Bruce Lee and Jet Li

Lee fought off people for most of his life, according to what he's told. Even during the making of Enter the Dragon it is well documented that he was challenged daily by the extras who told him he wasn't as fast or as good as he or others claimed. According to those who were there he dispatched of them all one at a time with relative ease. My money is on Bruce Lee even though the question is fairly unanswerable.
 
I love the nod to the Three Stooges in the Jet Li clip. The "mouth throw", grabbing the ears and even the Master trying to poke Jet in the eyes with two fingers... priceless. :D
 
Just from the body language alone in those two clips, Bruce would wipe the floor with Jet-Li.
Bruce had no particular style but he was freaky FAST. Plus he had those cat like reflexes where he could adjust his offense/defense very quickly.

Jet-Li looks stiff almost robotic in his particular style.
 
I still don't understand the use of using film footage from Choreographed fight scenes to compare the two. I'd like to see actual real footage of them just going at it while training. Am I wrong to think that that would be a better standard to go by? Does footage like that not exist?
 
Egon Spengler said:
I still don't understand the use of using film footage from Choreographed fight scenes to compare the two. I'd like to see actual real footage of them just going at it while training. Am I wrong to think that that would be a better standard to go by? Does footage like that not exist?
Click to expand...

Yeah you're absolutely right. I too would like to see 'real' fight footage, but as far as I know there isn't any except for these movie clips.
 
I would go with Bruce Lee, based on the film fights. His fights are mostly wide angle, with you seeing a lot more of the actual moves, whereas the Jet stuff has many more cuts and tight shots that could have been done three days later!
There is also, no doubt, a certain amount of hero worship in my opinion. Bruce Lee just did SO much fighting, demonstrations and seemed to have mastered all the Kung Fu styles as well as other Martial Art forms for his creation of JKD.
Maybe I just don't know enough about Jet Li's life.
 
I'm just amazed at Bruce's speed and control. I mean, he's coming SO close to that one dude in the screen test, but he's totally under control and it's all in the blink of an eye.

But yeah, I really don't know enough about Jet Li. His films are flashy and impressive, but that doesn't necessarily translate into actual ability to fight, which gets you back to Bruce Lee. Lee was a theorist about martial arts and studied it intensely. He wasn't a performer alone. He was DEEPLY entrenched in martial arts and the study and perfection of fighting forms for practical purposes beyond the more balletic stuff you see in films and TV.

None of this is to say that Jet Li isn't a master in his own right, just that I haven't heard as much about him. He seems to be primarily a performer, rather than a martial artist first and foremost. While his style seems more brutal than, say, a Jackie Chan, he seems to be far more about the acting gig than the martial arts. Now, I could be wrong about all of that, because I know next to nothing about the guy, but looking good on camera doesn't translate into being an effective fighter (at least not against someone who is also an effective fighter).
 
The guy who did the fight scenes for Billy Jack said he would have never fought Bruce Lee, because "He would kick my ass".

Lee had to slow down for the cameras to understand what was happening.

In every movie Lee fought a real martial arts expert. Norris was a world champion. Everyone else sticks to stunt men.

During the making of Enter the Dragon, some extra was talking trash about Lee's skill. Lee invited him down, beat him up, and sent him back to his place. Later another one jumped the wall into Lees home where his kids were. His wife says he absolutely took the guy apart.

Lee had unusually long forearms. Some say this was where his power came from. He could touch his knees standing straight up.

I don't know anything about Li.
 
Bruce would've won, no doubt.

Jet Li is a master of several styles of wushu and has studied many other styles to various degrees, however, all of his skills really never had been tested in actual combat. When he competed and won 15 gold medals in the Chinese Wushu Championships, all of the matches were in the non-sparring areas.

All of Bruce Lee's skills were tested and honed through actual combat. Street fights in his early years, facing everybody that called him out, setting up "friendly" matches with other martial artists, and regular sparring with students and other teachers.

Regardless of his skill and combat experience, Bruce's strengh, conditioning, and reflexes alone would've been huge factors in his favor.
At his peak, he was one of the most physically fit people EVER.
 
Yeah...Bruce hands down would crush him like a grape.
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And Bruce was also a Jedi Knight:)
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Personally IMHO, think, that Bruce had totally exaggerated his way of living Kung Fu - no doubt, he is probably the best martial arts practitioner. But he demanded to much from his body. Jet Li is a favourite of mine, he won at an early age many Wushu competitions, but it really hard to tell, if Bruce or Jet is better.

A real street fighting situation is more like the "fight" in The Bourne Identity, where the first assassin was assigned to Bourne. Or watch "Human Weapon" episode 1x07 about Krav Maga - that's what the real fights look like.
 
Right, but I think the point is that, to judge from their body of filmed work alone, Bruce would be more likely to win in a street fight than Jet. Of course, we have no idea. Jet could be the ultimate badass street fighter and it's just that no one's ever seen him do it. This uncertainty about the relative ability of one's opponent is why I tend to believe that the best fights are the ones you never get into in the first place. ;)
 
Bruce was always quoted that his "film style" of fighting was very different from his real style of fighting. He would say that high kicks and things like that were very impractical and that he liked to use "flashy" moves for the camera.
 
The thing that impresses me most about watching those videos is Bruce's speed. A couple times in that test footage where you couldn't even see what he did, because the camera's running too slow. You'd be on the ground before you even realize he'd swung at you. Jet Li's fast, but he's not that fast.
 
If you read any of the biographies about Bruce, you'll learn that he was one ****** that shouldn't be messed with (take that, Wong Jack Man).

My uncle teaches Wing Chun (in N.Z. and Australia), so he has spent a bit of time with William Cheung. I still remember, back in the '80s, when the latter visited New Zealand; a lot of my family have since told me the stories that Mr. Cheung told them, about growing up with Bruce in Hong Kong, etc. It was quite exciting to a kid who loved Bruce Lee flicks!
 
JKD is the art of knowing and adapting to fight ANY style of martial arts...

Wushu is martial arts dance with fake weopons. (there is real martial arts in there but... yeah)


Why is this even being discussed?

Bruce could 5 finger death punch him from beyond the grave, but he is meditating... forever. :p
 
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