Could Bruce Lee beat a Professional Boxer?

[New England]

This is beyond dumb. Bruce Lee died 20 years before the UFC was created. The UFC have no proprietary rights over Bruce Lee's image, and they cant make any money through him. There's absolutely no financial incentive to have a non-UFC fighter as the father of MMA. It'd make a lot more sense to have a UFC fighter (like the Gracie's) be the father of MMA, who they can actually use to make money from.

Those UFC Bruce Lee t-shirts doe.

you clearly don't even understand my point.

[Masters01]

I think "Father of MMA" is a subjective term with no real value.

Bruce Lee can't take full credit for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts.

He can get credit for creating his own Martial Arts that is a complete fighting system that addresses all of the ranges of combat we see in MMA. I think he was ahead of his time and even ahead of the Gracies because the Gracies tried to prove the superiority of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu whereas Bruce Lee didn't believe in styles. Jeet Kune Do was a Martial Arts philosophy rather than just another style. He believed in learning all the useful techniques and dispensing with anything that wasn't useful. Bruce Lee liked Boxing so I think he would have loved MMA as a sport but what he was interested in was scientific street fighting not combat sports.

I think Helio Gracie might be more deserving of the term "Father of MMA" because he actually competed and started the old Vale Tudo competitions that were the basis for the UFC and the formation of the modern sport Mixed Martial Arts.

Yeah, this is all very reasonable. I dont disagree with anything you've said here actually. I was merely pointing out what the experts and legends say (again, Dana White, the Gracie family, Jon Jones, GSP, Anderson Silva etc). I also defer my opinion in MMA to them, because I dont know nearly as much about it as they do.

[Masters01]

you clearly don't even understand my point.

I can live with that.

[boliodogs]

The boxer would win. Boxers fight for a living. Lee was a movie actor. In the movies Lee could beat any 10 great boxers at the same time. In a real life fight any good boxer the same size as Lee would beat him in my opinion.

[Masters01]

The boxer would win. Boxers fight for a living. Lee was a movie actor. In the movies Lee could beat any 10 great boxers at the same time. In a real life fight any good boxer the same size as Lee would beat him in my opinion.

But is Bruce allowed to use his legs, knees, elbows, grabs, and everything else that would be permissible in a real fight? Of course if you give any real fighter the conditions that they can only use their hands and nothing else, the boxer will win easy 10/10 times.

[MysticNinjaJay]

They are the baddest men on the planet. They actually fight lol. They dnt say 'ok lets fight, but youre not allowed to use your legs, and you cant grab me. you can only punch me but you must only punch me above the belt and not behind the head. and if you knock me down, you have to give me 10 seconds to recover.'

In MMA, minus eye gouging and groin shots, its actual real fighting.

I agree. The best fighters in the world are professional fighters and Mixed Martial Arts is closer to a real fight than Boxing. MMA has rules too but it's more of a fight than Boxing. Boxers are masters of their specialty, punching, but outside their domain they would get destroyed by a well-rounded Martial Artist.

I think Bruce Lee has been underestimated by a lot of people. He was a complete fighter himself. He didn't have the fighting experience of professional fighters and I think top Mixed Martial Artists would have beaten him but he was a lot better than the average Traditional Martial Artist.

He had a lot of skills.

[shogunn]

Fast kick to the knees, while the boxer is engaged in trying to keep distance..or use his front hand to measure his jab to the head or body. Bruce Lee's Leg kick reach > Any boxer's arm reach....Boxer is then on ground where he sucks. Bruce Lee then proceeds to kick the **** out of him.

If you're gonna tell me every boxer in the world (LW-HW) has stronger punches then Bruce lee's kicks..then...go ahead. A kick from Bruce Lee will hurt regardless. I'm not gonna respond

[PR13]

Bruce Lee can definitely beat any professional boxer... that man defied gravity when he fought... his speed was amazing to say the least.

[billeau2]

Wow here we go...When does the ******ity cease?

First off MMA is not real fighting! Real fighting is when you have no gloves, you do not know if there is a knife somewhere, how many people will be attacking, etc. So let dispel that little turd Flush......

Bruce Lee was not a boxer. Wing Chun does not function with gloves, you need a direct connection of hand to surface....Bruce Lee was not interested in being a professional fighter he was a teacher testing his techniques....The Dog Brothers (please Google them) are awesome fighters. They might well fight mma rules to test out a technique, but there purpose is combat....This is how we used to fight as well when I was fighting martial arts.

Bruce Lee was a teacher...and no he was not only an actor. He learned from some of the same people who are very well recieved in MMA, like Gene Lebell for example. If Bruce Lee fought a boxer in the street he would not fight in th manner of a fellow boxer.

So much ******ity it never ceases.

[boliodogs]

I believe Bruce Lee probably did win an inter school boxing tournament in a country where boxing is not very popular. Winning a school tournament is a worthless piece of information in figuring his chances in a fight with a top pro fighter. It's not like he won the boxing gold medal at the Olympics.