Andre the Giant vs. Bruce Lee

[Powerboy]

Pretty much. Both fighter's greatest "feats" are hearsay by people "claiming" they saw them do it (and Lee is noted to have sparred, but never fought). So we have to look at each fighter physically. And... Andre has the advantage in just about every physical category. He has greater reach, greater height, greater mass, and most likely greater strength. All Bruce really has is maybe greater speed. But it won't be so superhuman that Andre can't touch him, and once he gets his hands on Bruce, he's going to slam Bruce around like a ragdoll.

I would be tempted to give Bruce greater stamina but Andre at a comparable age could keep a match going quite a while. I'd also give him potentially more pain endurance in that, like most wrestlers, he had a number of times gotten broken fingers (real, not kayfabe) and kept right on with the match. We don't have any recorded injuries for Bruce because we have no proven real fights.

Also, in "Little Dragon", the big budget movie alleging to be a biography, he was temporarily paralyzed from a sneak attack kick to the spine. In reality, he hurt his spine lifting weights that were way to heavy for him and was never paralyzed. But, for millions of people, the myth is fact.

Not that Andre doesn't have his folk tales but the ones people actually believe are mild compared to Bruce's. Nobody with a brain seriously believes Andre deadlifted a ton or broke a steel pipe. They do believe he turned over a car using weight and strength but since the Big Show overturned a much bigger vehicle, that's believable whether or not it really happened. Incidentally, the Big Show feat was slightly stage magic. They let a little air out of the tires on the opposite side so the side he was pushing was slightly higher and the other side slightly lower. But that was as far as it went.

[Powerboy]

yep. pretty much breaking down everything about frank and the kumite is easy enough. frank even said that there was video cameras and speed meters to show how fast he punched and yet not a single bit of footage has turned up.

and yet, people still take his word that he is this deadly ex-marine, ex-cia fighter who trained steven seagal, grew chuck norris' beard for him and pimped out Jackie chan on the streets of hong kong.

And we can add Stephen Seagal's "I was in the CIA" BS too. As Jesse Ventura said, some of the things Seagal claims would be under secrecy and he would be arrested for violating that secrecy had he really been in the CIA. Seagal also had a rep in Aikido of muscling to make his techniques work. Another actor making BS claims of real martial arts proficiency. I believe he is a 7th degree now but most of that was after he became famous hence publicity for the art.

[Kuro]

What I find unbelievable is how professional MMA fighters are all talking up Bruce Lee like he would be some champion or something if he were still alive.

[master of read]

And we can add Stephen Seagal's "I was in the CIA" BS too. As Jesse Ventura said, some of the things Seagal claims would be under secrecy and he would be arrested for violating that secrecy had he really been in the CIA. Seagal also had a rep in Aikido of muscling to make his techniques work. Another actor making BS claims of real martial arts proficiency. I believe he is a 7th degree now but most of that was after he became famous hence publicity for the art.

i just watched a vid of someone comparing seagal's aikido to regular aikido and they said the same thing: seagal's is just rougher and more aggro. which kind of fits since he is pretty much a hyped up jack ass who like the privileges of being a martial artist without any of the ideals.

[Cyke]

What I find unbelievable is how professional MMA fighters are all talking up Bruce Lee like he would be some champion or something if he were still alive.

I can't say I blame them. Hero worship is very real, and it's likely that a number of fighters -- MMA and beyond -- took up their calling because of Bruce's influence. That's the same reason why we have Mae Jemison and Whoopi Goldberg because of Nichelle Nichols, after all.

But that's like saying George Clooney would be a good doctor because he played Doug Ross on ER.

[Kuro]

Honestly, what WAS the allure of Lee? I mean, it wasn’t like there weren’t other martial artists turns movie stars during the time, right? Was it because he mixed and matched different styles?

[master of read]

Honestly, what WAS the allure of Lee? I mean, it wasn’t like there weren’t other martial artists turns movie stars during the time, right? Was it because he mixed and matched different styles?

for my money? because he broke barriers over here in the west, since Asian actors weren't leading men. (see the story of kung-fu for that).

and because of his thoughts on fighting and martial arts in general. not saying the dude could kick anybody's ass. even bruce said he wasn't some master fighter who could beat down anyone. he just was one of the first to take practicality over tradition when it came to fighting. listening to his interviews and reading his book, i can see what he was going for and i can understand him not wanting to do competitions since martial artist competitions weren't good practical tests for fighting.

[Alan2099]

The Lee hype on the old board got so bad we needed a ruling saying 'You must provide evidence for any and all Lee claims' to stop the multipage spamming of supposed things Lee could do.

I feel we've swung entirely the opposite direction, probably a bit too far.

With the way people seem to be talking now, I wouldn't be surprised to see people arguing that Bruce Lee would loose a fight to Jason Lee.

[The MunchKING]

I feel we've swung entirely the opposite direction, probably a bit too far.

With the way people seem to be talking now, I wouldn't be surprised to see people arguing that Bruce Lee would loose a fight to Jason Lee.

Jason Mewes or Todd anyway.

[Guy1]

I feel we've swung entirely the opposite direction, probably a bit too far.

With the way people seem to be talking now, I wouldn't be surprised to see people arguing that Bruce Lee would loose a fight to Jason Lee.

Let's get ready to rumble!

[grampagen]

Honestly, what WAS the allure of Lee? I mean, it wasn’t like there weren’t other martial artists turns movie stars during the time, right? Was it because he mixed and matched different styles?

I think you just answered your own question. Without Bruce Lee, there probably wouldn't be an opening for Lau Kar Leung, Gordon Liu, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, or Donnie Yen, let alone, say, Tony Jaa, Jeeja Yanin or Iko Uwais.

for my money? because he broke barriers over here in the west, since Asian actors weren't leading men. (see the story of kung-fu for that).

Also this. Even then, Jon Saxon had first billing for Enter the Dragon's marketing; "Roper. Williams. Lee."

Having said all that, his abilities as a fighter, as mentioned above, are largely apocryphal, undocumented, or unfavourable to him, making Bruce Lee rather terrible for Rumbles if he's not spotted the use of his movie characters.

[MorphyVSFischer]

What I find unbelievable is how professional MMA fighters are all talking up Bruce Lee like he would be some champion or something if he were still alive.

I mean there's no way to know, really. could a Bruce Lee that dedicated himself to MMA have become a champion? It's impossible to say

[Kuro]

I’m pretty sure Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung were all making movies during the time Lee was alive.

[grampagen]

I’m pretty sure Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung were all making movies during the time Lee was alive.

...how old do you think those guys are? And not with mainstream international recognition, no.

Especially not Donnie Yen, who came to prominence about a decade after the other two rose up in the late seventies.

[Alan2099]

I’m pretty sure Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen and Sammo Hung were all making movies during the time Lee was alive.