Was Bruce Lee the best fighter of All-Time?

Question

Was Bruce Lee the best fighter of All-Time?

Answer 1

Darn good question, this is the age old question...Personally as stars go I thought his son Brendan had it over him.  Jet Li is a great classicaly trained wushu fighter and has expertise in both internal and external arts, Jet admitted that while making Cradle 2 Grave, if Randy Couture or t*t Ortiz had hit him he would have killed him.  Bruce surely changed the face of martial arts the world over, so in that repect he was a great the martial artist, his legend far exceeded his person.

Who knows if Bruce would have been able to cope with a Royce Gracie or a Matt Hughes of a GSP, as Bruce is not here to answer the call, we'll never know.  Perhaps we should look at the time frame, and his one really big production, "Enter the Dragon", now I am not a big Bruce Lee fan, so I don't know of many other movies.  Next to John Saxon, he looked great.

To my obviously heretical mind the fight scenes I enjoyed best were in the Jet Li movie "The One".  This whole thing reminds me of the hypothetical computer fight in the Rocky Balboa movie

Bruce Lee was an influential Martial Artist and movie star.

Answer 2

He was one of the greatest martial artists of all time, not the best fighter.

Answer 3

obviously ye! :D.

remember as bruce lee once said ' the cup is never half full or half empty, its either filled with liquid....or with air, ' POW judoooooo CHOPPP!.

Answer 4

with no doubt about it, YES!!!! Some of my friends think that my father looks like Jackie Chan or Bruce Lee. He he, I have never told you this story but one time my father was going into WalMart and this woman said that he was Jacky Chan and thought he was and went to say hi. It was so funny!!!! lol. Good chance to talk about it:) thanks

Answer 5

Great martial artist but he's get owned in a fight against anderson silva or any other top MMA fighter.

Answer 6

I believe he was but there is no way of seeing if anyone is the best fighter of all-time, ya know?

This is why I think he was the best:

* He not only practiced fighting, he researched and improved it

* Founded Jeet Kune Do - a non-rigid form of M.A.

* He learnt as many different styles of martial arts as he could and developed them in his own way, forming freestyle fighting

* He fought only when neccessary and not to prove himself or showoff

* His famous "one inch punch" where he could knock a man 6 feet away by striking with his knuckle only an inch away

* He was a philosopher

* He was good to his body being careful with foods and exercise

This list is becoming too long. Case closed :)

Answer 7

Sorry no. Not to say he wasn't good, but definetly not the best.

Remember he never advanced very far in any one style, he took bits and peices that worked for him, but it means he lost a lot of the deeper meanings of the styles and moves.

I now await the thumbs down from all of the Lee aholics that beleive everything they hear or read about him.

Answer 8

Impossible to answer that question unless Bruce Lee has fought and defeated all fighters ever, which can't happen so it's a matter of opinion. Personally I think Morihei Ueshiba is teh best fighter of all time.

Answer 9

I must say, I love Bruce the most. Who is the best,.. the world may never know.  Bruce is the best I have ever seen.  Jet Li rocks however I have never seen him outside his "flicky" movies with all the special effects.  If any of you have seen Jet Li perform outside of the theater,  please tell me, also tell me where I could watch it. I would love to see him do his stuff!

Not from me katana17, I hear you.

( Not this time anyway,..I'm only a level 1,..hangs head down and sighs,..)

Hey, I'm the greatest  Bruce Lee fan around,...

waaaaaaaaaaatttttttaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

Da*n it Katana, I just made level 2 and I still can't do it!

*hangs head  and sighs*

Answer 10

Whatever gave you that idea? Fact is, Bruce never claimed to be the best fighter, he trained and strived to become one, but it was mostly his fans who were greatly influenced by him who made those posthumous claims about him being the best.

Answer 11

defently, absolutely, h**l yes, dahh, obviously

bruce lee is a champion, master of martial arts the best

i could go on forever about all the amazing facts but i wont theres too many but i will tell you one....

Bruce Lee could kick a 135k punch bag and make it swing up and hit the roof.

so yer he is the best.   (he was 58 kilos but still beat up many people)

Answer 12

He was an excellent martial artist, but not the best fighter, there where many who would have beat him.

Answer 13

Was he the best fighter of all time?

Well even though I have studied JKD for over 30 years and been a fan of Bruce for longer, I would have to say no.  Was he one of the foremost genius of martial arts? YES, undoubtedly.

Bruce was a great fighter in his own right and didn't need to prove it to himself. The fact that the likes of Joe Lewis, Chuck Norris and Mike Stone chose to fine tune their skills under him says a lot.  However would Bruce have beaten Joe Lewis, Muhammed Ali, Gene Lebell, Rickson Gracie, Oyama, etc is questionable. Even Bruce would say he could beat anyone if the circumstances were right.

The simple fact is that anyone who has trained with Bruce would testify that his closing speed and instinct was beyond comprehension. He would know the second you were about to move and come at you at that point. His ability to cover ground quickly was well documented. Now add that to Bruce's street philosophy of longest weapon to nearest target and you would see that Bruce would probably go straight for the knee. Once the knee was/is broken then the fight is largely over. So given the chance to do this, then the probability is that he could disable anyone.

Does that mean he would win everyone? No. It means he would have a d**n good chance but we have no idea of how well Bruce could take a punch or kick whereas the likes of Ali, Lewis, Gracie, etc we know have the resilience to come back.

One of the greatest? Yes. THE GREATEST? Doubtful.