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There have been a lot of skeptics around this, but I am not asking for opinions, but strictly facts. With Bruce Lee's small frame but speed, he has received a lot of praise from renown fighters like Connor Mcgreggor. Due to his smaller size however, how can he fare against such strong fighters?

Harry Iguana
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  • This is a gorilla v. shark question. – mattm May 08 '21 at 11:04
  • @mattm I don't think the OP is asking how well Bruce Lee would do against stronger opponents, but rather how he was able to do so well against them. I see no reason this question should have been closed, as the OP as I understand it was not asking who would win a fight but how he was able to win. I think you may have misunderstood the question. – LemmyX May 09 '21 at 05:44
  • @LemmyX I interpret the title as asking how to compare Bruce Lee (gorilla) v. current MMA fighters (shark). – mattm May 09 '21 at 13:08
  • "he has received a lot of praise from renown fighters like Connor Mcgreggor" - just being pedantic and not dissing Bruce Lee, but I would take that praise with a grain of salt. Lee died 15 years before McGregor was born, so any praise McGregor awards to Lee is more a statement of appreciation as a fan who has reviewed historical records, it isn't based on personal experience. – slugster May 09 '21 at 13:42
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    What kind of statistics are you expecting to be available? – mattm May 09 '21 at 15:10
  • Mike Tyson went on record saying not only could he beat Bruce Lee but that it would be insane for anyone to think otherwise. I agree. Size matters. Many black belts in BJJ actually lose repeatedly to white belts who are 2 times their size and 3 times their strength. That being said, even if Bruce Lee was the same size as a modern MMA fighter, I expect the modern MMA fighter to win. And that's because modern MMA is what Bruce Lee's style probably would have evolved to, had he been alive throughout now. JKD concepts schools are still around, and most MMA people have abandoned it. – Steve Weigand May 10 '21 at 14:09
  • Well which form of fighting are you referring too? https://www.quora.com/Who-would-win-in-a-fight-Mike-Tyson-vs-Bruce-Lee-Why – Harry Iguana May 10 '21 at 14:35
  • Mike Tyson would beat Bruce Lee in any style of fight, street fighting, boxing ring, MMA. It wouldn't matter. And it wouldn't even have been close. – Steve Weigand May 10 '21 at 14:52

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Most martial arts are not based on size, but are based on skill. And many put heavy focus on agility over strength, which tends to even disfavor people with larger builds. Don't get me wrong - strength does play an important role in fighting arts, but so do a lot of other things: agility, reflexives, explosiveness, flexibility and much more. The amount of experience one person has will ultimately dictate who has the advantage in a fight, more so than any of the things I just listed. What good is it to be flexible and strong and agile if you don't know how to use it?

So to sum it up, the reason Bruce Lee was able to go against and win to opponents double or tipple his size is because size and strength is only one of many factors that goes into winning a fight.

Hope that helps.

LemmyX
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