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

[jimmy dakine]

Because b00mers thought he could fight.

They were wrong but propaganda still lasts.

when Bruce Lee was 18 there was no UFC...but there were movies...if he were born today and got trained exactly how he got trained, what makes you think he would again pick movies? Maybe he would watch the UFC and want in. So no one knows if he could fight or not. It was what it was.

 

[BangBang]

 

[TheScorpionDude]

Mixed Martial Arts has been a thing since FOREVER.

That is the natural state of humans.

Specialized martial arts are derived afterwards mostly in a sporting capacity. So rules are added so raw fighting (MMA) can get a more competitive dimension.

Even though Bruce Lee is a pop culture legend, made movies we grew up with, he hasn't invented shit.

He was a popular guy, he was a physical specimen, he was obviously way above average in his skills, but he hasn't competed ever and hasn't invented anything.

This is like Yoga or Meditation.

People used to call that warm up exercises and stretching, and now it's yoga.

People used to take a break from everything and just sit in on their porch and think about life n things, or not think at all and just rest their mind... now it's called meditation.

Branding n marketing n shit.....

 

[M4rk]

Its the Art of Fighting, without Fighting.

 

[Stagliano]

Ahahahah. Remind me the threads "Bruce Lee vs Mike Tyson" or "Bruce Lee vs Overeem" back in 2012.

 

[Patrick Jane]

when Bruce Lee was 18 there was no UFC...but there were movies...if he were born today and got trained exactly how he got trained, what makes you think he would again pick movies? Maybe he would watch the UFC and want in. So no one knows if he could fight or not. It was what it was.

He would have to be surprisingly stupid to not pick movies. His dad was already an established film actor in Hong Kong who managed to get him roles as a child actor. To trade that pretty lucrative and safe carreer path for prize fighting just because martial arts are your hobby would be insanely idiotic.

 

[Repsac]

more of a cultural icon

a pretty awesome one at that too

there aren't that many truly global cultural icons it seems

Bruce Lee is one of them. truly transcendental.

 

[in the liver]

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.

its impossible for me to believe that there werent many many people back then who practised more than one martial art. a boxer who used to wrestle, a wrestler who tried boxing, a guy who did tkd as a kid, moved house and there was no tkd so he switched to karate...a boxer who thought the martial arts movies were interesting and started going to a karate class

and there you have it. mixed martial arts

 

[sgtrocknroll]

The problem here is, most people have only seen his movies, where everything is designed for the camera. Most people have never seen a real fight involving Lee or Seagal. So it's a moot point.

 

[tozot]

Apparently, no one here has heard of Wong Jack Man...

This idea that he couldn't fight goes back to his own day and respectable karate practioners as chuck norris and jim kelly have stated their admiration for his figthing skills... but this is sherdog so he was never any good.
Carry on...

 

[morrisondafalln]

Caucasians tend to find a reason to discredit a minority. The amount of hate on Sherdog he gets is not surprising.
Cadwell recounted the scene in her book Bruce Lee: The Man Only I Knew (1975):

"The two came out, bowed formally and then began to fight. Wong adopted a classic stance whereas Bruce, who at the time was still using his Wing Chun style, produced a series of straight punches. Within a minute, Wong's men were trying to stop the fight as Bruce began to warm to his task. James Lee warned them to let the fight continue. A minute later, with Bruce continuing the attack in earnest, Wong began to backpedal as fast as he could. For an instant, indeed, the scrap threatened to degenerate into a farce as Wong actually turned and ran. But Bruce pounced on him like a springing leopard and brought him to the floor where he began pounding him into a state of demoralization. "Is that enough?" shouted Bruce, "That's enough!" pleaded his adversary. Bruce demanded a second reply to his question to make sure that he understood this was the end of the fight."

At the end of the day. Bruce Lee was considered the baddest man on the planet during his time. And taught white folks marital arts. All so sherbros can discredit him decades later lol. The disrespect lmao

 

[Streeter]

Not sure he becomes champ but pretty sure he would be a great fighter at 125.

No mma fighter I have ever really seen could match Lee's speed.

 

[wwkirk]

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?

Some people regard him as a forerunner to MMA, because he incorporated techniques from several styles. But his significance in that evolution probably stems primarily from his overall fame and popularity. Even though there were other innovators, they weren't as well known.

To me, the real importance of Bruce Lee was as a populizer of martial arts. And this is really how his impact on MMA really emerged. Lots of serious MMA fighters were Bruce Lee fans when they were younger, and they took partial inspiration for their later careers from that, as can be read from the testimonies in the following article:
The MMA World Pays Tribute to Bruce Lee 40 Years After His Death

Yeah, he was basically an actor with some martial arts skills. But many actors have inspired people in various ways over the years. In his case, he inspired interest in martial arts in general, which spilled over into MMA.

 

[Booksmasher]

He's not, but he's a popular worldwide pop culture figure bigger than anything MMA ever produced, so immense following

I also think his role in modern MMA birth is incredibly overrated

But he doesnt actually deserve to be that popular and linked to MMA. They guu never fought. Hes just an actor.

 

[bigconan]

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.

wow, you truly are ignorant if you believe that....there are and were so many world champion martial artists who have gone on record, on how incredible bruce lee was....just to name a few....bob wall, jim kelley, joe lewis, chuck norris. and many many others. go check out on youtube what jim kelley said about bruce....just so you know, youngster, joe lewis was the very first world kickboxing champion...who only got that, cause of training under bruce...

 

[bigconan]

He's not, but he's a popular worldwide pop culture figure bigger than anything MMA ever produced, so immense following

I also think his role in modern MMA birth is incredibly overrated

he's the first person, at least the first person i have ever seen to do a pure bjj move in 2 different movies....in return of the dragon, fighting chuck norris, he kills chuck with a standing guilitine. in game of death, bruce kills Kareem abdul jabaar, with a bulldog choke....beginning of enter the dragon, bruce tapped out his opponent with an ankle lock...first actual tap in movies.

 

[bigconan]

you do realize that was a movie and completely made up and bruce lee's daughter and ex wife have gone on record and said that bruce was nothing like depicted in that movie.

 

[champbless2]

So you are his son @bigconan

 

[rstringer]

The 100th thread on this topic.

 

[green giant]

Because of his philosophy, his dedication, discipline, skill,charisma, ability's etc.... He really could fight and back then not many were on his level. Of course things have advanced so much he would have a hard time if thrown in these days but if he had the opportunity to train like they do these days etc I 100% believe he would have gone down as one of the goats.

Edit: and its funny all these do nothings shitting on Bruce. I think it makes them feel better about their sad lives to shit on an icon of so many.