Judo versus kung fu

Actually teach a variant on that counter to poor hip tosses.
 
LeBell didn't transition into the armbar after he threw the girl. :eek:
 
That girls technique was horrible. They should have let Gene teach her some technique.
 
Man, Bruce has nice technique on the ukemi and that tomoenage. But what else would you expect from such a natural!
 
also though some might say that osoto escape is flashy movie stuff, something similar is regularly done at the highest level by lightweights.

EDIT: Sorry not osoto.
 
Didn't Gene once say that he could handle Bruce on the ground (on the feet he got tooled by his own admission) which is what prompted Lee to start learning Judo from Lebell?
 
Thrawn33 said:
Didn't Gene once say that he could handle Bruce on the ground (on the feet he got tooled by his own admission) which is what prompted Lee to start learning Judo from Lebell?
Click to expand...

What prompted Lee to learn Judo from Gene LeBell is a small incident from when they met on the set of the Green Hornet. He has it posted here on his website, but I'll put the quote in the spoiler to save those from clicking.

"I met Bruce Lee on the set of the Green Hornet when the stunt coordinator Benny Dobbins called me and told me he needed me to take some falls. He also mentioned there was a guy there named Bruce Lee who was unbelievably athletic and stealing all the scenes from the star because he was doing ALL the fighting. Benny said he couldn't believe this guy, he was kicking like a jumping bean! You have to understand; they had never seen anything like Bruce Lee's fighting style in showbiz yet.


"When I got to the set Benny pointed Bruce out and told me to go put him in a headlock or something. Well, I'm a good employee and I always listen to the boss, so I went over to grab Bruce and he starts making all those crazy noises he became famous for. As a joke, I picked him up and put him on my shoulder in a fireman's carry kind of thing, then I ran down the length of the set and back again. Bruce says "put me down or I'll kill you". So I run down the set again and he says, "put me down" and I say "I can't put you down or you'll kill me". After that I sat down and talked to my boss and the other crew members for a couple minutes with him up on my shoulder. He finally crawled off, we all had a good laugh, and we went and shot our scenes.

"Bruce called me for a few shows because he liked the way I took falls for him - being a judo man made me pretty good at breakfalls. We ended up becoming friends and would work out together and teach each other techniques. I liked working out with Bruce, but I kept getting sick from that stinky incense he burned in his gym. I told him I wouldn't go there because his dojo smelled worse than a Chinese laundry house. Of course, I was only kidding with him, and once Bruce learned that my teasing was all in good fun he started to joke around too. Bruce came to my dojo after that. He was a great guy, and I loved him.

"Bruce loved to learn grappling, he ate it up! He said that people would never go for it in movies or TV because the fights are over too fast and most of the good stuff was hidden from view. He said they wanted to see fancy kicking, acrobatics, and weapons -- he was a savvy showman who knew how to give 'em exactly what they wanted. I wish he could be around now to see how well grappling is doing these days. I remember one time he kicked me really hard. I remember thinking it was a good thing he only wore a size 6 shoe instead of a 14 like me, otherwise that kick would have sent me to China! He was strong for his size, lemme tell ya.

"He used to take me to these authentic Chinese restaurants that had really weird looking food that I just couldn't bring myself to eat it. I don't eat anything that doesn't have horns. He used to tease me about it - which was progress because he used to get offended at my ribbing when we first started hanging out (especially that Chinese laundry bit). He had two students that I remain good friends with to this day, probably because they don't make me eat that weird food. Danny Inosanto, who is every bit as good as Bruce was if not better, and Richard Bustillo. Richard has carried on Bruce's philosophy of cross training and peak physical condition in order to become the best fighter you can.
Click to expand...

According to Gene, Bruce absolutely loved to roll but he thought it was real difficult to portray grappling well on film at the time. That didn't keep him from throwing a few choke holds on some of his on-screen opponents (Kareem in "Game of Death" and Chuck in "Return of the Dragon" namely), and even using a slick crucifix/arm-bar on Samo in "Enter the Dragon."
 
Da_Rev_Ong said:
What prompted Lee to learn Judo from Gene LeBell is a small incident from when they met on the set of the Green Hornet. He has it posted here on his website, but I'll put the quote in the spoiler to save those from clicking.


According to Gene, Bruce absolutely loved to roll but he thought it was real difficult to portray grappling well on film at the time. That didn't keep him from throwing a few choke holds on some of his on-screen opponents (Kareem in "Game of Death" and Chuck in "Return of the Dragon" namely), and even using a slick crucifix/arm-bar on Samo in "Enter the Dragon."
Click to expand...

the armbar in enter the dragon is far from "slick", it's not legit at all

it doesn't surprise me that bruce never got ranked in judo
 
Patrick F Carey said:
the armbar in enter the dragon is far from "slick", it's not legit at all

it doesn't surprise me that bruce never got ranked in judo
Click to expand...

Yeah he's such an asshole for dying young instead of getting his judo black belt.
 
shunyata said:
Yeah he's such an asshole for dying young instead of getting his judo black belt.
Click to expand...

for someone that is supposed to be the godfather of mma you would think he would have spent enough time doing judo to have an official rank
 
Patrick F Carey said:
for someone that is supposed to be the godfather of mma you would think he would have spent enough time doing judo to have an official rank
Click to expand...

Well, let's put this in perspective: Who called Bruce Lee the Godfather of MMA? Dana White did 30 years after his death. He (Lee) ever proclaimed himself as anything such. I don't think you can hold that against him.
 
well, as we can all see from the video bruce beat lebell. its all the proof I need.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum statistics

Threads
1,236,933
Messages
55,455,845
Members
174,786
Latest member
Gladiator47

Share this page

Back
Top