If Bruce Lee fought Mike Tyson

Bruce Lee never participated in any professional boxing matches - Photo: XN

The father of MMA also admired Bruce Lee

In short, it's a fight between a "kung-fu legend" and an icon of real-life martial arts skills.

Ten years ago, MMA fighter Xu Xiaodong launched a massive campaign to suppress traditional Chinese martial arts. He continuously defeated the icons of traditional Chinese martial arts.

From then on, the world began to doubt the practicality of Chinese kung-fu, which was anecdotally and exaggeratedly written by the great writer Kim Dung.

But the noisy wave created by Tu Hieu Dong could not shake the martial arts monument named Bruce Lee.

Long before Xu Xiaodong appeared, the debate about the practicality of Chinese kung-fu had been raised, through the "fictitious competition of Bruce Lee vs Mike Tyson".

Not only martial arts fans, this debate has spread to the top martial arts community and... the scientific community. Surprisingly, many Westerners lean towards Bruce Lee, even though the Chinese kung-fu legend is increasingly being questioned.

The martial arts community loves to debate the match between Tyson and Bruce Lee - Photo: YOUTUBE

One of them is UFC commentator and former jiu-jitsu fighter Joe Rogan who has repeatedly expressed his admiration for Bruce Lee.

He commented that Bruce Lee was not only an actor but also a true martial artist with profound fighting techniques and philosophies.

"In a no-holds-barred fight, Bruce Lee could use his agility and technique to his advantage. Don't forget that Bruce Lee knew a lot about boxing," Rogan said.

"I consider Bruce Lee to be the father of MMA," said UFC president Dana White. White stressed that it was Bruce Lee's philosophy that laid the foundation for modern mixed martial arts.

Specifically, it is the philosophy of "using what works, ignoring what doesn't work" of Jeet Kune Do, created by the Hong Kong-born martial arts genius. And according to Mr. White, if he were born today, Bruce Lee would definitely be a world-class MMA champion.

What does the data show?

Meanwhile, Malaysian doctor Khoo Lee Seng, also an MMA martial arts analyst, took the time to compile all the statistics related to these two legendary names.

Specifically, Mike Tyson is 1m78 tall, weighs nearly 100kg, has an arm span of 1m80, punch speed of 0.25 seconds/punch, punch force of 1600-1800 joules.

As for Bruce Lee, he was 1m71 tall, weighed about 64kg, had an arm span of 1m75, punching speed of 0.2 seconds/punch, punching force of 600-800 joules.

There are no specific statistics on the kicking speed of Tyson - who devoted his entire career to boxing, but he mastered the "peekaboo" technique to help dodge attacks and counterattack quickly in a narrow range.

Bruce Lee possesses incredible speed according to data analysis - Photo: HTK

With Bruce Lee, he had an extremely high kick speed, up to 190km/h, and a horizontal kick power of about 300-700 joules.

With these parameters, Dr. Khoo concluded that Mike Tyson would of course knock out Bruce Lee if given the chance. The problem is that with his extreme speed, Bruce Lee would be very difficult to hit.

On the other hand, debates on martial arts forums also lead to the conclusion that Mike Tyson would overwhelm Bruce Lee in his forte of boxing. But in MMA, Bruce Lee would have a better chance.

"In his time, Bruce Lee was an outstanding genius. If he had been trained according to modern MMA standards, with grappling and wrestling techniques, Bruce Lee would certainly have been a top fighter," said Dr. Khoo.

Insiders

There is one flaw in the assessment of Bruce Lee, which is that he never participated in a professional boxing match. The Hong Kong-born martial artist's actual fighting skills are therefore under suspicion.

But Joe Lewis, the late American boxer once hailed as the "father of modern kickboxing", has dismissed this suspicion. It should be noted that Lewis once trained with Bruce Lee for a time.

Bruce Lee and Lewis - Photo: TN

"I have never faced a human being as fast as Bruce Lee. He not only had the speed but also the inner confidence to do it.

It's hard to say what Bruce Lee would have been like if he had entered the professional ring. But I personally believe he had more than enough speed and power to reach world-class boxing. Bruce Lee possessed all the strengths of Muhammad Ali," Lewis said.

Of course, such comparisons will forever remain just theories. But because of their "fictional, never-to-exist" nature, the martial arts community will always retain a classic debate.

Finally, what does the insider say? As a junior, Mike Tyson commented as follows about his "dream opponent":

"Bruce Lee was a martial artist, and also a street fighter. I could see that he loved fighting, not just acting. He could be an assassin, an assassin after causing maximum damage and then still be safe and sound."

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HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/neu-ly-tieu-long-dau-mike-tyson-20250512003026789.htm