He is the fucking man. I just watched "A Warrior's Journey." Unbelievable. He is easily the most influential and important martial artist of the 20th century. The original mixed martial artist. He was a fucking specimen. 135 punds and completely ripped up. He didn't have an ounce of fat on him.

I wonder how he would fare in today's MMA competitions.

"Empty your mind. Be like water. Put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. Put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. Put water into a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow, it can creep, drip or crash! Be water, my friend"

I have never seen a Bruce Lee movie, and quite honestly, I doubt I ever will.

thats racist.

You suck.

Martial arts movies just don't interest me at all.

But Enter the Dragon is a classic piece of cinema, period.

Well, there are the campy ones and the fucking incredible ones. I've actually never seen Enter the Dragon, but I plan on seeing all of Lee's films. The title I mentioned in my first post is actually like a documentary and it shows footage of the unfinished project he was working on when he died. If you have no interest in martial arts or anything like that, then I wouldn't expect you to be curious about him. But he did so much for competitive combat during his lifetime.

Anyone hear of the Chinese theme park they're making based on Bruce? Apparently the roller coaster makes his trademark screams whenever trundling along at speed.

Couldn't be arsed finding the link though.

You've obviously never seen Ralph Macchio.

Bruce Lee would destroy any mixed martial artist today because he was quicker than anything you can imagine. With one inch of striking distance, he could knock down a 200+lb. man. From 2 feet away, he could strike someone within something like crazy like 1/500th of a second.

he is the fucking man. no other martial artist could fuck with him .. nobody. the movie to check out is fist of fury. ah man .. he kicked ass in that one.

Based on skills, speed, quickness etc he would have to be considered an upper level guy. Now, sure he would have to adapt a bit more of a ground game and all that shit, but a martial artist of his stature and ability im sure could pick it up quick. Especially since he already trained in ground fighting.

There are chinese kung fu champions who possess similar speed attributes to Lee that wouldn't stand a chance in MMA. Keep in mind, that one inch punch on a 200 lb man - as impressive as it is - is against someone who isn't resisting. Muhammad Ali had quicker hands than any of the heavyweights in MMA today, but I doubt he could destroy anyone. Lee did have an all-around game and had a very different and superior training regimen to the martial artists of his generation, and I'm certain that in time, he would have been a phenomenal cage fighter. But, in a hypothetical situation, I don't see him being able to walk into MMA and "destroy" a guy like Takanori Gomi.

Well, obviously. But in that sense, martial arts has changed tremendously since he fought. Asking if he could compete in something like PRIDE or UFC using only the training he had during his lifetime is like asking if he could go into a ring and beat Sugar Ray Leonard in his prime. It's not really comparable at all.

That being said, given his penchant for working ridiculously hard, we're talking immeasurably hard on his craft and physique, coupled with his natural instincts and quickness would hypothetically provide him an unbeatable foundation for training in modern day MMA, in my opinion anyway.

I couldn't see him beating Gomi, training or not... but then, up until a few months ago, I couldn't see anyone beating Gomi.

Yea...it's crazy to think about. Based on how small he was (5'7", 135...hell, even I have 10 pounds on Bruce fucking Lee, haha), and the training he did in his lifetime, he would have to be considered (pound-for-pound) the strongest and most well-conditioned athlete if he were in MMA today. Another thing is - unlike most traditional martial artists of his day -he would absolutely love the manner in which an MMA fight is conducted. I never realized how much of a pioneer he is for the sport. He was basically the guy who had the balls to stand up to TMA practitioners and say "that shit and the way you train/compete with it isn't going to fly in a real fight." Haha. Not to say TMA is shit, but MMA competitions as we know them today have been around for less than 20 years, and with the evolution the sport has already made, it is pretty well established what works in reality/no holds barred combat.

Competitive Martial Arts as we know it today in the western part of the globe is due to Lee single handily. His fighting philosophy bared inspiration from western combat tactics such as boxing and fencing as well. His death inspired the vast majority of what we know in media and institutional martial science today as well. He was a perfectionist of his art. He was a exaction of physical science in self defense. His philosophy which we now know as Jeet Kune Do has had a larger impact on today's generation of martial arts than any hand to hand combat tactic to date. So in essence, the issue of him being able to stand up to the standards of today would be very possible because if not for him or his death it may have well been a different era of martial arts and less science. Jeet Kune Do is currently seen as the genesis of the modern spate of hybrid martial arts.