Bruce Lee and Aikido

Some people consider Bruce Lee as the greatest martial artist who ever lived...

I have two questions:

1)Does anyone know if he ever looked into or said anything about Aikido?

2)How well do you think you would defend yourself Aikido-wise against an attack from Bruce Lee? What techniques would you think would be most effective as someone with amazing speed, power, and footwork(which gives him almost constant balance)?

You asked:

Does anyone know if he ever looked into or said anything about Aikido?

He is reputed to have made some comment about Aikido being the perfect martial art (or maybe he said it was too perfect) after watching O Sensei do some stuff. I'm sure somebody on this board would be able to tell the story better and even tell us whether it's true or not.

How well do you think you would defend yourself Aikido-wise against an attack from Bruce Lee?

I can honestly say that I've reached the point in my training where a dead guy will not give me any trouble. :-)

What techniques would you think would be most effective against someone with amazing speed, power, and footwork (which gives him almost constant balance)?

Oh, you meant how would I do against him if he were still alive and in good shape. That's easy, he'd kick my butt. :-)

This is just speculation, but it's fun to think about. I'd stay away from techniques like kotageishi and shihonage because I don't think I'd be able to get a handle on Bruce's hands/wrists. That also leaves out ikkyo, nikkyo, etc. Instead, I'd go with kokyo and irimi movements.

-Drew A.

I have a book by Bruce Lee, and in the book he commented on the flow of aikido, he said it was a good thing.

I reckon I could take out Bruce Lee if he had to close one eye and put one hand behind his back (ha ha).

I think with a guy who has lots of speed, the things you need to use are irimi and/or kokyu tecniques.

Taking on Bruce Lee would be a difficult task, I would laugh at anyone who said that they could take him out, when he was alive.




Matt Banks

Whether Bruce was the greatest Martial Artist or not is debatable, but he was a true Martial Arts genius.
I remember reading about Aikido somewhere in his Tao of Jeet Kune Do or some other of his books that I possess.
He was always open to ideas and the underlying philosophy of Jeet Kune Do was to liberate yourself from fixed styles and absorb what is useful from every Martial Art and Philosophy. So, if he had had an exposure to Aikido, I don't have any doubt that he would have incorporated it in his system.
As for using techniques against him, I don't think I would ever be able to do so. However, visualizing an attacker as fast as him, I can think of only irimi nage as something I'll be comfortable with.However, on my good day, kotegaeshi
might just work, as it happens to be my favourite and seems to work effectively against punches.
But, why fight him? There are lot of things to learn from him and that would be the right attitude when facing Bruce Lee.

Matt Banks wrote: [B Taking on Bruce Lee would be a difficult task, I would laugh at anyone who said that they could take him out, when he was alive. [/b]

Chuck Norris deated him in a competition once, though.

It'd be interesting if he was still alive.... He'd probably be the toughest arthritis sufferer around after years of his insane training regime.

andrew

[quote]The One wrote:
[b]Some people consider Bruce Lee as the greatest martial artist who ever lived...

comon

He was a movie star !!!
don't forget !

Just like Tarazan and The Jedy...

Yes, he was well trained and very flexible but he was far from the tytle 'greatest m artist'.

Um, I suggest you do a little more research on Mr. Lee before you classify him as simply a "movie star" and put him in the same category as "Tarzan"!?!

...OK What about Lee against Tyson or Ali? (I mean this in an enlightened, curious way of course, not aggressively )

Hello,

Ok, I'll humor this question a bit. Hmmm, Mr. Lee did incorporate some boxing concepts when he developed Jeet Kun Do. Most notable was the incorportation of traditional boxing footwork. Mr. Lee felt that fixed stances were not the way to go and so adopted boxing's less fixed and more "mobile" (for lack of a better term) footwork.

Powerwise, I'm thinking that Mr. Tyson, if he connected a punch, would probably send Mr. Lee into another dimension. Mr. Ali could most likely do the same. Jeet Kun Do focused on not so much the power (although Jeet Kun Do strikes are powerful) but the speed and timing of the attack. Meaning that Mr. Lee would have to connect multiple punches and / or kicks with either of these gentlemen in order to attain the same effect that one of their punches could achieve.

Of course knowing what the outcome of such an encounter like this would be is just like knowing how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know. Have a good day!

Thanks, it-rentaroo, for humouring me...! It is interesting though, eh? Who else would you be interested in seeing fight Bruce? (Puleez no WWF or anything like that...)

Another dimension. !!! I like that...

mj wrote: Thanks, it-rentaroo, for humouring me...! It is interesting though, eh? Who else would you be interested in seeing fight Bruce? (Puleez no WWF or anything like that...)

STEVEN SEGAL!!!!

**Ducking & Running**

OOOH YES!

Seriously, Bruce Lee did say something about Aikido after watching it one time. (I don't know about any other comments he may have made, though.)
He said it needed to 'Lose some form.'
I can almost picture what he saw at the time, too.

About Bruce having to hit them with a combo before doing the damage of one punch, and him having not that much power?!? I have 3 words for ya:
1 inch punch...

The One (what?)...
Ypu can do anything with a willing uke...

Mj, are you saying the uke jumped back???

I have no doubt that if Bruce Lee wanted to hit with power he would easily hit harder than Ali or Tyson...

andrew wrote: Chuck Norris deated him in a competition once, though. andrew

When was this??

lt-rentaroo wrote: Hello, Of course knowing what the outcome of such an encounter like this would be is just like knowing how many licks it takes to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know. Have a good day!

Good quote, but you just dated yourself here.
Niadh

mj wrote: Who else would you be interested in seeing fight Bruce? (Puleez no WWF or anything like that...)

Rorian Gracie

Yes, I agree that with his famous one inch punch, Bruce Lee could punch as hard as Ali or Tyson.
As for sending him to another dimension, both Ali and Tyson would have to move really well to touch him - let alone land a punch on him.
Besides, I don't think boxing is a true Martial Art. It is more of a sport, maybe very effective, but as a Martial Art it is extremely limited. I wonder how a boxer would fare against an open, versatile Martial Artist like Bruce Lee.

As for Chuck Norris defeating Bruce Lee, I have never heard of it. Could someone supply me some source of the information?

[Edited by Arunabha Sengupta on March 29, 2001 at 09:09pm]

Hello folks:

"Judo" Gene LeBell didn't seem to have much of a problem dealing with Bruce Lee... Here's Gene's account:

http://www.genelebell.com/stories.asp#1brucelee

Heh-heh. Love that pink dogi, too...

Regards,
John Kuo

Arunabha Sengupta wrote: Yes, I agree that with his famous one inch punch, Bruce Lee could punch as hard as Ali or Tyson.

Having seen the effect of the one inch punch, and having also seen the effect of a heavyweight boxer punching a heavyweight boxer, I have no hesitation in telling you that you're being ridiculous.
I have no doubt Bruce Lee hit very hard, but please have some perspective. Even with a full punch, it'd be extremely surprising if Lee came close to punching as hard as someone like Ali. That kind of farcical statement makes a mockery of his martial arts prowess, because it's actually rooted in his movie star status.

I'll tell you where I got that Chuck Norris story when I remember who told me last year. It's hardly all that surprising, given Norris's competition pedigree. (And larger physical size.)

andrew

andrew wrote: I have no doubt Bruce Lee hit very hard, but please have some perspective. Even with a full punch, it'd be extremely surprising if Lee came close to punching as hard as someone like Ali. andrew [/b]

I'm curious why. I guess I just dont understand why, if one person can do something (ali) another one can't do the same thing.

crystalwizard wrote: I'm curious why. I guess I just dont understand why, if one person can do something (ali) another one can't do the same thing.

It's called genetic diversity- everybody is different. Environment plays a large part too.

Seriously, though... I think it's a bit foolish to assume that a "proper" martial artist can automatically punch more efficiently (struggling for a term there) than a boxer. There's an assumption there that boxers are comparitively unskilled at punching. This is silly, and you're not talking about an "ordinary" boxer either. Ali was seriously tough and seriously skilled and seriously heavier than Bruce Lee. He wasn't just a big guy- he knew how to throw a punch.

I'm sure there was more going through your mind than you put there.... I mean, by that rationale why are we learning Aikido when we could go create our own martial art? What's wrong with all those shihan?

andrew