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So I was perusing magazines at a grocery store and notice Bruce Lee was on the cover of Muscle & Fitness. It occurred to me how mainstream martial arts had become and that Bruce had achieved his goal. The article wasn’t half bad either. It talked about Lee’s training methods and people who were influential in his life. Good stuff.
I know the subject of Bruce Lee gets a lot of mixed answers; most often people bash the guy for being a movie star, but in my mind he’s the greatest martial artist of all time. Notice, I didn’t say he was the greatest fighter of all time. His contribution to the martial arts and is why I make such a bold statement. He brought martial arts to the fore front, whereas before it was barely noticeable in the public eye.
A story comes to mind. Chuck Norris once asked Bruce Lee why he didn’t want to fight professionally, because Bruce seemed an obvious choice for fighting and Norris believed he could have become a world champion. However, Bruce’s goal was to push martial arts into the mainstream and to do this; he needed a platform that could reach the entire world and have real impact. Hence, he chose the silver screen. Consequently, he accomplished this without even being alive through the entire experience.
My point is that had Bruce Lee pursued ring fighting, he would have disappeared like so many other great kick boxers of the 70’s and 80’s. No one would know who Bruce Lee was, nor would they know Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, etc… Because the martial arts industry would have become very stagnant. Perhaps we would still be entranced by the deadly reverse punch.
I know the subject of Bruce Lee gets a lot of mixed answers; most often people bash the guy for being a movie star, but in my mind he’s the greatest martial artist of all time. Notice, I didn’t say he was the greatest fighter of all time. His contribution to the martial arts and is why I make such a bold statement. He brought martial arts to the fore front, whereas before it was barely noticeable in the public eye.
A story comes to mind. Chuck Norris once asked Bruce Lee why he didn’t want to fight professionally, because Bruce seemed an obvious choice for fighting and Norris believed he could have become a world champion. However, Bruce’s goal was to push martial arts into the mainstream and to do this; he needed a platform that could reach the entire world and have real impact. Hence, he chose the silver screen. Consequently, he accomplished this without even being alive through the entire experience.
My point is that had Bruce Lee pursued ring fighting, he would have disappeared like so many other great kick boxers of the 70’s and 80’s. No one would know who Bruce Lee was, nor would they know Chuck Norris, Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, etc… Because the martial arts industry would have become very stagnant. Perhaps we would still be entranced by the deadly reverse punch.
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