BRUCE LEE Martial Arts Actor, NOT FIGHTER

[tarriqq]

There can be no doubt that without Bruce Lee (the actor) Martial Arts in the West would not be so prominent.

There can also be no doubt that Bruce Lee was a great innovator, and researcher of Martial Arts, which led the way for open study. However, just because someone makes kick ass karate movies does, not make him a fighter. To be considered a world class fighter, you have to fight world class fighters (Bruce Lee never beat one world class athlete) Good training & athleticism does not make one a great fighter. What makes an athletic person a great fighter is fighting greats.


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 world’s best fighters? In the early 60's Bruce Lee young, egotistical and most of all inexperienced. He shot his mouth off and Gene LeBelle gave him a valuable lesson Judo Gene Lebell easily put lee in a submission holds and treated him like a rag doll. People DID witness this event!

Why is it that if you make movies & do extensive training people think you can fight? I.E.

I wonder if any of these movie stars can fight JET Li

Jim Kelly
Ong Bak
Steven Segal
Jackie Chan (did you guys see the video of Jackie Chan getting slapped around)
Hell Johnny Cage!!!!

Let us respect Bruce Lee as a great Innovator, and Researcher of Martial Arts, and as a decent actor who made great movies and leave it at that.

 

[Toyowha?]

Jackie Chan (did you guys see the video of Jackie Chan getting slapped around)

Doesn't mean shit. That ninja is extra nice. How about posting the vid you're referring to? Nonetheless, Jet Li is one talented actor/fighter.

 

[oneofmany]

Bruce was one of the better students under Yip Man. While not the best pure Wing Chun fighter (but still very skilled), Bruce maximized his talents by moving beyond styles (very revolutionary for his time and currently the in-thing for cross-trained fighters of today).

The sad thing is the tape of Bruce fighting the extras (young kids with martial arts training who wanted to make a name for themselves by challenging and beating Bruce) has been destroyed. It would have been nice seeing that.

 

[Locutus359]

You miss the point of Bruce Lee... he wasn't trying to fight the best of the best... he wasn't in it for titles and glory....

He was in it to learn how to win a street fight... not a fight in a squared circle.

And yes, I heard about that thing with Judo Gene LeBell. Bruce wanted to learn more about the ground game... which is something LeBell started teaching Bruce just before he died... had Lee lived longer, he would have have incorporated more ground moves in his fighting system... we'd be MUCH further along in RBSD...

 

[oneofmany]

Fact: We have all been in brawls in high school; does that make us the world’s best fighters? In the early 60's Bruce Lee young, egotistical and most of all inexperienced. He shot his mouth off and Gene LeBelle gave him a valuable lesson Judo Gene Lebell easily put lee in a submission holds and treated him like a rag doll. People DID witness this event!

Could you post the links (your source). I've seen a wide variety of reports on that. So I'd like to see where you're coming from.

 

[oneofmany]

He was in it to learn how to win a street fight... not a fight in a squared circle.

True. One of Bruce's favorite techniques, the finger jab would be illegal in today's UFC. So all of Bruce's training to jab his fingers through full cans of coke in his way of practicing for hitting the eyes, would be wasted. Apparently Bruce was big into blinding people but that's a move solely for the streets.

 

[dasmybikepunk]

Just let Bruce and his son Brandon rest in peace....jeez

Better yet start martial arts training and making martial arts movies become the Michael Jordan of Karate movies.......then maybe this thread would be relevant!

 

[DoubleD]

Nicca came to a PUSSY board to lay some NEW knowledge on us po dumb Niccas that Bruce Lee aint shit? WTF???

You lucky Bruce Leroy don't find yo ass and ask you; WHO IS THE MASTER????!!!!

Sho' Nuff...NICCA!!!!

 

[johniz]

There can be no doubt that without Bruce Lee (the actor) Martial Arts in the West would not be so prominent.

There can also be no doubt that Bruce Lee was a great innovator, and researcher of Martial Arts, which led the way for open study. However, just because someone makes kick ass karate movies does, not make him a fighter. To be considered a world class fighter, you have to fight world class fighters (Bruce Lee never beat one world class athlete) Good training & athleticism does not make one a great fighter. What makes an athletic person a great fighter is fighting greats.


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 world’s best fighters? In the early 60's Bruce Lee young, egotistical and most of all inexperienced. He shot his mouth off and Gene LeBelle gave him a valuable lesson Judo Gene Lebell easily put lee in a submission holds and treated him like a rag doll. People DID witness this event!

Why is it that if you make movies & do extensive training people think you can fight? I.E.

I wonder if any of these movie stars can fight JET Li

Jim Kelly
Ong Bak
Steven Segal
Jackie Chan (did you guys see the video of Jackie Chan getting slapped around)
Hell Johnny Cage!!!!

Let us respect Bruce Lee as a great Innovator, and Researcher of Martial Arts, and as a decent actor who made great movies and leave it at that.

OPINION do NOT equal facts.

http://www.genelebell.com/stories.html#11

 

[GhostRed]

Nicca came to a PUSSY board to lay some NEW knowledge on us po dumb Niccas that Bruce Lee aint shit? WTF???

You lucky Bruce Leroy don't find yo ass and ask you; WHO IS THE MASTER????!!!!

Sho' Nuff...NICCA!!!!

lol............

 

[Darjiano]

 

[DJCandle]

The reason he was questioned so often was because he went against fixed positions and many thought it was bull in what he was talking. There were no stances nor traditional methods in what he preached and teached. It was more of a flowing entity that many were not able to grasp hold of, which is why they questioned him to begin with. But he wasn't highly respected and sought because of his acting abilities. Chuck Norris, Kareem Abdul, Joe Lewis, and countless others all trained under his belt.

IMO, I to this day believe he is one of the best martial artists ever. A man that can flow the way he did and quite literally "roll with the punches" is ok with me.

 

[Mo Pizorn]

Who da fuck is Ong Bak?
I know who Tony Ja is. I thought Ong Bak was a movie.

Bruce Lee developed the style Jeet Kun Do which is taught worldwide now and has IN PRINCIPLE, influenced combative arts like Krav Maga and the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program - the arts that people use in wartime in real situations. The principles of JKD were to take what is useful from various martial arts and discard what is not - leaving only what is effective. That style of thinking has produced a whole new approach to many fighting forms including the MMA fights that everyone loves so much these days. He wanted to win street fights.
Dude is dead now and bloggers are trying to shit on his rep.
That's fucked up. I bet nobody on this thread could whoop his ass, myself included and I'm trained and am much bigger than he was.
This post sounds like all of those posts on music forums talking about how Jimi Hendrix wasn't that great of a guitarist even though he changed the game for guitar. Funny thing is, if I'm not mistaken, I believe Jimi and Bruce are buried in the same cemetary.
Hating on dead legends is not a good look.

 

[GET YOU HOT]

LOL@this...

 

[Mr. ISM]

Hating on dead legends is not a good look.

 

[aek_54]

I wonder if any of these movie stars can fight JET Li

Jim Kelly
Ong Bak
Steven Segal
Jackie Chan (did you guys see the video of Jackie Chan getting slapped around)
Hell Johnny Cage!!!!

Let us respect Bruce Lee as a great Innovator, and Researcher of Martial Arts, and as a decent actor who made great movies and leave it at that.

Who the fuck is Ong Bak??
Ohh you must mean Tony Jaa.
Get it right!!
Bruce Lee and Jet Li were martial artists BEFORE they were actors.
Its a documented fact that Bruce Lee had enemies among the old school kung fu masters in China.
I seriously doubt, that those masters would have noticed him, if he was "merely an actor.
That guy who purportedly beat on Jackie Chan was the very same actor who Bruce Lee beat in the opening scene from "Enter the Dragon".
I'd seen him in other martial arts movies and that fat boy wasn't no joke.
As for Jim Kelly, & Jean Claude Van Damme they had won tournaments before he got into movies.
They were martial artists BEFORE the movies, not so with Steven Seagal and
Keanu Reeves.

 

[Nevsky]

Bruce is still the man.

 

[Megatron X]

Damn, I started this shit. I personally was not trying to shit on the dead, I was mere trying to question what could be bullshit. I did not say that he did not have beef. I was questioning the fact that he was projected as being so invincible that nobody could take him. I basically wanted to know if he had contact fights so I could see them for myself and judge for myself.

I know his wife described a few fights he was in. For example his wife described a fight were somebody tested Bruce's abilities. Bruce had beaten him in less than five seconds.

But If somebody like Mike Tyson connected Bruce with a good left, I don't think Bruce could withstand it.

That's simply what I was saying. No one's invincible.

 

[Izayoi]

Who da fuck is Ong Bak?

Um yeah movie title not person.