It kinda pisses me off how a guy like Bruce Lee gets more credit and recognition than real fighters

[ifindgifsforjackslack]

The guy has fanboys on every corner, i see videos and comments on youtube by guys saying that bruce would dominate the ufc, he hits harder than a heavyweight and moves like a flyweight, i saw a comment with shit load of likes saying that bruce would beat michael jai white in a fight, yeah, you heard it right... A tiny Asian man that stood at 5ft6 150lbs soaking wet beating up a 6ft2 200+lbs jacked mulitple black belt life time martial artist. He also hits harder than Mike Tyson... Who are these individuals that spread this type of misinformation?

I dont get it, he has no proffesional fights on his record, in anything... And there is no footage of him fighting or competing against any pro or known fighter.

At least chuck norris has a karate record.

It seems its better to fake it till you make it than actually doing it for real.

Can someone explain it to me, what impresses you?
He's athletic, looks good in movies, has cool quotes, the one inch punch that has no tie in with actual fighting where your opponet doesnt stand there and let you hit him (in most cases) and oh dear, worst case scenario pushes you back slightly.

I look at him the same way i look Steven Seagal, at least Seagal taught Silva that front kick.



Discuss

I never got into Bruce lee but I always feel like he’s respected for the philosophy not the execution. You are talking about an era where martial arts were more niche and unknown.

It’s like old musicians. The Beatles aren’t better than some of the music today in production quality etc, but their level of understanding pre internet and free information is absolutely amazing. Thats Bruce lee to me. May not actually have done well in mma, or even competition, but he was thinking about fighting in a way far far removed from the current time.

He also realised long ago the importance of athleticism. Look at all the mcdojo owners from that time. All fat and beer bellies. Bruce lee was a specimen (a small one but still impressive)

I think if you want to have a realistic take of Bruce lee, compare him to the other people doing what he was doing at that time. He would have killed seagal, size not making a difference because Bruce lee was an athlete, whereas seagal was a slimy rat lol. Fight philosophy would have helped too, because lee seemed obsessed with quickly and violently dispatching an opponent.

I also don’t think the one inch punch was designed as an efficient move, more as a show of physics and how the power of a punch isn’t generated through hand speed of wind up.

Not a big fan of lee tbh, never watched much of him or his quotes, that’s just how I’ve always viewed what I’ve seen of him.

The people who idolize him are the same people that ate up every word of mcgregor when he was talking about being a master of movement. Some people don’t want to respect an art form, they want to groupie somebody and live vicariously through them. They want to believe in larger than life characters.

Who can blame them, I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed when I got into MMA, and there weren’t really many people that looked a step above everybody else. Like in a movie for eg. took a while until young me started respecting the fact that every fight is a risk, no matter how outstanding you look. And it makes people’s streaks more impressive even if they don’t look like the movie unleashed.

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

Point fighting in karate tournaments does not make you a cage fighter.

And a lot of Van Damme's so called fight credit has been manufactured.

nobody said it makes you a cage fighter, my point is, they ARE dangerous. they DO have martial arts training. they aren't the same as Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Shwarzenegger.

the fact you are comparing them to cage fighters is ridiculous. that shit didn't even exist when they were coming up, how are they supposed to be comparable? it's like comparing George Washington to Barack Obama and saying that Obama would destroy George Washington in a war. of course he would, the amount of technology advancements that have been discovered since George Washington's time is insane.

the same with Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme. the amount of knowledge we know about fighting compared to back then is VAST. how can it even be comparable when they had access to maybe 2% of the knowledge that even casual MMA fans know?

 

[90'SFAN-L80'SMAN]

His contributions to martial arts are incredible, especially at that time. It really seems like people are trying to compare Lee to guys in 2020 and recent history when we all know MMA has evolved. Also to say he couldn't do any sort of damage in MMA is foolish. Not only because of the time difference but also because he never made it a personal goal of his to make it as far as he could in MMA. A freak athlete with his genetics could make a real impact had he actually chose to apply himself to the goal of making it in MMA.

 

[gevoudane]

He's more then just a martial artist. He was one of the pioneers for civil liberty and race barriers.
And he wasnt a fake. He was a teacher more than a fighter.
He did coach pro fighters in the kick boxing era.

 

[Timurd123]

It’s in your head
The guy was an actor and had a ton of fun martial arts movies, just because retards like to pretend he would beat Muhammad Ali doesn’t mean you should ever be upset about it, they’re retards mate, ask their opinion about anything else and you would get a retarded answer.

 

[SamboPunch]

he was an actor like Jackie Chan

 

[FlyingDeathKick]

Bruce Lee was great at what he did and is an important figure in modern martial arts history. The problem is the illusion that he was some untouchable god, if he was alive and in his prime rn and was in the UFC he more than likely wouldn't win the belt.

 

[gevoudane]

nobody said it makes you a cage fighter, my point is, they ARE dangerous. they DO have martial arts training. they aren't the same as Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Shwarzenegger.

the fact you are comparing them to cage fighters is ridiculous. that shit didn't even exist when they were coming up, how are they supposed to be comparable? it's like comparing George Washington to Barack Obama and saying that Obama would destroy George Washington in a war. of course he would, the amount of technology advancements that have been discovered since George Washington's time is insane.

the same with Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme. the amount of knowledge we know about fighting compared to back then is VAST. how can it even be comparable when they had access to maybe 2% of the knowledge that even casual MMA fans know?

Not sure about van Damme, but Chuck knowledge and he took advantage of it. He black belted in judo and bjj along with picking up catch we could. Same with fighters like Benny Urquidez.
Thats why fighters like Benny Urquidez were turned down for the gracie challenge. The modern day complete fighters has been around now for awhile, its just that they fought in multiple styles and didnt have a venue really to show case the full range at once. And in the beginning of MMA they were making more money in other combat sports.

 

[gevoudane]

Bruce Lee made me believe I could take on behemoths with karate! Instead I got my chestbone broken by huge hands while my kicks and punches didn't bother them much.
At least it thought me to fight dirty and elusive instead.

Why he said karate was to old and ritualized. If you actually listened to him you might not have gotten a broken chestbone. JKD is nothing like karate. It truly is an MMA.
The problem with todays fight fans is they watch his movies but dont read his books or listen to his philosophy.

 

[marvinparsons]

Why do you assume Bruce didn't learn grappling? Just because grappling is boring in the movies doesn't mean he didn't know and trained it.

This is, of course, primitive, but clips from these movies show that Bruce understood it.

I mean modern BJJ / MMA grappling.

 

[NDiaz209]

How can anyone hate on Bruce Lee?...

 

[Dirge]

nobody said it makes you a cage fighter, my point is, they ARE dangerous. they DO have martial arts training. they aren't the same as Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Shwarzenegger.

the fact you are comparing them to cage fighters is ridiculous. that shit didn't even exist when they were coming up, how are they supposed to be comparable? it's like comparing George Washington to Barack Obama and saying that Obama would destroy George Washington in a war. of course he would, the amount of technology advancements that have been discovered since George Washington's time is insane.

the same with Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme. the amount of knowledge we know about fighting compared to back then is VAST. how can it even be comparable when they had access to maybe 2% of the knowledge that even casual MMA fans know?

? Vale Tudo was around in the 80's. Pancrase started around the same time as the UFC back in 93.

There were MMA sporting events in the era of the Van damme and Seagal guys.

 

[GSP_37]

With his speed and accurate accuracy, he'd own the UFC record fastest KO.

 

[r-harper-1]

 

[AlanGregson]

They hate that Asians are better in combat

Name fits

 

[Pancake Sprawl]

? Vale Tudo was around in the 80's. Pancrase started around the same time as the UFC back in 93.

There were MMA sporting events in the era of the Van damme and Seagal guys.

Van Damme and Chuck Norris were movie stars by then. you think everyone knew Vale Tudo existed? Seagal is not the same as Van Damme and Chuck Norris.

 

[froggyluv]

Lee is the only American I know of who learned to speak both Cantonese and Mandarin with perfect fluency. He was also good with the nunchakus.

Continue to discuss.

Mandarin: Shin Shun -shin shun shinshu
Cantonese: BOkChOWW!! !!
Translation: "I eat tacos in perfect unison"

 

[AlanGregson]

The reason that Asians are not champions in MMA is because of discrimination just like in Hollywood. You never see Asian men get the girls yet everyone know they're the most charming and best lovers. Same sort of thing in MMA. Skill and hard work doesn't always equal success. There are other things at play.

They never get chicks cuz they're seen as the least masculine race, small weiners and femenine facial fetures...
But as for mma, there are no politics, if you're the best then thats it, no amount of politics is gonna hold you back, most Asians just suck at wrestling, thats all. Great strikers tho, one fc is great.

 

[Safton]

I get annoyed as the next guy when people talk up Bruce to be some kind of masterful fighter who would have smoked Ali in a street fight in his heyday, etc. I've argued with way too many people on stupid debates like that. The guy was a great actor, philosopher, and athlete... but he has zero recorded fights, amateur or professional (except for the murky high school boxing tournament). I do think a lot of people overrate him... or rather, give him credit for the wrong areas. He's often referred to as the "father" of modern mixed martial arts which is, again, overstating the matter in my eyes. Depending on how far you want to go or your own pet theory/agenda, you can trace the origins of MMA to any number of sources: Pankration, Vale Tudo, early judoka engaging in mixed-rules matches, Japanese pro-wrestling "shoot" matches, catch wrestlers duking it out with professional boxers in early 20th century America... the examples go on. I would argue that one or all of these probably had a greater effect on the development of modern MMA than Bruce Lee.

However, that being said, I think it's probably going too far in the other direction that Bruce's contribution to mixed martial arts was nil. He advocated the mixing of styles, acknowledged the benefits of combat sports relative to TMAs, etc. Not only that, he's possibly single-handedly more responsible than any other celebrity for getting the current generation making up the UFC rosters interested in martial arts at a young age. I can't count the number of professional fighters who have admitted in interviews that they might not have even started training if not for watching Bruce's movies. Making martial arts semi-mainstream is a contribution in and of itself.

I do like to wonder where Bruce would be now if he hadn't passed when he did. I think he would have embraced modern MMA wholeheartedly. He'd probably have a Black Belt in BJJ under one of the Gracie clan by now. He'd be one of the celebrities you see in the front row at UFC events, maybe appearing as a token member of some fighters' camps.

 

[aashmore]

Brad Pitt whipped his ass