Bruce Lee in the UFC

thecreewarrior · 04-16-2006, 04:07 PM

How well do you think Bruce Lee would match up against todays UFC/Pride fighters?
In my opinion I think he would do pretty good. Why? Many say Bruce Lee is the fathur of mixed martail arts, he incorperated several martail arts in his Jeet Kune Do including boxing, judo, wing chung, wrestling and many more.
His philosophy was there is no one best martail art. He believed you should train in as many as you can. He threw out the bad, inpractical stuff and only used the good. Such as his main stance, the On Guard stance wich originaly comes from the sword fighting system Fencing. If you really read about his philosophy it has soo much incommon with todays MMA. He practicly designed mixed martail arts before any of us thought of it. Only problem I think Bruce would have is his ground game. Before he died he realised that any good striker can be easily beaten by a JJ, BJJ, wrestler ect. So he tried to add some of that to his Jeet Kune Do but he died before he could apply it.

Old Warrior · 04-16-2006, 05:49 PM

he was way to fast and powerful.he would have been the greatest of all time .I saw a few fights Bruce fought with no rules. Not to many pros got that kind of confidence.Losing your life is alot different then tapping out.I hate that after Bruce Lee's death some people he made beter and famous said they could have beat him.that is real low since they never said that to anyone when Bruce was alive.he was and always will be the greatest in my mind.

Reildeal · 04-16-2006, 05:59 PM

I agree with Old Warrior. Bruce Lee is the best that ever was in my mind as well. He was SO fast and SO precise with his strikes it was unreal. And his skill as a fighter was only paralleled by his mind as a fighter.

TaddT189 · 04-16-2006, 06:57 PM

Bruce Lee would get dominated in the UFC. He would be fighting Yves Edwards, Gomi, Penn (if he slimmed up) He would not be able to keep off the ground in a match with them. Martial Arts has evolved more in the past fifteen years then in two thousand before that. With the evolution of MMA people have been able to see what works and what doesn't. Bruce Lee beat up strikers that weren't as evolved as the fighters today. He wouldn't be "the greatest."

Greenman · 04-16-2006, 07:01 PM

Sacrilegious, that’s like saying John Wayne wasn’t the best Western/War actor. He is dead, and that leaves him in untouchable status. IMO only of course.

thecreewarrior · 04-16-2006, 09:45 PM

I don't think Bruce Lee would get dominated. He might bot be "the greatest"
but i'm sure he would be one of the best. And Bruce was totaly ahead of his time interms of martail arts. He already new whats usefull and whats not.
Bruce Lee wasn't just an actor. During his filming in movies random people threwout the entire world would all want to get a shot in beating him. Of coarse Bruce would never say no to a fight, never has there been a recorded fight of Bruce losing(almost 90% of his fights were witnessed).
I've seen one of his real fights and he totaly knew what he was doing. He didnt look like no fake ass Jackie Chan or Jet Li, He looked like a MMA fighter.

I'm sure you have heard of the legenday One Inch Punch? Bruce would send a 185 pound wrestler flying 6 backwards with only one inch of space between Bruces fist and the wrestlers chest. Though the one inch punch required amazing mind control and meditation. Bruce had more to fighting then just training, sparring ect. He fought at an entire diferent state of mind then any other fighters in todays MMA competitions.

subgenius · 04-16-2006, 10:25 PM

If Bruce knew about the UFC and PRIDE, and was invited to compete there, then he would have definately trained himself to be the most well-rounded fighter that he could be... He is among the few people in the world that could actually train himself -- he invented his own forms. He would have spent time before his first MMA match working his ground game.

And, we all know that he would NOT have been lacking for wrestling training partners. Heck, if he asked anyone to train him, do you think that he would have been refused? I think that Bruce Lee would have been "the greatest" in his weight class in only a short period of time. He would likely have taken on the number of matches that someone like Gumby Jeremy Horn has done. I bet he would easily have went to 100-0.

But, we will never know. Those of us that idolize Bruce Lee see him as the young, vital, combat master, and incredibly interesting person that he was. Saying that he would have done well or not done well will forever be subjective...

I just try to imagine what it would have been like had Bruce Lee not died. He would be in like his sixties now, IIRC. But, imagine what he could have done by training MMA fighters in the 1990s up until now. Imagine what the sport might be like... Ah, if only we had a time machine.

SeikanJudanski · 04-16-2006, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thecreewarrior

I've seen one of his real fights and he totaly knew what he was doing. He didnt look like no fake ass Jackie Chan or Jet Li, He looked like a MMA fighter.

Ok, I am not sure about Jackie Chan, but you can´t be more wrong about Jet Li. The man was part of the Beijing Wushu Team and was National Champion like 5 times.

He is a little run down of his skills.

Jet specialized in the following styles:

* chang quan (long fist)
* dao (broadsword)
* gun (staff)
* fanzi quan (tumbling fist)
* 3-section staff
* pu dao (horse chopper)

And in addition, Jet also studied the following styles (some in more depth than others).

* taiji quan (the 5 main styles)
* xing yi quan
* bagua zhang
* jian (straightsword)
* qiang (spear)
* zui quan (drunken fist)
* tang lang quan (mantis fist)
* ying zhao quan (eagle claw boxing)
* zui jian (drunken sword)
* shuang dao (double broadswords)
* axe
* battle axe
* double hooks swords
* fork
* 9 section whip
* mace
* hammer
* talon
* trident-halberd
* long-handled spear
* short cudgel
* meteor hammer
* rope dart

* 1971: Jet begins training in wushu at an after-school program at the Beijing Sports School.
* 1974: Jet joins the newly created Beijing Wushu Team and begins competing on a national level.
* 1974: Was awarded his first Men's National All-Around Championship title at the age of 12.
* 1975: Men's National All-Around Championship
* 1976: Men's National All-Around Championship
* 1977: Men's National All-Around Championship
* 1978: Men's National All-Around Championship
* 1979: Retired from professional wushu competition after a knee injury where he ripped his Anterior Crutiate Ligament (ACL) doing the jump inside kick to split.

How "fake ass" does this sound to you?

subgenius · 04-16-2006, 10:40 PM

I heard that about Jet Li, and was trying to dig that data up to post. Good one there, Seikan. I like seeing that info again.

Jackie Chan is not a fighter, he's a lover, LOL. Seriously, he is trained in the fine and amazing art of Dramatic Kung-Fu or whatever the Pieking Opera uses in their shows. Jackie was raised at a school. He was taught incredible discipline. I bet he could have learned to be a top level fighter, but I do not see that he ever was interested in that.

He did take a fist (or was it a foot) to the face and was almost knocked out by Bruce Lee in one of Bruce's films where Jackie Chan was an extra (Fists of Fury? Game of Death? Sorry, I forget which now).

It's funny, even in Asia they wanted Jackie Chan to become the next Bruce Lee. Jackie spoke of this in an interview. They actually promoted a film by doing this on a huge billboard:

Jackie Chan, the next
Bruce Lee
in

I forget which film it was, but it was way back in the late 1970s.

thecreewarrior · 04-16-2006, 11:59 PM

Did u really type that? sounds pretty fake ass to me. He's a good actor.
j/k yeah he must be one tuff nut.

SeikanJudanski · 04-17-2006, 12:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thecreewarrior

Did u really type that? sounds pretty fake ass to me. He's a good actor.
j/k yeah he must be one tuff nut.

Jet started his movie career in 1982, three years after his injury which stopped his tournament career. Jet was a member of the Bejing Wushu Team from age 8 and became champ with 12 defeating guys 20 to 30 years old. He was 5 time Men´s National Champion of China. http://www.beijingwushuteam.com/ you can also check out his site, it has tons of info http://www.jetli.com/

Jras0001 · 04-17-2006, 03:25 AM

ya, jet is no joke, thats for sure. the guy is in phenominal shape for his age, he's like 42 or 43. if anyone saw his movie "The One" where he fights himself, theres an interesting fact about the last fight scene where they do their big final battle royal......jet wanted it to be as realistic as possible so he fought in a completely different style for each of his characters when they fought each other. i think that takes some serious talent and know how....

TaddT189 · 04-17-2006, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thecreewarrior

I don't think Bruce Lee would get dominated. He might bot be "the greatest"
but i'm sure he would be one of the best. And Bruce was totaly ahead of his time interms of martail arts. He already new whats usefull and whats not.
Bruce Lee wasn't just an actor. During his filming in movies random people threwout the entire world would all want to get a shot in beating him. Of coarse Bruce would never say no to a fight, never has there been a recorded fight of Bruce losing(almost 90% of his fights were witnessed).
I've seen one of his real fights and he totaly knew what he was doing. He didnt look like no fake ass Jackie Chan or Jet Li, He looked like a MMA fighter.

I'm sure you have heard of the legenday One Inch Punch? Bruce would send a 185 pound wrestler flying 6 backwards with only one inch of space between Bruces fist and the wrestlers chest. Though the one inch punch required amazing mind control and meditation. Bruce had more to fighting then just training, sparring ect. He fought at an entire diferent state of mind then any other fighters in todays MMA competitions.

Well while he is meditating they would drop him on his head. Let's see him do a one inch punch against Gomi.

Crashsti · 04-17-2006, 10:35 AM

Bruce Lee was so far ahead of everyone else at the time its not even funny. he was easily the best conditioned, most well rounded fighter at that time. now if you took the Bruce Lee of 1970 and just brought him to 2006 he would do well enough with the skills he had to win many a MMA match. of course that is'nt why he trained, it never had anything to do with competition. on the other hand, if Bruce lee were 30 years old right now. well he would be the number one fighter in whatever weight class he fought in. his SPEED and POWER were unmatched in his lifetime. if he had access to all the information available to day he would be unstoppable. the man was a complete fighter, he had the mind and the physical abilities all in one package. Would Bruce compete in MMA as we know it today? we'll never know, but since its not a bunch of point based, light contact BS he very well may have. the man is a legend that we can all learn alot from.

Jras0001 · 04-17-2006, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crashsti

Bruce Lee was so far ahead of everyone else at the time its not even funny. he was easily the best conditioned, most well rounded fighter at that time. now if you took the Bruce Lee of 1970 and just brought him to 2006 he would do well enough with the skills he had to win many a MMA match. of course that is'nt why he trained, it never had anything to do with competition. on the other hand, if Bruce lee were 30 years old right now. well he would be the number one fighter in whatever weight class he fought in. his SPEED and POWER were unmatched in his lifetime. if he had access to all the information available to day he would be unstoppable. the man was a complete fighter, he had the mind and the physical abilities all in one package. Would Bruce compete in MMA as we know it today? we'll never know, but since its not a bunch of point based, light contact BS he very well may have. the man is a legend that we can all learn alot from.

very well said....

mepersoner · 04-17-2006, 01:39 PM

Bruce Lee is way overrated on these boards. Not that he wasn't a badass, but he was the best of his time? We don't know, he never really fought any other good fighters. He wouldn't do well in current MMA with what he had (I'm sure he would've adapted if he did fight) because he had just started incorporating Judo into his system and still wasn't experienced enough on the ground.

thecreewarrior · 04-17-2006, 05:48 PM

He did fight good fighters...8th degree blackbelts around the world would fight him on the street anywhere, anytime. Back in the day when Bruce was around he didn't know a ground game was so important. I think if he were still alive today he would spend months working on his ground game. Like subgenious said,
If Bruce Lee were still alive today and was asked to compete in UFC or Pride he would train extremely hard to be the most well rounded fighter out there.
Bruce had no problem training himself and didnt just train his body, he trained his mind beyond any fighter I know of. How else do you think little old slim 185 pound Bruce Lee was able to send a man his size flyinh across the room with only a one inch space to punch? Strength? I dont think so.

Reildeal · 04-17-2006, 06:16 PM

I agree. I definitely believe that Bruce would have no problem adapting to modern MMA at all. He was so smart when it came down to fighting that he'd be able to manipulate the fight to his advantage anyways. I believe without a doubt, regardless of who he was fighting, they would wind up out of their gameplan very quickly. I don't think that there is anyone that could hold a candle to that man.

Informer · 04-17-2006, 07:05 PM

He is too fast for UFC wrestlers and can do all those flips and that. UFC fighters can't. It would look just like it did in Cradle 2 The Grave

.

subgenius · 04-17-2006, 07:09 PM

I just picture Bruce Lee in the octagon beating the snot out of someone all the while making those killer screams and stuff that he did when he fought. That would be awesome... especially with that look that he has when he fights.