Why is Bruce Lee considered such an incredible mixed martial artist?

[TheMaster]

He's been dead almost 50 years and people still talking about him

'Nuff said.

Expect BIG Bruce Lee celebrations and commemorations on his impact in helping develop MMA in 2022.

 

[Undefeated Undisputed]

He is as good real life fighter as a Stevan Seagal

Put him into cage with UFC fighters of his size and he gets destroyed real quick.

You mean to say that a guy with no formal mma training probably gets destroyed by professional MMA fighters in the top organization of the sport?

Wow you must be a genius....

How about if Bruce Lee gets 5-7+ years of training and fighting experience with a top MMA camp in this time? Or if we take petr yan and volkanovski and have them born in Bruce Lee's time without the MMA training?

Why don't we level the playing field?

 

[ILove4MinutesHyuna]

He simply passes the eye test for me, his technique looks flawless, he perfected his moves to the point where its really like you are watching poetry in motion. His speed and reflexes look blinding fast. He has insane work ethic and is a true student of martial arts, no doubt he would evolve with the times. Bruce was always open to learning new things. I imagine the man could easily adapt wrestling and jiu-jitsu to his game.

 

[Billthebutcher]

bruce lee trained and studied many martial arts and mixed them throughout his personal style. he brought his eclectic style to the big screen for all to witness. he broke racial barriers and showed traditional stylists their arts were old, outdated, not fluid, and only worked when someone would stand still and not fight back. you really want to know how good bruce lee was? check out dan inosanto and taky kimura while they're still alive to tell it.

 

[stav]

He is as good real life fighter as a Stevan Seagal

Put him into cage with UFC fighters of his size and he gets destroyed real quick.

So big deal.

put Freddy roach in the cage with any ufc fighter and he get destroyed as well.

I guess Freddy is a fraud..

you don’t have to be a great fighter to be a great coach or trainer.

 

[AtlSteel]

The list of top MMA fighters and trainers who pay tribute to Bruce Lee is long. Anyone who follows MMA knows this is true. If you are too lazy to figure out why that is, why would anybody argue about it with you? Also, if there was MMA during his time, he very likely would have fought in it.

 

[snotflakes]

Obviously, he never really fought. So, you can't claim it's his fighting skills. But then many people say his thinking skills and his philosophy were above parr. Like he was the first person to think of mixing martial arts. That doesn't take a genius! Back then, there were people not just thinking of mixing them -- but actually doing it, and competing in it: sambo, for one example, among many. Where does Bruce Lee fit into the martial arts aside from movies and acting?

Above parr? Please don't try too hard to sound smart while posting dumb threads that can't really be answered.

 

[superpunch]

Above parr? Please don't try too hard to sound smart while posting dumb threads that can't really be answered.

I was saying that his philosophy wasn't even better than a baby salmon's. I'm doubling down on this.

 

[Hatorade]

He's a pop culture icon. I'm sure he could fight a bit, but he would not be legit by now days standards. Even back in the day, any world class ring fighter his size like Roberto Duran would have murdered him in an actual fight.

Bruce was a bit like Bo Jackson with the Paul Bunyan type stuff, but the difference is that Bo actually competed at the highest level of sport, so a lot of his hype was deserved even if extremely exaggerated, due to marketing.

 

[donkeyjr]

Sherdog is filled with internet tough guy that never train in their life trying to act cool by shitting on Bruce Lee. Remind me of my friend who watches a couple ufc fights, now he think hes an expert in fighting. You want to know how legit Bruce Lee was, just watch Jon Jones and his oblique kick, Bruce Lee was doing that and saying how the oblique kick is better than the Jab.

Ill trust fighters, and not some internet tough guy...

ps. I forgot sherdog is filled with rednecks and hillbilly.

 

[skylolow]

In a nutshell he was basically the first person the world put a face to with Martial Arts.

 

[TerryMCLOOPS]

Dude we just almost RE ELECTED Trump.

Can you IMAGINE how dumb people were when this little dude fooled them all into thinking he was a ninja? Come on.

 

[pankrat]

He isn't one in that he wasn't a proven martial arts fighter. He's considered a really good martial arts philosopher. He was the first to talk about mixing martial arts on a mainstream scale.

Sure, there were already underground "MMA" fights at the time but nobody knew about them. The mainstream world was still caught up in Kung Fu and Karate.

Bruce was philosophising about taking what works for each individual person from each martial art. 99% of the world at the time could not even comprehend what he was trying to say. They just thought Bruce was developing his own martial art.

Even in 1993, when the first UFC event was held, it was billed as, "What was the best martial art?", for the mainstream world because nobody understood the concept of mixing martial arts. Bruce was decades ahead of his time.

It's easy to look back nowadays and say, "It's so obvious that mixing martial arts was the answer," or "I googled and some guys were already fighting mixed martial arts style fights around Bruce's time," but at a time with no Internet, Bruce was the first to bring that thought process to the mainstream world.

You are right. Bruce popularized "mixed martial arts" but to be fair, Sambo scientifically shared the same concept since Lenin and was recognized by FILA since 60s.