial art. I'm sure he could slap around the average person, but I'd imagine he'd get wrecked by a modern fighter.
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One of my instructors has a JKD background and I have read most of the books on JKD, so I have respect for it; however, JKD guys should have been dominating the MMA community in the late 90s early 00s, but they weren't. Also, there were at least a handful of high level JKD guys that dropped Jun Fan (Bruce Lee's personal mixture of Wing Chun, boxing and kicking) b/c it wasn't working that well in sparring.
 
Mr Mojo Lane said:
One of my instructors has a JKD background and I have read most of the books on JKD, so I have respect for it; however, JKD guys should have been dominating the MMA community in the late 90s early 00s, but they weren't. Also, there were at least a handful of high level JKD guys that dropped Jun Fan (Bruce Lee's personal mixture of Wing Chun, boxing and kicking) b/c it wasn't working that well in sparring.
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All I know is they aren't teaching that bullshit to guys who really need to fight for a living. I'll stick to regular martial arts. When someone can do that crazy shit and win a title, I'll consider it.

Boxing, Thai fighting, BJJ, Judo, Kickboxing, wrestling - These are things that will actually help you. If you try to karate chop me, I'm going to knock your teeth out.
 
Rickson by armbar
 
Jeet Kune Do isn't a martial art, it's a way of thinking, a philosophy. Of taking bits and pieces, techniques that WORK, from other martial arts, and combining them together.
I have not invented a "new style," composite, modified or otherwise that is set within distinct form as apart from "this" method or "that" method. On the contrary, I hope to free my followers from clinging to styles, patterns, or molds. Remember that Jeet Kune Do is merely a name used, a mirror in which to see "ourselves". . . Jeet Kune Do is not an organized institution that one can be a member of. Either you understand or you don't, and that is that. There is no mystery about my style. My movements are simple, direct and non-classical. The extraordinary part of it lies in its simplicity. Every movement in Jeet Kune Do is being so of itself. There is nothing artificial about it. I always believe that the easy way is the right way. Jeet Kune Do is simply the direct expression of one's feelings with the minimum of movements and energy. The closer to the true way of Kung Fu, the less wastage of expression there is. Finally, a Jeet Kune Do man who says Jeet Kune Do is exclusively Jeet Kune Do is simply not with it. He is still hung up on his self-closing resistance, in this case anchored down to reactionary pattern, and naturally is still bound by another modified pattern and can move within its limits. He has not digested the simple fact that truth exists outside all molds; pattern and awareness is never exclusive. Again let me remind you Jeet Kune Do is just a name used, a boat to get one across, and once across it is to be discarded and not to be carried on one's back.

— Bruce Lee[2]
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Anyway, if Bruce fought he'd be a flyweight or bantamweight. I'm sure that--if he held to the same ideals and philosophy in our modern age that he believed in during the past--and applied that to today's technology, nutrition, and martial arts, then Bruce would either be a champion or top tier contender. He was already way ahead of his peers in health and fitness(iirc, he hated that all the self proclaimed Wing Chun "masters" were all soft and out of shape), and his mental toughness is well known. Sure, there are a lot of myths behind Bruce, but I don't see how you anyone could think he wouldn't be competitive in today's MMA game, given access to modern training facilities, coaches, nutrition, etc.
 
jgarner said:
All I know is they aren't teaching that bullshit to guys who really need to fight for a living. I'll stick to regular martial arts. When someone can do that crazy shit and win a title, I'll consider it.

Boxing, Thai fighting, BJJ, Judo, Kickboxing, wrestling - These are things that will actually help you. If you try to karate chop me, I'm going to knock your teeth out.
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Some of the JKD guys did adapt and they were way ahead of the curb compared to the vast majority of TMA guys. Matt Thornton is a good example of what I am talking about. He started adding and doing more BJJ and MMA in the 90s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Thornton_(martial_artist)

BTW, I do not train w/ Thornton
 
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jgarner said:
All I know is they aren't teaching that bullshit to guys who really need to fight for a living. I'll stick to regular martial arts. When someone can do that crazy shit and win a title, I'll consider it.

Boxing, Thai fighting, BJJ, Judo, Kickboxing, wrestling - These are things that will actually help you. If you try to karate chop me, I'm going to knock your teeth out.
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whats crazy about JKD? The way bruce taught it, it was just pretty much kickboxing.

And he wasnt a wing chun guy he largely abandoned the style and created JKD as a result of the limitation of wing chun
 
LEGS MAHONEY said:
whats crazy about JKD? The way bruce taught it, it was just pretty much kickboxing.

And he wasnt a wing chun guy he largely abandoned the style and created JKD as a result of the limitation of wing chun
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JKD is like kickboxing with slapping the opponents hands away. I'll stick to real kickboxing because it's been shown to be highly effective while JKD specific techniques have not.
 
sgt jumpy said:
Jeet Kune Do isn't a martial art, it's a way of thinking, a philosophy. Of taking bits and pieces, techniques that WORK, from other martial arts, and combining them together.


Anyway, if Bruce fought he'd be a flyweight or bantamweight. I'm sure that--if he held to the same ideals and philosophy in our modern age that he believed in during the past--and applied that to today's technology, nutrition, and martial arts, then Bruce would either be a champion or top tier contender. He was already way ahead of his peers in health and fitness(iirc, he hated that all the self proclaimed Wing Chun "masters" were all soft and out of shape), and his mental toughness is well known. Sure, there are a lot of myths behind Bruce, but I don't see how you anyone could think he wouldn't be competitive in today's MMA game, given access to modern training facilities, coaches, nutrition, etc.
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Yea, Bruce would have definitely been at the forefront regardless. He was ahead of his time, and had a fight philosophy that would have made it possible for him to adjust to modern day martial arts quite fluidly.

He was cross-training even in his time, working on more than just strikes, but also submissions and grappling.

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"Style is a crystallization."

- Bruce Lee
 
I'm a big Bruce Lee fan. However, the problem for me is that most the stories regarding his true fighting abilities come from his students. Anybody who's ever trained in any martial arts knows that it's pretty common for people to view their instructor with extreme, almost unreasonable, adulation. I think this is even more true in the times before 1993. We're essentially taking testimony from the most biased people possible.

I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that Bruce Lee was an exceptional street fighter. I do think it's unreasonable to take people's word that he was the greatest fighter who ever, if for no other reason that it's completely unsubstantiated.

With that said, I will always be a huge fan.
 
bowened said:
I'm a big Bruce Lee fan. However, the problem for me is that most the stories regarding his true fighting abilities come from his students. Anybody who's ever trained in any martial arts knows that it's pretty common for people to view their instructor with extreme, almost unreasonable, adulation. I think this is even more true in the times before 1993. We're essentially taking testimony from the most biased people possible.

I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that Bruce Lee was an exceptional street fighter. I do think it's unreasonable to take people's word that he was the greatest fighter who ever, if for no other reason that it's completely unsubstantiated.

With that said, I will always be a huge fan.
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Bruce has the respect of many legit martial artists, including Judo Gene LeBell, whom he trained with for over a year learning wrestling, subs, and obviously Judo, while also teaching Gene some moves of his own.

Guys like Gustafsson and McGregor know what's up.

 
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