Tired of the Bruce Lee myth: lets look at the facts.....
Ok,
I'm tired of all the retardation going on on this forum about Bruce Lee.
Lets look at the facts and find out what makes him so great.
You people say he could punch through phonebooks and do a one-inch punch and knock someone back 20 feet. Fact: there is videotape footage of him demonstrating his 1-inch punch at a karate tournament. He has a guy standing flat-footed with a chair about 5 feet behind him. He hits the guy and the guy falls back into the chair. Big deal. I could head-butt, knee, elbow, punch, or kick someone that far and I have before.
Many of you disallusioned kung fu friends claim that Bruce Lee was a great fighter, if not one of the greatest ever and that he could easily beat todays top fighters.....the men of No Holds Barred competition like Royce Gracie, Ken Shamrock, or Sakuraba.
fact: There is no documented footage of Bruce Lee ever being in a fight. There are a few eyewitnesses who saw him fight another chinese guy at his Kwoon and the results were unanimous... neither of the fighters was able to finish the other one off.
His Wing Chun brothers claim he got in brawls in Hong Kong, but it was with other punk kids in the back alleys of Hong Kong when Lee was skipping school or was out causing trouble.
When asked if he would fight any of the top full-contact Karate guys of his time, Lee always mumbled something about not being ready, or that he was working on some new technique.
fact: We have all been in brawls in high school, does that make us the worlds best fighters?
Also, Judo Gene Lebell easily put lee in a submission hold and treated him like a rag doll. People witnessed this event. At the time Gene Lebell was around 15 years or so older than Bruce Lee. Imagine what a guy like Sakuraba or Ken Shamrock could do to Lee if both were in their primes.
And lastly you guys say he was a great actor and Kung Fu movie star.
Fact: His acting sucked. He never won an academy award or any type of recognition for his acting for that matter. But I give you this, he was one hell of a Kung Fu star and his movies rock! He was also a great martial artist and innovator, and his JKD will probably live on forever.
-jojitsu27
Just want to clearify a few points...
Hey dude,
I'm far from a Bruce Lee fan, but I do admire his films and work ethic. I defiantely don't think that he'd be successful in MMA as he was trained, but he had the attributes, workethic, and mind set to be successful if he ever trained for it. However, there are a few things in your post that were a bit off the mark, so I figured I'd help clearify them.
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Fact: there is videotape footage of him demonstrating his 1-inch punch at a karate tournament. He has a guy standing flat-footed with a chair about 5 feet behind him. He hits the guy and the guy falls back into the chair. Big deal. I could head-butt, knee, elbow, punch, or kick someone that far and I have before.
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Bruce never claimed to do anything amazing with the one-inch punch. It's the hoards of trekkie-like fans that do. When answering replies in Black Belt magazine to his article "Liberate Yourself from Classical Karate", he points out that it is just something that he liked to do at demo's.
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fact: There is no documented footage of Bruce Lee ever being in a fight. There are a few eyewitnesses who saw him fight another chinese guy at his Kwoon and the results were unanimous... neither of the fighters was able to finish the other one off. [/quote]
True, he never fought in any tournaments, but he sparred and cross-trained with many people from many styles. That was his whole deal. "Jump in the water" Ya know? He was all about fighting and practical applications.
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When asked if he would fight any of the top full-contact Karate guys of his time, Lee always mumbled something about not being ready, or that he was working on some new technique.
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I'd like to know the source of this. I doubt it ever happenned.
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Also, Judo Gene Lebell easily put lee in a submission hold and treated him like a rag doll. People witnessed this event. At the time Gene Lebell was around 15 years or so older than Bruce Lee. [/quote]
Gene didn't submit Lee, but he did treat him like a rag doll. Let's not forget that at his not-so-tender age, Gene would treat most of us like rag dolls. (especially if he outweighs you by 75+ lbs like he did with Lee) Gene has written about it, and I believe the article is still on his website... Oh, he also wrote an article called "Bruce Lee: The Greatest Martial Artist of His Time" for Inside Kung Fu. Obviously he respected Bruce, and he knew him a lot better than any of us. Maybe he's on to something, no?
GinSue- I believe you've used up your forum space allowance for 2001!
;)
... and I think I meant BESIDES his "followers"...
of course anyone who's livelihood depends on BL's legacy is going to give a shining review...
I get what your saying, but
HOW can you even put the man in a list with
1)Shamrock
2)Gracie
3)Silva
???????????????????????????????????????
Bruce Lee was not a professional fighter like these guys, he was an actor and a martial artist.
He would get creamed by fighters of the caliber you mentioned!!!
-jojitsu27