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Question regarding Bruce Lee

30K views 352 replies 113 participants last post by  kantowrestler 
#1 ·
Bruce Lee vs any UFC fighter

Hi all, I'm new to this forum and was wondering if you could all help me settle a long running debate I have been having with my friends.

Everyone knows that Bruce Lee is the greatest fighter ever and I tell my friends who all watch UFC that he could easily defeat any of them however they all tell me I'm wrong. The main reasons I feel he could beat any UFC (or MMA fighter) is:
  • One inch punch - I feel this is his strongest ally as it requires little room (1 inch) to deploy it so could be done even when being grabbled and the speed of it cannot be blocked. Anyone he hits with this is as good as finished
  • Didn't need to fight people on the ground - from what ive seen most mma is ended on the ground with some unwieldy hold however Bruce PERFECTED the art of beating his opponents whilst they were standing up. In short he would not need to rely about getting them on the ground
  • Mental toughness - the brain can be the warriors strongest or weakest weapon. Bruce was subjected to a rigorous training regime like no other on earth plus allegedly achieved enlightenment so his mental prowess would ensure his victory

There are a few more points but I feel that makes my case, any honest feedback or constructive criticism would be much appreciated. No haterz though.

Shadow Dragon
 
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#43 ·
I'm mixed on this.

I feel like I should say any good MMA fighter now would beat him, but then I read about the feats he could do, and the people who idiolized him and it seems like he would stomp anyone today. His hand and body speed make me think no one could touch him.
 
#49 ·
I would say of any non-mma fighters would people say would dominate today, Bruce Lee is easily the most credible.

I don't think the question people should ask if Bruce Lee, as his style was in his lifetime, could compete in MMA today, because its really making judgements from very little information. The more productive question how would he compete if he grew up with the ascension of MMA in his physical prime? This is looking at who was, not how he fought.

Personally, I think he was of the mental attitude and physical pedigree that he would have the desire to learn effective techniques and the ability to master them, as well as the inventiveness to modulate tradition kung fu forms into MMA. I think in this scenario he would be at least dominant in his weight class, and be able to compete in others as well.
 
#60 ·
Bruce Lee never faced anyone except one other Kung Fu representative. And that was a crappy TMA and Lee couldn't even decisively win that fight.

Lee has zero fighting credentials, sorry to have to be the one to break that to you. He was an actor, not an athlete.
 
#58 ·
Bruce Lee would have done all right, his whole style was about adapting to the other persons weakness. He would have had a badass gameplan for every fight and he was lightning quick. He would have laid waste to a lot of fighters. Don't think that he would have gotten dominated because he stuck to one style because he would have adapted as the sport progressed.
 
#59 ·
I'm pretty sure that if Bruce Lee and JKD were that rediculously awesome in a UFC Style fight, There would be more JKD Fighters in UFC. I'm not knocking the style at all, but I hardly see any JKD fighters in UFC because of the limitations.

Doesn't JKD use hair pulling and groin strikes and small digit manipulations and stuff all the time?


P.S. Bruce is a legend, but he'd get boofed by someone like Miguel Torres :)
 
#64 · (Edited)
Bruce Lee Wud win his own weight

Great topic, I think Bruce Lee would win his own weight class. But unlike the movies I think a bigger stronger man, could over power him and ground and pound him. I would like to see a fight between Bruce Lee and Chuck Liddel..it would be very entertaining. If you have time please check out <a href='http://www.thaipads.net'>thai pads</a> blog
 
#65 ·
I just ran across this thread and find the topic hillarious. Bruce Lee was a martial artist and a good one for the times but back in his day with chuck norris and all the other famous martial arts guys, they all considered one man to be the absolute toughest his name was Gene Lebelle. Back then chuck was asked who was the baddest man and he said Lebelle hands down
 
#67 ·
If bruce lee was 25 and lived during this time and got into fighting the way he did, yes he would be a very strong fighter, but his style and the way he fought would not work now

Bruce was far stronger then most fighters because of his focus, if he was living today at a young age and was trainning in MMA he would be a very big contender in the UFC, his speed alone would win fights till he got to the area of good fighters.

He has speed/focus/heart/brains... Trainning in a fighting form require all this and he was WAY above average...

So I say if he was born and raised like the guys we are putting him up against YES he would be a big moutain for any MMA figher

Bringing him from his day to now and putting him in a ring, he would be point deducted or double legged into a basic GnP or he will roll over and get rear naked.

Both have good points, It is the time frame you are looking at.
 
#68 ·
With no muaythai or wrestling or bjj experience bruce would get crushed by any mma fighter and he wouldnt have to be a great one either, he could walk into any mma gym and somebody unknown would smash him, Bruce Lee? Jeet kun do? come on get real. look at what happenened to ron van Clief and that was by a one dimensional Royce gracie. Did he ever even have a real fight or fight profesionally like Norris? or was he just Kado from the green hornet:sarcastic12: None of those guys back in the day could last 5 minutes with Gene Lebell.
 
#69 ·
Bruce Lee vs. a UFC fighter??....no comparison...

...Bruce Lee was a legend not only for his fighting ability but mostly for his Philosophy of the Martial Arts itself. From that Philosophy standpoint, nobody even came close to how he even approached fighting. He saw it as an art, or form of expression and a way of the human mind more than of anything else. That's what made him so special.
...In his movies, he used Techniques and Psychology that Martial Artists everywhere could barely get a grasp of the concepts. Bruce did a lot of improvising in many fight scenes as well. To compare him to a UFC fighter is like comparing Apples to Oranges. Bruce was on a different plain far beyond any conventional martial artist. I seriously doubt any MMA fighter could have beaten him.
 
#70 ·
...Bruce Lee was a legend not only for his fighting ability but mostly for his Philosophy of the Martial Arts itself. From that Philosophy standpoint, nobody even came close to how he even approached fighting. He saw it as an art, or form of expression and a way of the human mind more than of anything else. That's what made him so special.
...In his movies, he used Techniques and Psychology that Martial Artists everywhere could barely get a grasp of the concepts. Bruce did a lot of improvising in many fight scenes as well. To compare him to a UFC fighter is like comparing Apples to Oranges. Bruce was on a different plain far beyond any conventional martial artist. I seriously doubt any MMA fighter could have beaten him.

what that guy said:thumbsup:
 
#71 ·
I don't understand how anyone could think he would even be able to beat mediocre fighters in the ufc.

I mea bruce lee didn't really have that many fights, he was great at the time compared to his competition which also would have been easily beaten by almost any martial artist of today. And don't think for a moment bruce was un beaten in his hand full of fights in his life, in 1961 when bruce lee was 21 years old he got his ass kicked by a karate master yoichi nakachi.
 
#73 ·
There is zero basis either for the initial comparison or for subsequent criticisms of the initial comparison.

Bruce Lee was an actor, philosopher, student and teacher of "mixed" martial arts, while today's practitioners are just that: practitioners.

I appreciate both, and to trash either the actor or today's mixed martial artists is just silly. It's not either/or here.
 
#80 ·
Lets have Chuck Norris fight a below average fighter of today and see how he fares. Norris fought Bruce Lee a couple of times at tournament's and even though Bruce Lee always won i think having Chuck fighting someone whos terrible will show you how much fighters have evolved since then. To think Bruce Lee can beat anyone decent today is nothing more then Silly/Naive.
 
#83 ·
Bruce Lee is a showbiz martial artist it all looks good yeah but thats all it is. And yeah if you was somebody who knew something about mma I could get angry but you aren't so basically mma fighters train to do damage and Bruce Lee trains to show off and do fancy tricks but not effective in a fight.
 
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