Gene Labell is joke, check out the clip!

[TracyKarate]

Oldskulbus you are right. Or maybe you are wrong in some peoples mind. If a martial artrist is older in age, or his style is not the Brazillian brand of jujutsu then they are labled as joke. This is simply short mindedness and not typical of a true martial artist.

[andreh anderson]

Bull.

I knew about Gene LeBell and his grappling way before the UFC and BJJ explosion. Back in 1989, I searched the campus of UCLA looking for Gene because I heard he taught there. I had been in the martial arts since childhood, and everyone who knew anything about fighting talked about this bad, bad man named Gene LeBell.

Ive been on the mat with Gene. Dont let the "show" moves fool you...he is awesome. Anyone who saw his fight with Milo Savage knows that when the fight is on, Gene uses the quick and practical stuff that we've seen in just about every NHB event. Only difference is that Gene was doing it 30 years before we were.

I train in BJJ. I love it. But Gene is the real deal and deserves his due respect.

[Zeke]

I don't know how impressive the victory over Milo Savage was. At boxing records online, Savage's pro boxing record is 1-5-1. I don't know if this is Savage's entire record, but he obviously was not a top contender in boxing. This fight has become legendary over the years, but probably was not that big a deal when it happened. Labell is probably a good grappler, but beating Savage may not be a legendary accomplishment. In addition when the Labell - Savage fight took place(early 60s), Savage was either retired from boxing or very near it. The boxing record page shows his last fight being in April, 1960.

[andreh anderson]

Zeke,

My point if referring to the Savage fight is to show that LeBell was doing this stuff well before the US had ever heard of the Gracies. If youve seen the fight, he takes Savage down, mounts him and chokes him out. It looks alot like the Gracie in action originals, not like pro-wrestling. I was hoping that people would see that there are two sides to LeBell. One is the showman, the other is the fighter.

[McLeod]

You know who else sucks? That Ali guy... you see him? They all say he's the greatest, but he just sits there now and can't move..hardly talks.. what a joke. And they say he can punch?

Yeah.

If you've ever trained with Gene ( and it seems we have to post this every week or two. This type of post is becoming as popular as "did sperry tap against Igor?" ) then you'd know he is a GREAT guy with a tremendous sense of humor. He is extravagent and is very "hollywood" in his approach, but so what? He knows his stuff and regardless of what you might think of a few picture or a video, gene is a legend and for good reason. Looking at that magazine, you'd think Harut is a young, skinny kid as well, not some 210 pound monster that can destroy Travis Fulton in a minute and roll with JJ machado without getting anywhere near tapped. Don't make idiotic judgements off of a magazine.

[SweepEm]

Andreh:
Can you make a moron smart?

Maybe........but why try,
a waste of energy.

Some here are just mindless idiots that have nothing else to do but look at the world pessimistically and always try to find fault.
the half empty glass.......

Remember a while back, lots of dudes were saying critical things about Bas (when he was fighting) and so Bas heard of it, comes here and posts some of his thoughts, and they all kiss his a s s.

I am sure that if these critics met Sensei Gene and he showed them a few of his simple moves on them, they would be crying like the babies they are.

[Americana]

If a tree fell in the forrest and know one heard, did the tree fall? Royce and bjj was a tree(s) people saw and heard fall. Whether Farmer Burns, Crotch, Tinker Bell, or their many ants and uncles knew submissions of some sort back in the 50's is metphysical speculation of no relevance and even less interest to anyone.

The only reason we even hear about these clowns is that they're participating in the greatest American sport of all time: capitalism. You see bjj and think wow I want to learn this. Furey, Labell and their ilk see $$ and say wait, come to me, we've been doing this stuff American style for decades. Let us show you some grainly old photos of pro-wrestlers doing the mount position. Its the same crap as the spankration idiots who look at pictures on 1000 year old olive oil vases and decide they've rediscovered greek pankration. Guess what? They'll sell it to you.

A fool and his money are soon parted.

[Ryu (non-working password]

Royce Gracie to all the other grapplers out there:

"If this is anyone else besides Masahiko Kimura, you're stealing my bit!"

[Mr. Miyagi]

Good post Americana!!!!