Could Bruce lee hang in the UFC

[Mellowthrasher]

Now the reason why i am asking this question is because my friend dear old Stice and I got into a convo where what if Bruce lee himself was in the UFC and would he get crushed or would he be the victor.

Stice says: Bruce lee was a fixed and MMA would simply out match him.

I say: Bruce lee would of beat everyone to a bloody mess because he went beyond just fighting, I for one believe he reach limits mere humans simply can't reach...since in a way the way he trained sort of put his body under a ton of pressure and some UFC fighter wouldn't be able to hold him.

Also we argued that a wing chun fighter or someone with just one art form couldn't make it.

Stice says: MMA would crush

I say: It depends on the fighter

Don't get me wrong Stice is a monk of many talents and i always look up to him but this is one thing we simply can't agree with

ps. To clear things up i respect MMA but i just don't believe its the greatest of the great..i believe all art forms hold a useful meaning and i believe its the fighter who makes the art form ..not the other way around

So what do you think?

[mstice]

I guess what it boils down to is your view on martial arts. Do you see them more as an art form (like Mellow) or more as a science (like me). Obviously martial arts are both of those things, but I contend that in practical application (AKA a cage match) science wins out.

As I told Mellow before, being able to seamlessly utilize different styles of fighting at a high level allows for greater adaptation in a fight, and adapting to the fight itself was Bruce Lee's main principle behind Jeet Kune Do. He was an iconoclast and hated how martial artists would limit themselves to fixed forms and stances that were inflexible and impractical in a real life situation. Really, modern MMA is taking the martial arts philosophy founded by Bruce Lee to the next level by combining any and all schools of martial arts into one fighting style that can adapt to any situation. It has turned out that some styles work better than others in real fights, though, so instead of seeing Wing Chun and Taekwando being combined with Shaolin grappling, you tend to see Muay Thai kickboxing and Western-style boxing as the primary striking forms used and Brazilian Jujitsu, Judo, and Greco Roman wrestling as the primary grappling forms.

Bruce Lee's primary advantage, really, is that he could fight in a UFC weight class where the current champion is primarily a Muay Thai style striker. Bruce Lee weighed about 160 lbs, so without cutting weight he would be in the welterweight division (156-170 lbs) where the champion is George St. Pierre, a fighter noted for his quickness and striking ability. If St. Pierre decided to try and stand up then Bruce Lee might actually be a faster, better striker and win. St. Pierre could (and probably would) decide to take Lee down, though, because his ground skills are pretty impressive, too (after all, the former champion he beat was a national collegiate wrestling champion, Matt Hughes). If it came down to a grappling/ground-and-pound situation I don't think Lee would have a chance.

If Bruce Lee decided to cut 5 pounds and drop down to the lightweight division (155 lbs and below), however, he wouldn't stand a chance. The champion there is BJ Penn, who is a freak of nature in his Brazilian Jujitsu style and skill. He has contortionist-like flexibility in his legs and can control them with the amount of coordination most people only have in their arms. He has great Muay Thai skills as well, but chances are he'd take Lee down and submit him with some type of hold/lock in the first or second round.

So there you have it. I will admit that if Lee spent a few years learning other martial arts, like those I mentioned as the most effective in real fights, then he probably would be a serious contender. He was intelligent, physically gifted, extremely hardworking, and he was an adamant believer in the philosophy of mixing martial arts together and adapting them as a fighter. He had all the qualities needed to become a great mixed martial artist. As he was when he died, however, he simply couldn't compete.

[mangaddict_reborn]

Bruce Lee would crush. He would wear and scare his opponent in the first minute. The second minute, the guy is down with a displaced knee or broken rib.

[Mellowthrasher]

[mstice]

Like I said, with his minimal grappling ability plus lack of experience against MMAs most utilized fighting styles, Bruce Lee's superior striking couldn't take him close to the top ranks. Sure, he could hold his own against the lower level competition, but he has a lot to work on if he wants to hang with the big boys up at the top of the class.

Anderson Silva, George St. Pierre, and BJ Penn would control the fight, and not simply through overwhelming him with power like Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar seems to do. They have extremely high skill levels in multiple martial arts that are the results of lifetimes of dedication to those arts, and it is their devotion to the them, combined with a practical and scientific approach to martial arts, that makes them the best fighters in the world.

I don't see what the big deal about these people being able to beat Bruce Lee, at least as he was before he passed away, in a fight by mastery of multiple martial arts. This current system of mixed martial arts is simply the logical evolution of the movement started by Lee emphasizing the abandonment of fixed forms and adaptation of fighting style to best exploit the shortcomings and weak points of your opponents. As said, should Lee be given the opportunity to the train and study other martial arts for a year or two before fighting these opponents I think he would be very competitive and wouldn't be nearly as certain about who would win the fight. Not only that, but I think that Bruce Lee himself would agree with me because the reasons he would be defeated by top MMA contenders are the same reason he was able to dominate masters of other fixed, unadapted martial arts that he fought against.

[Mellowthrasher]