Bruce Lee vs Cung Le

"Korg said:

"

Who has Cung Le fought that you know? Also, why did you even make this thread if you think Bruce has no shot here? Cung Le's official website still has the story of him breaking Shamrock's arm on their front page. It's the most impressive thing he's done in his entire career.

"

Thats The Thing Korg... I had no Intention of going this route with the thread... but when you and others began to say how this fight was a Curbstomp in favor of Bruce Lee... I wanted to salvage the thread... and not make this another Bruce Lee appreciation thread... someone needed to challenge you guys about why Bruce wins so easy when he has no real ring fights to say he could win in a Curbstomp like this against someone who has real Ring Experience... now whether Cung Le has fought anyone I have really ever heard of is a discussion I will plead the 5th for as of right now...

lol
"

"King Saturn said:

"Korg said:

"

Who has Cung Le fought that you know? Also, why did you even make this thread if you think Bruce has no shot here? Cung Le's official website still has the story of him breaking Shamrock's arm on their front page. It's the most impressive thing he's done in his entire career.

"

Thats The Thing Korg... I had no Intention of going this route with the thread... but when you and others began to say how this fight was a Curbstomp in favor of Bruce Lee... I wanted to salvage the thread... and not make this another Bruce Lee appreciation thread... someone needed to challenge you guys about why Bruce wins so easy when he has no real ring fights to say he could win in a Curbstomp like this against someone who has real Ring Experience... now whether Cung Le has fought anyone I have really ever heard of is a discussion I will plead the 5th for as of right now...

lol
"

if i gave you that idea king i am sorry, i was not trying to turn this into that kind of thread i was just saying what i thought and if i gave you that idea i am sorry."

Ring experience doesn't magically make you a good fighter. Training does. Power, speed, cardio - all are important aspects of becoming a solid fighter. Stepping into a ring to fight scrubs who have no clue what they're doing is not. Bruce Lee trained a lot harder than Cung Le ever has. He had speed, power, cardio, and a serious background in half a dozen martial arts. He was a proficient boxer. I think he would win this fight based on what I know about both fighters. I'm sorry if I got hostile with you, King.

"Korg said:

"

Who has Cung Le fought that you know? Also, why did you even make this thread if you think Bruce has no shot here? Cung Le's official website still has the story of him breaking Shamrock's arm on their front page. It's the most impressive thing he's done in his entire career.

"

Thats The Thing Korg... I had no Intention of going this route with the thread... but when you and others began to say how this fight was a Curbstomp in favor of Bruce Lee... I wanted to salvage the thread... and not make this another Bruce Lee appreciation thread... someone needed to challenge you guys about why Bruce wins so easy when he has no real ring fights to say he could win in a Curbstomp like this against someone who has real Ring Experience... now whether Cung Le has fought anyone I have really ever heard of is a discussion I will plead the 5th for as of right now...

lol
"

"Ring experience doesn't magically make you a good fighter. Training does. Power, speed, cardio - all are important aspects of becoming a solid fighter. Stepping into a ring to fight scrubs who have no clue what they're doing is not. Bruce Lee trained a lot harder than Cung Le ever has. He had speed, power, cardio, and a serious background in half a dozen martial arts. He was a proficient boxer. I think he would win this fight based on what I know about both fighters. I'm sorry if I got hostile with you, King."

so many idiots in this thread

"the human Juggernaut said:

"so many idiots in this thread"

points at you"

"gunswordfist said:

"You do know that he fought Norris in real life, right?"

When?"

"notices someone projecting "

"he never did.  Some people don't know the difference between real life and movies."

Wow. There's a lot of ignorance in this thread. I loved Bruce Lee's movies but the idea that he beats Cung Le is absurd. Whether we are talking Kickboxing, Mixed Martial Arts or no rules street fight Cung Le wins based on common sense.

First of all Bruce Lee was 5'7" and weighed 135 pounds. Cung Le is 5'10" and weighs 185 pounds. In MMA terms we're talking about a Bantamweight vs. a Middleweight. That's a 50 pound weight disadvantage for Bruce Lee. When everything else is equal size does matter. That's why they have weight classes. Additionally Cung Le has a significant advantage in fighting experience. Cung has over 30 amateur and professional fights. He's no chump either. He won innumerable Martial Arts tournaments and championships. Before transitioning to MMA he had fought for years in other competitions and not against scrubs either he won championships! Just because you haven't heard of them doesn't mean they were scrubs.

Keep in mind that most of Cung Le's professional fighting career took place in the late 90's before MMA became popular when the only well-known fighters in the world were in Boxing. The various Martial Arts competitions Cung Le competed in didn't have the exposure that MMA has today but there were talented fighters competing and Cung Le was among the best. He won a Shidokan tournament and earned 3 bronze medals in the Wushu World Championships. He found similar success in MMA going 5-0 before defeating Frank Shamrock for the Strikeforce Middleweight championship. For those who don't know Shamrock is no joke. He was an undefeated UFC champion who retired when he was young and had returned to his old form by the time he fought Cung Le. Cung got knocked out twice in MMA after taking long lay offs to act in movies but he always put on a good fight and while he's past his prime he was a formidable opponent while he was younger.

Now compare that to Bruce Lee's fighting experience. He competed in and won one amateur Boxing tournament in high school. Beyond that he had some street fights and challenge matches with other Martial Artists such as Wong Jack Man. That's it. Bruce Lee was not a professional fighter. Now could he fight? I have no doubt that he could. He was a dedicated Martial Artist who by the end of his life had clearly reached a high level of fitness and developed his own fighting system. But while Jeet Kune Do incorporated techniques from different Martial Arts Cung Le is an actual Mixed Martial Artist with years of professional fighting experience. This matters in a real fight. Competing at a high level does make you a better fighter. Far better than someone who doesn't fight regularly including the most dedicated of Martial Artists.

I think that Bruce Lee could have beaten scrubs but the higher up in competition you go among professional fighters the less likely he would be to win. He would especially have a hard time with Cung Le who not only competed at a high level but knows all of Bruce Lee's best moves. Cung Le is so good his fights look like Bruce Lee's movie fights. Seriously there's nothing that Bruce Lee practiced that Cung Le doesn't know. He does spinning kicks, side kicks etc. and he's a master at using them. He's also an accomplished collegiate wrestler and trained extensively in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu so he does have a ground game. Bruce Lee knew some grappling moves. He trained with Gene Lebell but he was not on the mat rolling daily with high level grapplers like Cung Le was doing at American Kickboxing Academy with guys like Jake Shields. Cung Le has simply received superior Martial Arts training as a professional fighter and had way too much experience plus a significant size advantage for anyone to seriously entertain the idea that Bruce Lee would beat him in a fight.

Hmm, leaning Bruce

Bruce lee wins easily, Cung le isnt that great

Bruce is solid striker with a diversity of techniques. Le may possibly have a stronger kick given weight, but Bruce is still far faster and more likely to make a solid impact. One inch punch is not practical for combat people, that's a no brainer. Tony Jaa wins, slightly less skill but far more lethal style, and still master level.

lol what? Cung le is undefeated in kickboxing and KO'ed guys like rich franklin,frank shamrock,and scott smith the guy has superb standup and is a college wrestling champ so he definitely has more ground game than bruce so if its just a standup fight i think bruce wins too but don't go undermining a great fighter you know nothing about.....

I think Cung wins a pure standup fight as well. He has more experience against better strikers than anyone Bruce Lee ever faced. We don't even have video footage of Bruce Lee in a real fight. Cung Le can look like a fighting God in the movies too. Movie fights are choreographed. We know Bruce was athletic. We know he knew a variety of techniques but he wasn't a professional fighter and we're talking about him fighting a Kickboxing champion. When you compete at a high level for as long as Cung Le did your muscle memory reaches a point where applying accurate techniques becomes an instinct and Cung Le's reaction time is among the best I've ever seen. With the advantage in full-contact fighting experience and the size advantage I just don't see a serious argument for Bruce Lee winning against Cung Le. Period.

this paragraph is underestimating at its finest....bruce lee used moves in his film that would look cool,in real life he knew techniques in most martial arts were useless so he took up multiple fighting styles and used techniques that were useful that's were his phrase "Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless, add what is specifically your own." comes from and he was no slouch in the ring he was a undefeated national boxing champ in japan with most of his wins coming by KO's.there were a lot of stories from different actors where people would challenge him backstage and get there asses handed to them every time and two of them was with jackie chan and chuck norris...though i can't vouch for his ground game his standup skills were legendary he could fluidly transition from a wing chun chain punch to a boxing straight punch/hook combo to a muay thai elbow and then finish off with a karate sweep.

I don't believe I'm underestimating him at all. I know full well that Bruce Lee cross-trained in a variety of disciplines. In fact I own the Tao of Jeet Kune Do so I know what Bruce knew and taught better than most people. He won an amateur Boxing tournament in Hong Kong. And he had some challenge matches and street fights which I mentioned earlier (not with Jackie Chan or Chuck Norris just some cocky extras on the set). But this fight experience doesn't compare to Cung Le. Think about it. We're talking about a handful of random street fights and even fewer challenge matches against Martial Artists and fighters of unknown skill level against a Kickboxing and Mixed Martial Arts champion. Cung Le has fought some of the best fighters in the world. In Bruce's day the best Martial Artists were mostly doing point-fighting and he didn't fight them so he never fought the best competition available. The fighters Cung fought were actually better than anyone competing when Bruce Lee was alive.

Bruce had talent, no doubt about it. He would have never been discovered if he weren't an exceptional Martial Artist. But the best fighters in the world are professional fighters and Cung Le is near the top. Bruce could probably outstrike some Mixed Martial Artists who have a grappling base but I don't think he could beat Cung Le.

@mysticninjajay: just because he is a actor doesn't mean he is a wimp outside the set and a handful of street fights seriously?bruce has been fighting even before he knew what martial arts was,and yes he did beat jackie chan and chuck norris in a fight backstage and only one guy has beaten him after he learned to fight it was some filipino guy can't remember his name tho..and what point fighting?where in any time period where points ever scored in a street fight.....bruce was way ahead of his time he knew martial arts like taekwondo,wing chun,and karate,etc etc had useless techniques so he stopped sticking to styles and took techniques from different styles and created the concept of "jeet kune do" taking someone like bruce lee lightly is really stupid especially if your reason is because he is an actor...let me ask you this what looks better on screen a one-two combination followed by a takedown or a jumping flying side kick from the roof of a house?.....

I didn't say he was a wimp and I'm not taking him lightly. We're talking about Bruce Lee vs. Cung Le here not whether or not Bruce Lee could fight. I know he could fight. But professional fighting especially modern professional fighting is a whole other level. No, he did not fight Jackie Chan or Chuck Norris in real fights. Jackie Chan was an extra on Enter the Dragon. Bruce accidentally hit him in the nose during one of the scenes where Jackie attacked him and apologized to him. Chuck and Bruce had a fight scene in Way of the Dragon. They used to train together and probably did some light sparring but they never had a real fight. Chuck is actually on record saying they didn't fight (the video is on Youtube) because they didn't want to go there.

I don't know who you are saying Bruce Lee lost to. Bruce had a Filipino student named Dan Inosanto. I haven't heard of Bruce losing any fights after he learned Martial Arts. He was involved in roof top fights and street gang fights as a kid in Hong Kong. But Cung Le himself had several real life fights. In fact his mother put him in Martial Arts because he was getting beaten up by bullies in school many of whom picked on him for being Asian. Once Cung learned Martial Arts he started beating up the bullies. Using common sense it's obvious that Cung Le has fought more fighters and better fighters than Bruce Lee. It's not like Bruce Lee was fighting all the time. Like most people he only had a handful of real fights. Cung on the other hand had over 30 or 40 amateur and professional fights in addition to real life fights.

Now what I was saying about point fighting is that the best Martial Artists in the world during Bruce's time competed mainly in point fighting tournaments. There was no Mixed Martial Arts. Boxing was the only popular combat sport in the world. Kickboxing hadn't become popular yet. Muay Thai was only popular in Thailand and Karate and Tae Kwon Do tournaments had point fighting rules. If you look up Chuck Norris' professional fights they were under point fighting rules. What I'm saying about that is that Bruce Lee didn't fight the best fighters in the world even in his time so while he knew Martial Arts and he was certainly skilled he wasn't testing himself against the best. Cung Le did test himself against the best in many Martial Arts forms including Kickboxing, San Shou and Mixed Martial Arts. This matters when discussing who would win in a fight because as I explained before competing at a high level improves your skills. Cung no doubt was a more accurate and effective striker than Bruce Lee. That's not an insult to Bruce Lee just a recognition that Cung Le sharpened his skills against better competition. Cung had more experience and a significant size advantage.