Karate Teacher Breaks Down Bruce Lee's ONLY Fight
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- Опубликовано: 8 авг 2021
- Bruce Lee was an awesome Martial Arts Actor.. but was he a fighter? We found Bruce Lee's only fight footage. We break down some of the key details that are what lead to my conclusions on Bruce Lee's true fighting capability. Stuff aside from his flying side kicks, one inch punch, pendulum step kicks, or crazy kickery.
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Karate, Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Kung Fu, MMA, UFC, Sensei Seth, Kata, Kumite, Sparring, Fight, Boxing, Kick, Side Kick, Yoko Geri, Roundhouse Kick, Spinning Wheel Kick, Tricking, Bottlecap Challenge 
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Maybe this was a “demo” instead of a spar.. but with the importance and weight that so many people give it for his “fighting ability” I analyzed it as such. 👍
Probably more of a demo-spar. Considering you just did a video on fencing its surprising you don’t see the obvious influence in fencing on bruce lees JKD. About a third if his Tao is lifted from Crosniers and Castello fencing books. For my part is a cross between Fencing/boxing (he was big on jack demsey)and Savate style kicking (though its a total mystery where his kicking cones from) oh and the ‘weird funky’. Displacement that made you go ahhhh . That in fencing is inquartata. It would be interesting to see hiw much fencing he did with his brother Peter Lee who was Colonial master at arms champion and represented Hong Kong at the commonweath games in 1958.
Damn you Sensei Seth! No matter if your words speak truth!!!
Bruce Lee has influenced and had a bigger impact than any other martial artist ever.
Including all the RUclipsrs to ever grace a mobile phone screen.
@@sluggensluggen5075 of course he has, thats not whats up for debate, whats up for debate is why a man with no fight record of any kind is called the greatest fighter to ever live.
@@Waywardfolk Just yanking on Seth's belt! He's a big boy! In big boy pyjamas!
Great that even after his death Bruce Lee generates so much interest.
I appreciate the work many of the RUclips martial artists produce.
I hope in 50 years, if not already. They'll be questioning the abilities of these guys.
Who's a better fighter, Ramsey Dewey, icy Mike, or Master Wong??!!? Not to forget Logan Paul oh and Sensie Seth.🤣
that turn with the head in the older times they turned there whole shoulder into the puch for abit of extra range but yeh you kinda lose sight for a small enough margin to get hit my old yoshinryu sensei used it aswell 10 years ago orso
"Good technique on the technique." Wow man you should do this for a living.
There is a lot of bro love in that comment...
This seems like what I would say to my friends when they forget how to talk
There was a space you didn’t add
Talk like that is how you can tell they are very good friends off camera
I think he does icy Mike
If you read his biography, you'll understand more. This is 1964. Bruce was 24 years old. For most of his adult life up to that point, he was going to college and support himself working at a restaurant. He did martial arts on his free time. He was also starting a family.
By this time, he has only formally studied wing chun (Ip Man), western boxing (Brother Edward), Judo (Fred Sato), and Jiu Jitsu (Wally Jay). He learned informally from other people as well such as boxer James Demille, Judo from Jesse Glover and Taky Kimura, and Taekwondo from Jhoon Rhee.
When he moved to LA is when he met Dan Inosanto (who taught him escrima and nunchucks), Gene Labell (who taught him submissions), Chuck Norris, and many more. This is when he really started sparring more often as Bruce and Dan created more training strategies to develop their techniques.
He didn't spar a lot, but there really wasn't many people to spar with before moving to LA.
I agree. Many of his talented peers, including two time World Champion, Jim Kelly, have stated that , during sparring, Bruce Lee was untouchable. Yes, this was a younger Bruce in this video. By 1970, he was peaking. Check it Out! Ciao!!l
Thanks for your comment.
I fucking hate RUclips.
@@renaissanceman165 Where can I check it out?
Well said! Bruce going into his late 20s and early 30s, he realized that he needed to develop a fighting style that incorporate the best techniques from other styles while throwing away the useless ones. Thus Jeet Kune Do was born and he rarely used Wing Chun. We can see his Jeet Kune Do in two of his movies which are "Enter the Dragon" and "Game of Death".
Watching this vid let me realize even after 50 years a lot of people still don’t understand Bruce Lee and what he was doing
Too many dumb people, creating “breakdown” videos like this one.
Explain.
@@jeroenherlaar8308 ruclips.net/video/y2jPt7cVOx0/видео.html
Yea , good fighters will notice a lot of stuff , but to really understand why is a different matter. For this reason I think if Bruce is in his 30s today , people will underestimate him so much and will get smashed.
@@Llucius1 He's beyond imagination. I've seen a lot of MMA fights and sparring of different martial arts styles. He's just not hitting his opponent and that's it. The way he lands and throws those wing chun punches and kicks with a short distance. He's just awesome in his era 😍😍
I remember Dan’s recollection of this demonstration. Bruce asked Dan to be his demo partner at this event. Dan said I’m not ready , haven’t had time to prepare. Bruce responded, don’t worry, just give it to me and I will respond , or something along those lines . Dan was nervous , but Bruce took it in his stride. It wasn’t a ‘fight’ it was a demo. Bruce was trying to sell his style and philosophy to the public. Was he successful? Well history speaks for itself…
I think it’d this were a competitive fight against someone Bruce didn’t know … the whole dynamic would have changed .
Most likely
If it was a real martial art he wouldn't have to do that
@@chozendisciple you know all martial arts have had demonstrations so the public would know. This is 1960s the west has no idea what martial art were. There are sambo,judo,BJJ demos. I win
In an interview, Dan said that they practiced a little for the demo, but his instructions from Bruce wasn to attack and Bruce would counter.
So I study Jeet Kune Do under the Inosanto Lineage and the reason for his favoring of the lead hand is intentional. At the point of time this sparring footage was recorded Bruce was still in an Early version of his development of Jeet Kune Do, where Bruce had an emphasis on striking with the dominate hand in the lead position for more power and the rear hand to perry and grab as you said. What's not known is that as Bruce kept evolving his Jeet Kune Do the next few years he grew into more of what was described to me as "Dirty Muay Thai with an emphasis on the lead leg"
Bruce loved the lead hand, even in his later years, but it's also because he had crazy power and snap in his lead, something that most of his students didn't have. Inosanto mentioned this, and how he got dropped on his ass by Bruce's lead hand on multiple occasions.
Joe Lewis also mentioned on more than one occasion that Bruce "hit like a heavyweight."
@@AztecUnshaven that crazy power came from using that more lead punch and kick from his practice of what we’re seeing now with the linear attacking
@@AztecUnshaven So he pretty much had an amazing Jab
@@MW-dd8vk yes and no. Bruce's lead hand was his power hand, and basically snapped that punch with jab-like speed, but with the power of a cross/straight.
@@AztecUnshaven After working out with Lee, Lewis changed his point sparring to where he used that lead hand back knuckle as much as his side kick. Also Lee used weapon first technique to add more surprise and power which Lewis added.
One thing that might explain Bruce letting his opponents get so close is his Wing Chun background. The techniques for long range punching in Wing Chun aren't taught until you are very advanced Black Belt, a rank Bruce never attained. So his natural instinct would be to get in extremely close for punches. Bruce Lee once described Wing Chun as two guys fighting in a phone booth and that was the initial foundation art for JKD.
Lol! this comment show how ignorant you are about chinese martial arts during that day. Do more research.
@@roygboy77 oh look! My first RUclips troll! Never had a RUclips troll before. 🤔 You know you have arrived when the trolls start spouting off with things like "educate yourself" or "do some research" without having the foggiest idea who they're talking or what they're background might be. I now feel vindicated! I have arrived now!
@@joshuahogan3475 omg dude like... You destroyed him, deleted him from his phisical form, turned him into his Astral form and destroyed him again XD
I’d disagree and say it was the foundation for “Jun Fan Gung Fu”. The JKD foundation would be fencing. Nontheless you’re not wrong. haha
One thing that may explain it too is that people have no fucking clue how to really fight and thus, wing chun actually looks viable to them. There's a reason why you don't see any Kung Fu masters in the UFC and it's because the techniques prevent legitimate defenses to be put forward for reasonably flashy and weak strikes.
This is founded upon the concept that all is required is the first hit. Which is absolute bullshit, especially when talking about the rather weak strikes that Kung Fu employs.
Great analysis. I agree that this isn't too telling of Bruce's ability to fight. Bruce's style evolved very rapidly, much like his philosophy being like water. At this event in 1964, you can still see his rigidity due to his Wing Chun background and very little boxing experience. He has also yet to incorporate wrestling into JKD, which he started studying in the late 60s. By the 70s, Bruce Lee was a completely different fighter from his younger self.
Thanks for the laugh, hahahaha
Very true. He also learned a ton training with Chuck Norris and Joe Lewis, which I believe didn't occur until two years or so after this event? That's when he went full bore with contact sparring, so that's probabnly why Seth makes an astute observation that Bruce probably didn't spar as much as before the event.
@@marlon-jl4ge It's true stupid. Before he died he was working with Larry Hartsell on adding jujitsu to his regimen.
@@marlon-jl4ge So your thanking and laughing at a truth. Pretty stupid.
True and that would make a lot of sense. Why else would he have felt WingChun needed work and started with creating JKD which includes boxing!?
I trained under a student of Dan. We obviously don’t know what Bruce would have become but Dan is definitely a legitimate badass. BJJ black belt and certified instructor for shoot wrestling and Muay Thai. Even people that don’t think much of Karate or JKD or Filipino martial arts definitely recognize those are no joke credentials. Of course his history with Bruce and Ed Parker and FMA are all interesting too. Oh and he was a paratrooper in the 101st.
Bruce Lee did train with Gene Lebelle for about a year and a half. His 1st student in Seattle Jesse Glover was also a judo black belt.
He had a grappling game but also understood weaponry and was a gang kid on the streets of Hong-Kong.
If you're dealing with multiple opponents and/or people with knives going down to the ground to try and pull off some fancy submission technique is the kiss of death. It's a shame more so called martial artists don't understand this.
Would you agree that there's a difference between the ability to demonstrate well rehearsed skills and unrestrained empty hand fighting. Inosanto is not a battle tested fighter, that's just a fact...
Had one in Okinawa in 78..., We used to spar a Lot on the sand...., I was Marine Infantry..., one thing he kept saying is that he would teach me the basics and I could refine it into my own fighting style..., based on my build...., He said it was one thing Bruce stressed Always form your style to you...., so it could be fluid in a real self defense situation..., Also in the 70's and I believe sometime before this he said kicking above the waist was a waste of energy..., legs from the hips down and hands from the hips up..., every block should have a Counter punch or Kick....,
Mike Roth was 1st generation students of Dan and according to Mike Roth , Dan told his students he saw Bruce knocked out Chuck Norris.
Why you then don’t defend Bruce Lee, was Dans best friend.
To be honest, I believe this video is from a period in time when Bruce still used Wing Chun as the core of his style. As time went on, I’ve read, he dropped more and more Wing Chun from his style and adopted more from Western boxing and fencing. A lot of the footwork, or lack there of, is definitely something you see in Wing Chun guys. Unfortunately, we don’t have the proper “evidence”. It’s a tired argument, but having said that, GREAT STUFF, SETH!!
Thanks Joseph! And that’s pretty cool info
People say anything about everything Bruce Lee, because he’s such an enigma. I’ve seen enough this wing chun practitioner called Adam Chan, has a youtube channel, that I think what you’ve heard is just non-kung fu enthusiast BL fans finding the perfect apology from their point of view. In their point of view it feels like the less Wing Chun they can prove is in JKD the better they’re defending their idol.
Wing Chun has foot work if you do it right, but it isn’t what Bruce chooses for JKD in the end. I’ve read the words of a former Triad member turned movie star taking about their experience of Bruce mixing in their circle. They had stupid high praise for Bruce’s abilities that were also “very unlike our traditional fanciful kung fu!” (I guess he means Wushu).
So, eh, Wing Chun is not what people think it is, sure Bruce Lee did drop more and more of it, but Wing Chun practitioners don’t have to take his path, Bruce’s style is just for Bruce, and there is some stuff out there BL stans can talk about to defend his honor, stuff that shows BL is better than Martial arts Modernists would think, they dont have to pull him away from Wing Chun. IMO.
Nah there's foot work in Wing Chun, just like other arts.. Honestly at this point in time it just looked like he was still working stuff out with his students/training partners.
@@SenseiSeth And Bruce trained in many arts Tai Chi,Wing Chun,Judo,Jujitsu,Filipino arts,Boxing and more one of the grappling teachers he had was Judo Gene Lebell another one is Wally Jay who created small circle Jujitsu there both on RUclips he trained with all of his students that knew different arts like Chuck Norris,Dan Inosanto,Larry Hartsell,Joe Lewis and more.
@@SenseiSeth Another guy Bruce trained with Is Grandmaster John Rhee all of these guys are on RUclips.
For a traditional martial art in the 70s, I think this is probably more sparring than most people did
Yup bc before that era they could assume you “sparred” in your daily life. Then all of a sudden people stopped brawling
Its 1964
Umm, they used to really go at it, no real pads and just beat the crap out each other. Watch some old school karate from the 60s and 70s. They would straight brawl. So yeah, a lot less sparring and a lot more fighting, lol.
@@wesleyviers1550 in the very early 80s point karate was the thing in those days, more tag then fighting . Professional and karate association or PKA was founded in 1974 but full contact bouts most likely didn't start for a few YRS. IT was like boxing but with kicks. And back fist. No knee shots, or groin shots were allowed BJJ sprang from shoot fighting and Japanese judo floor tech. Modified of course. Full contact karate was around since the early 60s and ver much bare knuckle
Not really. I took karate in the 70's, and many times they would turn into bloody fights. We didn't have to worry about getting sued as much. Later, it was stupid. Everyone was afraid to move because they didn't want to be sued. Behind the scene, sparring was much more brutal, but on camera is was watered down.
In Chinese martial art we often practice"点到为止“which mean stop the offensive mode when you landed a hit on opponents fatal points" because this was meant to be sparing not competing or fighting. Bruce Lee want to show his technique, not how good he is. He can connect the combo instead of waiting, but the sparing section will ended in like 5 or 10 seconds. His main goal is to show his style and technique to the audience, not how fast he can beat someone up. He doesn't need to beat someone up just to show how good he is.
You trying too hard to defend he wasn't that good
@@chozendisciple the comment's point was that bruce wasn't trying to show how good he was in this footage, it was about technique demonstration- did you even read it?
@@moodtheva that guy is just racist, just ignore
I just watched this for the first time. You did a great job in your analysis and you are not biased at all. That is very rare in these types of videos. I have only two things to point out just from studying Bruce Lee's history. A lot of his footwork came from fencing he thought it was a quicker way of engaging an opponent . And one thing I don't think you mentioned. Was that his sparring partner was students. He had probably sparred with them a lot. So they were both probably looking for certain techniques. You did a great job thank you.
Oooo… Seth, you’re about to get excommunicated from the church of Jeet Kune Do!
Lel
Go a step further, and do a "what Bruce Lee had wrong about real life fighting"
Not even a golden belt could buy him his safety!
You really like this joke huh? 😂
I like how Ramsey goes around to every RUclips video talking about Bruce Lee and commented the same thing.
This video now makes so much more sense knowing that’s Lee’s student. Every time I spar with my sensei. Our fights are more about me recognizing the situation and I think a lot of Lee’s pauses are “wait for eye contact… ok. He knows that was dumb.”
A knowing smile crossed his face. "Hehe bingo"
I guess what we have to remember, is that there is a massive difference from 1964-65 Bruce Lee(from this footage), to a 1971-73 Bruce Lee, when he would have been at His most developed. It's just a shame that we don't have any sparring footage from the last few years of His life? However, this footage is probably the best example of any martial art sparring of that time? The man was clearly very talented and way ahead of his time and peers. He died far too early when He had so much more to achieve with the Art's and for Humanity. 🐲
Man, what I would pay to see him sparring with Chuck Norris and Joe Lewis. Now THAT footage would be golden!
He was on meth, in the end
@@_munkykok_ druggies don't win fights
The people who are analyzing Bruce these days would not last more than a minute in a fight with him
Right and dude doing this video thinks bruce lee expose kill his students people a dam shame!!
The stopping is very common in sparring demos in like kempo demos. It's because it creates the illusion of a finish.
Indeed.
Correct. There is no finishing in these demos.
Word. And it would make sense if it was an 'ippon', but it's small check hits. These aren't knockout strikes. IRL the fight would likely carry on.
@@sihingpatrickquain6124 Exactly.
@@DirkKingstonActor Yeah. Not tryin' to hurt the Young Sparring partner.
People spar differently depending on who they’re sparring and why. My teacher knew what I was capable of and he would do things that he wouldn’t do if he were actually trying to win. He was super fast and sometimes he would leave his face exposed knowing that he could move his head faster than I could hit it. But I kept getting faster and, one day, I hit him in the face. He laughed and said, I knew that day would come but I didn’t think it would be today. By analogy, I used to play pool with my best friend. I was much better than he was but it was no fun for him if I just crushed him in every game so I let the games be close. I could afford to be careless because I knew that he couldn’t beat me.
I like your analogy. :) Thanks for sharing the experience
Good teacher!
You sound like you’re a badass
I do the same thing with my kids playing chess.
If it isn't fun they loose interest.
Oh man, your first point about his back foot solved an issue I've been having with roundhouse kicks since I recently started back at Karate since an 18 year hiatus. They always felt wrong despite me getting all my other kicks comfortable, twisting that back foot to open up the hips solved everything.
Turning the support foot for ALL kicks out to the side does three things: A) opens the hips when higher kicks are done B) allows a bit more reach and, therefore, more penetration C) helps prevent tearing the ACL during the kick (runners tear the ACL because coaches and athletes do not know proper turning and stopping mechanics).
Bruh. U really gonna teach Bruce Lee How to fight?
He doesn’t throw ridge hands, they’re called stop-hit interceptions (lead straights). The idea is to make your opponent move to you, then you fire out a non-telegraphic lead. As he runs into your punch, his own momentum knocks him out. This can be compared to running head first into a brick wall (your momentum does the damage). Also, you mention him not bouncing around much. That’s because remaining quite still and poised helps to improve perception speed and reaction time. The more you are moving, the more overwhelmed your neurological and nervous system become. Finally, Lee preferred single lead counter attacks with stop hits or stop kicks. The lead is closest to target. So, when you see him hit his opponent once, and his opponent goes reeling backward, it was for Lee to create safe distance. This distance would again be crucial for opponent to rush forward (generate momentum) and run into another stop hit / kick. P.S. I would like to add: Lee believed in attacking primary targets, but this was just to demonstrate his interceptions during sparring
Good breakdown.
This is a sparring called Santa/Sanda specifically for wu-shu training. It involves light to medium contact that's why they have protection. Keep in mind that this is a late 60's film. It was revolutionary back then. Bruce technique evolved in the next years. Now after 50years with a lot of development in the martial arts field is unfair to look down on this film. But nevertheless there are some moves here which will surprise even a MMA well trained fighter today. Imagine what inovations Bruce would have made. He was 20yrs ahead of his time.
I agree, my old Budokan instructor 7th Dan used to always say to watch masters and grandmasters, they're NOT moving a lot, (this even applies to masters of taekwondo i.e (Taekwondo master Jhoon Goo Rhee who trained with Bruce) muai Thai masters and especially Shaolin monks (p.s, you should watch some MMA students that visit the Shaolin monks how they get Destroyed by the Shaolin teqniques) they wait for you to make your move BEFORE they counter with perfect timing,and for anyone to "Question" Bruce Lee just shows me how truly Rookie they are, Jim Kelly, Chuck Norris,Joe Lewis (the father of full contact heavyweight kickboxing) ALL said Bruce was a level above anyone else
Ty
@@JamesJames-jt3ts Yes, it’s all very interesting. Danny Inosanto said that Lee loved the jab in western boxing because it was non-telegraphic and could easily score. Yet, he noted that boxers used the weakest hand to use the jab, so he reversed things, and used the strongest hand to jab, believing it’s power could be maximised. And the weaker hand (usually the left) would become the rear so it could generate better power. The jab soon turned into the JKD straight lead, where Bruce would put his body behind it for even more power. And as I mentioned in original post, when the straight lead was used against an opponent rushing forward, it became even more powerful because his momentum would cause him to collide with the blow, which is comparable to running head first into a brick wall or perhaps an oncoming car.
8:41 when bruce throws the lead hook right after the lead roundhouse kick, while his foot was still off the ground is an extremely effective combo. Regardless of whether it feels weird or not Seth.
Watch David Laduc the lethwei king. I think he has gotten most of his knock outs with that specific combo. In fact, he will throw the lead roundhouse to the body and throw the lead hook while his leg is still in the air, and it is extremely effective.
Exactly. Dave also has a Kungfu background by the way.
7:53 Bruce threw a straight, then a roundhouse to the body, and finished with a hook, right?
Dave's instructor is a JKD practitioner
Doesn’t look like this though
@@SenseiSeth the amount of power lost in that flurry matters less barefisted BTW details details
I think a lot of the pauses by Bruce and where he ended the sparring instead of keeping going is because the opponent is only his student, who Bruce knows very well where his ability lies, so he didn't need to keep going at it after already gaining the obvious upper hand in a round of sparring.
yeah I can't really make any judgements on an educational sparring session lol a lot of the punches were pulled and it seemed like bruce caught a lot of his student's openings.
The best way would be if he got into a ring where his life is nearly in danger.
Agree with your insight. It’s a bit stop and start for that very reason. This is just shown what to do if this or that happens, if you kick me I do this, or I miss I do that etc. it’s just a bit a fun really between his student and him.
That's a bad habit to build regardless you train how you fight if he does that in a sparring match he'll do in a real fight and it's unnecessary because they already got gear on and whether you pull your punches or not the technique would still remain the same
@@chozendisciple who cares. All these armchair RUclips experts 50 years later judging the most renowned martial artist’s of the last century’s abilities based on sparring a student is ridiculous and funny at the same time. If it was real there would be no back and forth. Most of Bruce’s fights were over in seconds. Not bouncing around trying to tag each other like some combat sport. This is not representative of Bruce’s ability or how he would approach a real self defence/fight situation. He sparred all the time with anyone of any size from any background. If you can’t defend yourself from a bigger person you are wasting your time.
If you really want to know more pick up wrath of the dragon: the real fights of Bruce Lee by John Little.
I think people forget how many years ago it was and how much progress mixed martial arts have made. Maybe they compare it with today's fighters and of course they may see certain disadvantages and flaws. But man, he was the first to pioneer MMA. If he was around today, with all the tools available in gyms today, I'm pretty sure he would be at the top of the game.
There's zero reason to believe he would be at the top of the game. He was a movie star who never tested himself in actual fights. He would get wrecked in the UFC.
Bruce Lee was NOT "the first to pioneer MMA." They were holding Luta Livre matches in Brazil before Bruce was born.
@@user-il9ze9py8c There's all the reasons as he was one of the most talented martial artists in history and extremely hard working and determined as well and also developed his style constantly and tried to pick up all the best things from various martial arts, plus he was also phenominally fast as well. And he was a martial artist first who also became a movie star.
@@-Mohog Yes, that's all true, but all that stuff he was talking about was still totally untested by him. He was a great martial artist, but not a great fighter, because he never fought. Maybe he was the best fighter of all time, but there's no way of knowing because he never actually fought other people in actual tournaments.
@@user-il9ze9py8cbut all the greatest fighter at that time respected him.. Chuck Norris’s, Jack Dempsey, ect..
Bruce got that footwork from learning how to fence with his brother and he fights with his strong hand forward as if it’s the sword. Benny the Jet learned to fight like this too and did pretty well with it.
Benny's speed is of the one in a million, and even in his old age I've seen some of it still almost as good as in his Youth and much better than many in their youth. Just dangerous, not only because speed but because what he can do with, he has a wicked mind and range of to as where to hit... and his size helps him if coming closer. Then the kind of things you hear from Master Urqudez that blow your mind, from a guy who isn't in any way just speaking of theories but real practice experience acquired the hardest and most painful way, on what works with the worse animals in MA out there, over decades. Just dangerous stuff. You realize you are listening to a Lethal Weapon charged like mine-field not to step any near. I love that guy and the way he teaches, however many cozy chumps may not like him being true and frank. He's no BS
benny the jet was in the audience at the age of 12-16 i believe.
I recognised the fencing stance straight away.
Strong arm forward could get you some points in point based styles and would get you killed in real fights.
Was this a demonstration? It might explain why there's pauses in the sparring. Also I'm seeing some fencing principles in this e.g. lead hand in front, lead hand strikes, somewhat linear footwork etc.
Bruce Lee was an enormous fan of fencing and its footwork, he makes specific references to it in his book.
I've heard it was a demonstration that he kind of crashed. He wanted to teach the guys in the video, and the guys he is sparring didn't want to be taught so much as see what the heck he was talking about with his newly developing style.
It was a demo with his student(s). Not real fights obviously, hence the headgear, vest and everything else they are wearing.
@@Silver_Creek_Aquatics You heard wrong. This was Bruce & his students, Dan Inosanto & James Y Lee demonstrating at Ed Parker's Long Beach Internationals in 1967. Bruce had previously done a demo at the Internationals in 1964 with another student, Taky Kimura, this was after the Green Hornet TV show had come out, Bruce had a little notoriety, & he came back to do another demo for his friend, Ed Parker. "He wanted to teach the guys ...", dude, they had both already been his students (& instructors at his schools in L.A. & Oakland, respectively) for years, at this point ...
@@BRUCEJJ66 right know! Thank you for the history refresher. Glad to square that idea up.
The centerline Mr. Lee carries is absolutely amazing. His pause instead of attacking shows the upper hand. The ability to not give away gestures of moves use any unnecessary energy is nice.
If one can't read these sign. You need a lot more advice than you'll get from a video.
Very well said
As far as I’m aware this isn’t a usual sparring match, it was a demonstration on interception (I believe Octavio Quintero did a breakdown of the demo, stating this), which is why he doesn’t initiate any attacks, shows no follow up attacks; combinations, rear crosses, etc.. and why he pauses after a hit in order to emphasise each individual win over the opponent’s attacks.
I like this breakdown. Something you had mentioned that is a HUGE pet peeve of mine is learning to acknowledge when a big shot would have occurred at full power. I'll spar people smaller than me, and I'll pull a shot that may have caused serious damage. They will then use that opportunity to throw some hard counters after I pulled my punch. That pisses me off so bad. Part of sparring is realizing when you lost an exchange and being gracious enough to reset (not fully, but move back and acknowledge the shot). Kinda like in MMA, Muay Thai, etc when you see them high five after a good shot lands.
That may have been part of Bruce Lee stopping and planting after that exchange. Maybe they both realized that Lee won that exchange and didn't want to just flail around like a couple of newbs? Just a thought. Also, just wanted to get that off my chest haha
As a teacher I have to remind the younger students when they get sidekicked. "Hey. They didn't hit you that hard. Don't just assume you can take the shot and push in. Otherwise I will let them hit harder."
@@MasterDoctorBenji exactly
You see this type of sparring leads to a big problem - fighters seem to take turns throwing. I prefer a little more contact and having folks stay in the pocket throwing combinations. In boxing people get hit - if you are in hand range and are a better striker stay there and throw. If you have better kicks - then yes stay back and time them.
Dude same, i usually spar with blokes that i have 20-30kg on. Whenever i place my side kick on their ribs, they assume its weak, not that i pulled it. And they catch my leg, or try to capitulize on it. After i explain and they still do it... well, its time for bruised ribs or change of partner.
ALTOUGH its good to have the experience of what happens when you miss etc. (pulled the punch/kick)
Learnd a bunch of takedown defense and weak spots of TKD that way.
I faced this case, but when they tried that hard counter, I stay chill and next time I am in that situation I touch them hard, and so, a 3rd time they won't try to hard counter anymore, they realize they'll get hurt if they do it. I don't get flustered cuz I know they're new and unexperienced and that's why they go berzerkish. Also something I used to do is when they flurry I just drop lower on guard and push them hard back, and make a sign to protect themselves
This reminds me of point sparring back in the day. You fight until there's a clean scoring hit, and then you reset. The challenge as an instructor is to make sure everyone is still 'on' and protecting themselves during that reset moment. It teaches you to get that first hit, which is good, but it can also teach you to relax after that, which is really bad.
It looked like he is very used to holding back. So it seems entirely mentality at that time. Because a solid Bruce Lee kick to the head is knocking out anyone
Nice break down of this video. I've read a little about Bruce's "pop-up" stance as part of how he generated hitting force, as opposed to rotating his hips like a boxer would. This was supposedly part of how he generated force for his 1" or 6" punches, a quick lifting from the lower stance that connects the ground force to his shoulder out to his fist. Is it possible that's part of the odd upright stance you kept seeing this match? Also wondering where this match fits in along the Bruce Lee timeline, is he being evaluated here against the myth of Bruce that developed later as his skills and abilities continued to develop?
This is in the early 60's I believe, so he's still predominantly trained in wing chun. So mostly very close range fighting.
This was definitely a demo. There were many demos at that event involving different people. BL did spar for real according to multiple martial artists and according to them he was good at sparring.
Yet not a single video.
@@trestres236 So if there are no videos of something you ignore it?
@@dannygjk No footage of Bruce Lee real sparring, I find that suspicious. Like evidence of Bruce's true fighting ability/prowess is being hidden. Maybe he wasn't as God-like like most people's stories say he is. I read somewhere (I can't remember where. In a Bruce Lee biography most likely. I was obsess with Bruce Lee as a kid and read everything that included his name) that a real fight with an extra was captured on film on the set of Enter the Dragon. Bruce Lee destroyed the film apparently, according to this book. Seems as if his God-like image is being protected. Do you know what I mean. That's why my obsession and worship of Bruce Lee ended and I question everything.
@@trestres236 Skepticism is one thing but throwing out what respected martial artists said is another. Do you know Joe Lewis?
@@dannygjk Speaking highly of the dead is common courtesy.
Bruce Lee talked about why his stance was a little funky. He had one leg an inch and a half shorter than the other. It influenced his stance and style kicking.
Actually, the stance looks like a fencing stance.
Wait...what? Is it real?
@@user-id9ei7zd8g no it not, the stance he made is a fencing stance he learn it from his brother you can read Bruce lee Bio if you wish
@@allenvoltage7445 huh what horse stance? or the arched stance is pretty typical of karate etc.
@@gorkskoal9315 horse what are you talking about Bruce Lee use a fencing stance mostly cause of his brother
I'm no fighting expert in any capacity but it looked to me like his first kick was deliberate in not being powerful and the point was to spin the opponent, not to capitalise on the disorientation but simply to destroy the confidence of the opponent who would be fully aware that Bruce could've used that opportunity to punish him bad, what do you guys think?
this was a while ago, but yeah I think partially because this is more than just sparring this is also an exhibition match were you demonstrate a bunch of different stuff for the cameras. So your not gonna try to aim for a one sided beat down even if you could
Not an expert here, don't know how good of a fighter he really was, but he makes it look really cool. The minimal movement, not backing down, it's just so interesting to watch.
Yeah he was fast and could probably win in some point based styles. He never fought against anyone though, i think he wouldn't have a chance against muay thai, boxers or vale tudo fighters of his time.
He never trained against real opponents.
@@antwnhs213 he wasn't one to brag about his ability to fight either, i've seen an interview where he straight out said a professional boxer would destroy him and it wouldn't even be close.
@@windhelmguard5295I believe Bruce was talking about losing to a boxer if they had to follow boxing rules. And of course, anyone can get knocked out if hit in the right spot. If Bruce and the boxer were in a street fight he could employ all techniques.
@@antwnhs213 Don't forget there's no lack of heavy weight boxers among his students.
This took place 1967 at the Long Beach Tournament as a demo. At this time in his rather short life he was doing what was called Jun Fan Gung Fu which was basically Wing Chun adapted with other elements to be more realistic for fighting. Ultimately his style changed greatly with stance and footwork in the last 4 years of his life when he developed Jeet Kune Do and kind of abandoned Jun Fan Gung Fu. Both styles are still taught today. Taky Kimura’s students use this style.
Then he abandoned Jeet Kun Do
For the Way of no Way. Right?
@@Nastyn1nja808 yeah he also abandoned JKD at the very end but he allowed his top students to teach it how they saw fit. It can be pretty confusing to most people because there are so many variations
If you like how I teach, you should check out some of my online courses!
senseiseth.com
Watching this for the first time - I see why Bruce isn't moving much - the floor is polished concrete. Dan is slipping all over the place - so Bruce is just planting and trusting his defense to win the flurries.
3:08 He being defensively responsible after attacking by controlling his opponent by posting with his right hand.
4:38 he was feinting to keep his opponent off balnce as part of an active guard.
Lee`s Jeet kune do theory was to use the lead leg and hand, his sparring partner were learning Lee`s jeet kune do.
That was great thanks.
What is the context of the clip? Where are they at? What where they there to do?
If you had a student who was having the same bad habits that Bruce has in this sparring video, how long do you think it would take to fix them? Do you think if you trained with him for say a few days or a week, it would transform his fighting ability considerably given his experience level and physique?
One thing impressive about him is his speed when he throws kicks and punches, and also how he always keeps his balance so well
That last kick to the head after drawing his student in was fast af
Anyone can do that.
@@pichupuche2474 of course anyone could do that. What he means is how clean he does it compared to others.
Power matters also and frankly, Bruce Lee had zero
I’ve always believed a person like Bruce Lee would be destroyed by a top level boxer. Fists are the fastest weapon available to a human, so ya. Bruce was a fantastic performer, but never proved himself to be a real fighter. 🤷🏼♂️ sorry to poke holes in the legend.
Bruce was demoing full contact sparring at that event. He also did demo of wing chun blindfolded. He was not fighting an opponent here and was just showing how important contact sparring was. Bruce punches were actually very hard and fast. He was also very fast in his movements which is why he needed to slow things down so movement won't look too jerky on camera. You can see this with the deleted footage of game of death fight scene with kareem. I believe he was just play sparring with Dan for demo purposes here and also to show no wasted movements. But alot of good stuff here
Show me a video of him actually fighting someone, with contact......not an "exhibition" like this, some actual fighting against someone trying to beat him???.........I'll wait.
Bruce was amazing for MA, but an amazing fighter.........nope!
@@BackStreetKarate He grew up as a street fighter, but no iPhones back then so you're out of luck.
Spot on agree! Regarding this well known event; it was a demonstration of JKD "sparring". There's a distinct difference between a demo of sparring techniques and actual sparring for points.
If one could talk to anyone there (numerous quotes in books/periodicals by attendees) from anyone who actually sparred with Bruce such as the late great Joe Lewis or Chuck Norris, respectively, then one would see how thinly veiled bias by this youtube author really has no grounds for critiquing Bruce Lee fairly, solely because this event was not actual sparring but a prearranged set of JKD techniques. Bruce was NOT a Karate guy the entire world knows that. The irony is a guy on youtube trying to critique the legend yet his own leaders and peers (who came long before this youtube author) have personally attested to Lee sparring a ton with themselves, his students, and his fellow peers in the 50s, 60s, 70s up until his untimely passing.
Chuck Norris is quoted as saying he could not match Lee's speed and had it been a real fight Norris admitted that Bruce would've handed Norris a loss.
@@BackStreetKarate It's not like everyone and their cousin had a phone or video camera on them at all times during that era. Only recorded fights were during tournaments or official events. You think someone is going to show up with a camera crew to a street fight back in those wild days.
Sounds like a huge excuse to me
The stop after an exchange is common in japanese martial arts - zanshin.
A moment after a successful exchange in a ready stance, a sort of acknowledgement what just happened.
In kenjutsu you often demonstrate it with raising the sword above the head (sort of 'comming up' and doing nothing as you say)
I really like your break down. one thing that I was thinking by the end of the video was that his sparring/tech execution might be because of his high levels of speed. There are alot of high level fighters that have un-orthodox techniques because they have some natural or trained skills that allow them to still execute. maybe his stance being funky and slight delay in action is because his reliance on the quickness he had.
I think Bruce Lee will always be a mystery. And that's why he's special he's almost like some biblical type figure to martial arts. Some kind of Kung Fu Jesus.
You have children all over the world to this day still discovering martial arts through him. And being inspired to take up martial arts.
That's legendary.
Truly.
Eh... i wouldn't put it like that XD
@@jestfullgremblim8002 I'm glad to not be you.
@@stephenfawkingiii8779 haha
@@jestfullgremblim8002 im Glad to not be you.
Idea: Reviewing your last 5 years of martial arts and improvements in those years - what brought you the improvements? Did you hit plateaus? How did you break the plateaus?
Edit: I thought I had stagnated over the last few months in terms of progress. The other day someone who hadn't been to the gym in a few months saw me sparring and said, " Wow man, you've improved quite a bit in the last few months " - needless to say, I felt so much better. You have a lot of tape to use to compare.
I think you are right about the sometimes jerky movements and stationary positions. I do think one reason for kind of stopping rather than flowing through is because it could've been a kind of exchange of separate techniques for display, rather than a full on anything goes sparring match.
I do believe that Lee's original Wing Chun does not emphasise any significant amount of foot movement, which is a major drawback. I think that is sometimes why he is just standing there and rarely moves laterally (left and right). Some people have commented it was a time when his new art was in its infancy.
About the parts where you may believe he doesn’t “spar a ton”at the beginning. This is because he is leaving openings for his student and to see if they can take them. You can realize quite easily if you watch it a couple of times. He is holding back a lot.
Though a mere tease, I think this is a very telling window into how Bruce could fight. You critique his lack of movement, and yet he is in total control, balanced, poised, still. Waiting for an opening. Wasting no energy. No dancing. No showboating. No acting. I see a purely efficient fighting machine. Like a cobra waiting to strike.
I agree 100%, he looks in total control, like a tiger waiting to strike.!!
Thank You.
Exactly, happens all the time in boxing actually
You can clearly tell he's holding way back in his fighting too. He doesn't want to hurt the guy and it's not a real sparring match....just a showcase type of deal. It's all for show not really what he's capable of. This dude's a legend for a reason. He's the real GOAT
@@shawncottrell5332 "It's all for show not really what he's capable of"
- ok, so what really he's capable of?
"watch his movies and his others demonstration bro trust me he is really good"
:/
This was also when he was still in the experimental stages of JKD, so to me it’s still really impressive. He probably drastically changed the way he fought by the time he died.
No doubt about it, Bruce was always looking to improve 💪🏽
@Danny D Dog He didn't fight pro. Very different from not fighting PERIOD. I'd rather listen to people like Joe Lewis, who actually knew Bruce. Not some dude with a cringe pfp on RUclips who likes his own comments.
@Danny D Dog Again, I refer to you my former point. And if you really want to get technical, Bruce did box a little bit. Won a high school tournament, beating the 3x champion.
@@conarykao9732 proof or fake
@Danny D Dog Read my comment again. Slowly.
I think it was reported he did street fights when he was younger, but by now, that might just be folklore. If he was no actual fighter, he sure did have quick reflexes and speed in general. I love his charisma either way. He was an icon, and still is.
It was not folklore, he was a street fighter, the police records don't lie.
@@HDsharp Good to know, mate!
I believe he said this himself; he said it wasn't more serious than the odd bloody nose.
@@HDsharp he was a famous childhood actor who went to private Catholic prep schools. His father was a famous Chinese Opera/film singer/actor and his mother was a wealthy socialite.
Bruce had a chauffeur as a child and teen.
Street gang stories are folklore.
He got in trouble for him and his friends jumping British kids at LaSalle and St Francis Xavier's private prep high schools in British occupied Hong Kong.
That's what happened.
@@Chronicskillness look, stop your stupid bs interpretation of Bruce's life story. He was a local gang leader. Who beat up a rival gang members, that's why he was shipped to America. Yeah Bruce's family were so rich he had to work as a dish washer America..lol
Besides, wealth does not disqualify anyone from being a thug. Bruce was a thug in his youth and grew up looking for scraps with elite martial artists and proving himself to be a better martial artist than them all.
What I would say, without any bias at all, is that if he clocked someone square with one of those front leg roundhouses, weight difference would become a minor factor very quickly.
Whether or not he would get that opportunity is a different question, but I will also say his kicks are gorgeous and brilliant, so he’s got better odds than most at making it happen.
Great breakdown I'm going to watch Enter The Dragon again for the 300th time after seeing this footage!
I feel like a lot of your complaints about Lee or Inosanto "not following through" are things I see in actual, competitive MMA fights sometimes. Not everyone keeps going for killshot after killshot in endless combos.
In his Tao of jeet kune do, he says in this sense to project ourselves vulnerable for the opponent to be confident to make a move and then we should quickly take things to our advantage. I think that is what happened at 11:53 - he had his forward leg as weight bearing and projected that he can't kick and is almost leaning but when the opponent tried to hit, he shifted his back leg swiftly to bear the weight and gave a kick.
For some clarity on the stance and lack of the rear hand:
-Bruce based his stance around optimizing the lead hand and foot. Which is why the stance is so narrow and bladed.
- He wanted to prioritize the lead side over the rear side because he emphasized catching them with strikes as they stepped in for their own attacks (interception). This is easier to do with the lead hand and foot because they’re quicker to throw and closer to the incoming opponent.
- The lead foot being slightly off the ground as he throws his lead hand comes from Jack Dempsey’s falling step.
You should have Mile Gittleson of Colorado JKD come on the channel to explain some of Bruce’s thinking behind some of these tactics Bruce used. There’s a lot of confusion around JKD and Mike is great at clarifying things. He trained privately with Ted Wong for 9 years.
This is a really good analysis
Thanks!
No bullshit
To the ending of the video: yes Olympic Karate is a disgrace to Karate and martial arts as a whole.
Olympic TKD too
Honestly, I don't get why. You have a ruleset and you work under that ruleset. It's a sport, not "real fighting". I mean is boxing a disgrace for the sport, because it doesn't have kicks?
@@maxwellsdemon10 Boxing is full contact. It teaches you what actually getting hit feels like. Sports Karate dude's think they can fight cause they have gold medals and shit but get fucking bodied by random drunks all the time.
@@steviegreenthumb4720 sure, but a good boxer would be absolutely fucked by a mediocre wrestler.
I'm just saying, that it is okay to have a ruleset that doesn't prepare you for a real fight. There is no shame in that.
It's a sport not self defense...
@@maxwellsdemon10 youre completely missing the point. An amateur boxer whos spent 6 months in a gym would demolish any 20+ year karateka who only trains non contact. Its not the style that matters its the training methodology. Anyone is getting taken down by a decent wrestler but the boxer has a way fucking better shot than the sport karate guy.
Awesome analysis dude. Keep up the good work.
Don't know if you caught this, but that very 1st kick exchange, Bruce kicks the opponent in the head, the opponent's leg was the "groin kick" I slowed it down and brightened it. That's why the opponent was thrown off balance.
I absolutely love your channel sir. You teach so much about everything with your words alone. Everything comes out of your voice is just pure gold in terms of teaching the novice fighters the fundamentals.....
I got real “point fighting” vibes from this video as a sparring session. I’d never seen the whole thing before, so that was cool to see.
That wasn't Lee's student, that was world karate champion. Also lee was using jkd.
Great analysis Sensei!
damn.... those last seconds in the video.... now I understand why I'm not seeing the serious Karate content creators talking about what happened in the olympics.... damn....
Yup 🙁
They are all taken down...? Wow 🤮
wtf. why were the videos taken down?
He showed that reading people’s movement is just as important as hitting your partner. Thus meaning that he counters more often. If you watch it he isn’t the one to start the attack he almost always counters. I’m confused because he’s just planted the whole time.
He knows he is super human fast, so he waits and counters and simply beats them to the punch. That isn't so much technique as it is a tactic. Bruce came from Wing Chung which is also mostly defensive and you tend to parry and then strike. It worked for him since he is soo fast.
@Danny D Dog my BJJ teachers didn't teach me my Aikido, my Pancration teachers didn't teach me my Tang Soo Do. They had no idea what was coming if we sparred outside of their disciplines. No one taught me Dim Mak.
@Danny D Dog ok troll boy, goodbye.
@@nunninkav Dim mak...
@@bigmanbarry2299 death touch.
two things: 1> this footage is well over 50 years old and the fighting arts have developed in that time, as has analysis. 2> this was a demonstration match, not what most would consider classical sparring or a competition fight. cheers.
So glad there's honest coverage on this. I want to say, though, it's definitely, 100%, a demo. It's his own students and there's no ref. The subject of the demonstration is counter attacks. To be fair to Bruce Lee, this wasn't presented as a match or anything competitive at the time, so it's not like he was putting out fake tournament victory footage.
7:40 no, he did not "just kick him in the butt" imo. It seems like Bruce expected the spinning kick and wanted to move him out of balance via blocking his hips. And on top of that he punched him during it!!!
Indeed, Sensei Seth didn't even see that Bruce punched him at that moment as he was so quick!
That punch was so fast.
There's this interview with him for the Green Hornet;
If you really want to see his speed.
@@stanknight9159, ah yes the Screen Test Interview
@@xyon9090 Yep. Awesome clip.
First sparring partner was Taky Kimura. Second partner was Ted Wong. Sifu Ted, was considered to be Bruce's equal when it came to executing technique. It's why their match was more active.
Ted Wong actually displayed better sparring ability here despite eating that kick. Stable stances, closed distance, moves when he strikes, etc. Bruce seemed to rely more on the lead hand/leg a bit too much. I get the impression that he had a great first strike all the time and that was usually enough, but not much practice (that we could see anywhere) on following up.
@@bigwavesun yes but he pulled all his kicks and punches, it wasnt a real fight. And this sparring happened before bruce lee perfected his craft and finished JKD
@@Hybred Not gonna argue that. Ted Wong was superior here.
@@bigwavesun perhaps. But if it was a real fight that first head kick would've knocked Ted out. I also doubt they'd both freeze then reset after a strike, I think those were intentional things the fighters were doing and not flaws. Not even street fighters with no fighting experience do that
@@Hybred its sparring dude. Bruce doesn't have to be gifted at everything. We know its not a real fight 🙄
It looks to me like Lee is in a fencing stance, with his arm out, as one would be for epee or rapier. He’s definitely using fencing footwork to keep distance. Also, it takes a lot less energy to rotate like a turret when your opponent is circling around you. Your smaller movements take less time, that is 15º on a small circle is a much shorter distance than 15º on a large circle.
That's exactly correct. He studied fencing for ways to apply it to fisticuffs.
I believe it was a demo about intercepting with the lead leg side kick and the straight lead punch. Not much flashy stuff required. Just economy of motion :D
The thing you say about Bruce just standing there and not having sparred alot. I got the answer for you =
In this era he primarily sparred point-karate fighters. I guess he was used to “you hit = you win”.
Bruce was a street fighter&just went easy on these guys.
@@acool925 No.
One context with which to evaluate this is that Bruce did not fight like anyone else. As you know, he created his own style. If you look at the style that he sparred here with, it applies principles of fencing. He is leading with his right like a fencer, waiting to intercept his opponent. He can generate so much power with such little space and time with his once inch and six inch punch, that he just sits there like a coiled snake. So if you interpret his actions based on how normal people behave in sparring situations, you will miss the magic. He is actually operating at a level where he is at stillness and calm in the middle of sparring. Thanks for your review!
Chuck Norris is so fast he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.
Well I must say well done! You broke it down respectfully! So thank you for that, I think personally Bruce was also very cautious as he did not want to go full power unless he was left with no choice. Now this is simply my opinion but I love your videos and I love the Lee family! The Crow is my favorite movie of all time followed by Enter the Dragon. So it must have been scary doing this video well done!
Yes, Bruce could have rolled underneath the punches and kicks and elbowed and Blowout the knee and then kicked him from the gorund in the head and then put his arm aound the leg and rolled back out taking the guy down and finish him off anyway he so chooses. Many on here have to EGOSPLAIN why Bruce was not caught on Camera even though almost every Professional Fighter of that Era Acjnowledged they guy could use yo as a rag doll. Including Joe Lewis, Bob Wall, Chuck Norris in earlier interviews...etc., yea there is no candle to hold to the light of this man because the Brighter One Shines the longer the Shadows one will cast! Envy and hate and racism will always be a part against non white Asian men. People only expose themselves and look worse as the talk more..."Silence is better than unmeaning words." - Pathagoras.
I feel like it’s not that he can’t fight. It’s just that when he was around, this was what was considered to be good fighting. It’s obviously evolved tremendously since then
true, people forget about that. Helio Gracie would get destroyed by blue belts these days
@@joatanpereira4272 i'd argue about this but on a second thought, yeah
No. It didn't. Why? Because whoever is really in touch with himself?
Bullshit. People had actual fighting tournaments all the way back in antiquity. Bruce had plenty of choice in fighting tournaments, but he never joined any.
@@MrCmon113 He didn t like the RULES ,even in life...how can u be top if a referee fucks u up at scoring , if u know what i mean.
It seems that Bruce Lee was relying on his speed and ability to generate a decent amount of power without solid stances. My suspicion is that this may have been as it was an exhibition, where he knew that he was not in danger of being seriously hurt and was just being a bit lazy to try and highlight his superiority. Still, I'm not sure how he'd fare against some of our modern day champions.
He'd kick their ass of course. So to speak. He was good. Of course he got stance, what a foolish thing to assume he wouldn't had. While probably kinda close fight.
Honestly, with all due respect for Bruce and his accomplishments and philosophical insights, He would probably get jacked up by any experienced grappler or striker. I think his legacy as an icon for martial arts has lead ppl to idolize him and portray him to be some unbeatable, best at everything dude. He practiced martial arts, he was never a fighter. People really need to realize those are completely different things. I still see him as an extremely talented legend in martial arts and we owe him gratitude for making martial arts bigger around the world. But lets not pretend the dude was untouchable.
Ok not sure if anyone has pointed this out but what I think what our host was noticing with Bruce lifting his body then landing back (bump bump) is the technique of launching a JKD punch
I still feel like that event wasnt supposed to be a sparring but more of a demonstration.
Great video though, informative as hell just like I like em
It’s amazing to me that there are only two videos of Bruce Lee actually fighting.
And neither of them are real fights.
Not everyone was carrying around a video camera like today he was born in 1940 died in 1973
A lot of people forget that the Bruce Lee we saw on the movies was the retired Bruce Lee.
The Bruce Lee who sparred and fought was from the 50s. Probably in small unofficial tournaments in Hong Kong
It's more of an exhibition sparring demonstration than a full on sparring session. You can clearly see Bruce Lee is always pulling back because if he really let's loose it won't end very good for his sparring partner.
Just a FYI Bruce Lee was technically physically disabled due to his uneven leg length which caused his awkward (now very popular) unique stance. Even thoe he adapted to it amazingly and made it a strength its something to note if you notice no his footing and leg stance looking at bit odd.
Interesting point, never heard about his leg length before
Actually, in Tao of Jeet Kune Do, he cites several books on fencing. And that's a fencing stance. It's perfect for striking with the lead side, at the cost of telegraphing more with the rear hand and foot. Of course, in fencing, you only use the leading arm to attack.
Bruce Lee was an avid street fighter before being on the big screen.
When he was 16? He came to US at 18.
@@antwnhs213 Mike Tyson was a street brawler at 13, 14, 15 etc, then got some training and became a monster by 18.
I read he based his stance on fencing and trained strong side forward (which makes sense as a fencer would lead with his sword hand). Since he's fighting his student, they likely fight the same way as him so they will throw lots of straight punches and kicks with the lead leg/arm. When he goes static I wonder if he's going back to Wing Chun a bit?
Goes without saying this was not a "fight". It was easy to tell that Bruce was on cruise control and his first partner wasn't much more. The second partner was some more aggressive, but still, just sparring, demonstrating. From his movie fight scenes, and some of these demos, about all I could judge was that he always showed great balance, form, speed, and smooth movement. He did like to make those wide swings, sometimes, like George Foreman used to do, but, for Bruce, I think that was for the cameras. He could punch more than well from the shoulder, though. Funny, it just occurred to me; I don't remember ever seeing an uppercut in a karate type movie fight scene. I enjoyed this break down. Thanks.
the pauses in this fight always made me think he was talking through it and demonstrating saying why he did this and that.
hence the pauses.
anyone know if he was talking to the audience throughout the spar?
Bruce Lee has his own unique style and he was holding back on his student
Bruce was pretty obviously a counter-puncher primarily. Using his superior speed and range finding abilities, to react to an aggressors movement and use that incoming movement to provide extra power to his own shots. He uses range better than most as well. But that is my primary take away....those pauses, are watching to see what the opponent does, instead of just attacking and perhaps falling into a counter-trap. Neither really used feints here, which tells me this was more demo then true sparring, as well.
Isn't it crazy that the best martial artist of all time is a movie star and not someone who fought for a living and won championships?
Crazy world.
Being a movie star pays a lot better.
That's because his approach and vision of fighting lead him to pretty much theorize what would later become known as MMA, and because you can clearly see his evolution along the years regarding said approach and vision, going from "chinese martial arts are the best" to "I would't place any style over another, it all depends on what you're comfortable with, so train what works for you regardless of styles " (very simplified).
When the ufc started? Are you serious or you forgot in what era bruce lee lived? Use the brain
Martial arts is for defense only and not for belts and self pride.
@@jasonroche9786 That's why I don't even spar or go to the gym.
Yet I'm still the best.
His pausing because he knows that if this was a real fight the other guy would've been in the shadow realm already.
Edit: watch kendo, similar thing. They hold their wooden sword up after a kill hit. As for his punching style, it reminds me of Naseem Hamid, he use to punch with upward movements almost like a spring. Given that he had one of the highest knockout rates in featherweight division I would say yah it's effective.
People dont do this in real gyms because it is bad. Simple as.
Keep in mind, there is a difference between sparring and a demonstration!
I had read he trained with many champions Chuck Norris, Benny the Jet ect. Many admitted his style was for the streets so there wasn't alot of pressuring sport etiquette that many are used to today when they spar. They do have on gear, but full contact was in it's infancy at the time. I believe I had read he was also there demonstrating the potentional of full gear sparring that we safely take advantage of today. Unless it was a real tournament back then many demonstrated katas on boards(don't hit back), or from a safe distance never really striking their partners. I'm assuming they practiced without the gear more than they did with it which could explain the pauses of beating your opponent bare handed you usually don't want more. The funky stance is something he borrowed from his favorite Italian fencer where the back heel is arched like a piston to move foward quickly. It's mostly used to go for the knee quickly. There's a chance he was being flashy and kicking higher than usual to impress the sport fighters.
I think we need to look at this with context in mind. Yes, they’re sparring but they aren’t sparring for wins and titles, it’s student vs teacher, and as far as I can tell is from a Karate Championship demonstration. We also have the issue of him using styles (Wing Chun) that are very counter-intuitive to the types of boxing and karate-derived tactics we see in competition today.
Let me put it this way. If you took a kung-fu guy who knew a little bit about competition fighting (boxing or something) but was mostly a street-fighter in his youth and then put him at a martial arts demo with a student, he wouldn’t do the things you’d expect from a competition fighter or from a street fight. He might do things like throw combos, stop, check a second to see if you student was alright, reset, go for another combo, etc. He might even do things in a sparring match because they kinda already know their student’s habits and are just kind of exploiting them. We judge things from a point of view of tournament tactics because we’re used to watching competition but that’s not necessarily the background Bruce came from. We also have to keep in mind the time period.
The other thing to think about is that given the context, Bruce is rocking his student with basically one hit shots, either with his hand or feet. He’s controlling distance enough to make his student whiff on shots and Bruce controls him with grappling/in-fighting when the student gets too close. To me that shows an experienced fighter, not necessarily a competition fighter (who might do other things). It shows a lot skill and fighting ability. And he’s doing this stuff with split seconds timings spontaneously.
It must be said that it is easier to look good in spearing if it's your students you're sparring. You usually know their habits and definitely know more than they do in general.
For what it's worth, two of Bruce's original students in the Seattle years (Jesse Glover and Ed Hart) vouched strongly for Bruce's combat skills and were witness to at least two major fight challenges Bruce got.
Important to note, Jesse Glover was about 220 pounds, already a multiple time Judo champion, and ranked in the top 5 in the country when he met Bruce. On top of that he was skilled in Karate as well. And yet Jesse said he was blown away by Bruce's skills. Jesse immediately became a student and was the one that taught Bruce a lot of Judo (way before Gene Lebell claimed he did).
Ed Hart was already well versed as a boxer when he met Bruce and he said similar things of Bruce's skills; he was extremely impressed and became a student.
They both passed away now, but pretty much everyone that threw hands with Jesse pointed out that his skills were world class.
Very good point. James Demile said that they couldn't lay a hand on him and that he could defeat them all easily. Joe Lewis, Mike Stone, and Chuck Norris all(World Campions) trained under Bruce based on what they saw him do. Jim Kelly that none of the top guys from that time could beat him. Gene Label once said that he was the greatest Martial Artist of all time.
@@ErikBrantley33 don’t know about Chuck Norris
There’s no proof to say that
@@demitrivalada9758 There was proof. Bruce was a meticulous note taker, and there are schedules he wrote for teaching times of all his Karate champ students, with several notes reading "Stone, Lewis, Norris".
On top of this, there was an old article from the "Washington Star" newspaper sports column that talked about this. The reporter visited Bruce when he was training Chuck, Lewis and Stone.
For what it's worth, I recall Sifu Dan Inosanto mentioning Bruce Lee was flashier for the cameras. He mentioned in sparring he was a lot more still and didn't do any of the yelling you see in the films. That jives with this video.
As to how much sparring he did, I was under the impression this was a period in American martial arts where there was little to no full contact sparring (1967), and this was a demo to get people to see the value in it.
If that's the case, it would make sense these guys would have less sparring experience than what would be expected today.
I love the way you pick up on a lot of the elements of JKD even if you don’t fully understand their usefulness you see them so well. You have a such a trained eye for reading a fight it was really cool watching you break down his techniques and get into the head of both opponents. I think you should read the Tao Of Jeet Kune Do and then come back to analyze and more of it will make sense to you. He employs a “Stop-Hit” beautifully well where he catches his opponent in his mental preparation and delivers his own hit to the face faster at the start of inosanto’s attack. It was the one where you said the photographer was happy with himself for that picture. Also he liked the idea of a broken rhythm and being unpredictable. In his book he does talk a lot about springiness and to be like a coiled spring ready to advance or retreat in a moments notice but you’re right here there is a real laxed stance that allows him to be more sure footed. Is it his comfort ability in his own speed and skill versus his opponents? Surely he knows what he advises in his writings but here it’s more absent so there’s definitely a reason but great catch! It’s interesting to listen to your breakdown for sure. Thank you 🙏
If you read the Tao of Jeet Kune Do you'll know when he talks about coiled spring it's to reference attack and retract explosive power and not the foot movement. In the book and his interviews he talked about not moving or bouncing just for the sake of bouncing.