Those claiming Lee could not fight on a level that would allow him to be MMA champion(did not exist when he was alive) or to beat almost all other fighters is ignoring the young sensei aspect of it. Since a young sensei starting out would not have the track record of an older sensei and was also still able to show the effectiveness of what he wanted to present, fighting experts would literally require him to show what he could do before continuing and either he would win their trust or be labeled a fraud. The fact that he was able to get such a following in this manner shows he was a legendary fighter. I think Lee had goals and those goals were not encapsulated in real life tournaments. If he were young today and had seen this happen to someone else, he likely would reconsider that for posterity and legacy sake...
Coburn was actually training for in like flint. But contiued to train with lee and the two formed a genuine friendship that was to continue until lees tragic passing in 1973. To bad that these two didnt get to finish their silent fluit project
I rememeber when i started my martial arts journey. I was studying wing chun kung fu. And attending college at the same time. We had a class for kickboxing that was short lived because people actually got hurt. But the guy who taught it became my teacher when he found out i was studing wing chun. And i was also learning bruce lees fighting methods. He brought reality to my training. He was trained in jeet kune do, wing chun and the russian version wing tsun. Ill never forget he was constantly quoting bruce and how he would do this and that. But one of his lessons he told me was to never tense up. Keep your arm relaxed, dont telegraph your movements and when the time comes. Snap your arm and fist towards your opponent. And retract fast. It was better than just putting up your arms and doing a little dance. It was effective and to the point. 23 years later im teaching kids about bruce lees jkd and wing chun while i continue to hone my skills
