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Bruce Lee is synonymous with martial Arts, and he's an icon. Personally, I think the Little Dragon would have not competed at all, or for very long if he were to have stepped into a cage. The fighters in cages are fighting out of the physical aspects of martial arts, more of an aggressive mind set. Bruce took the time to sharpen the mental tools, the psychology and spiritualism behind the arts he studied and then when he went on to create his own style.

Bruce would have done well, as for proof that this grappling and submission style along with a tremendous stand up game was all part of his arsenal, watch the beginning of "Enter the Dragon" where Bruce demonstrated superior stand up striking, take down ability and submission (he forced the guy to tap out in a variation of an arm bar). Those are the points that cage fighters are judged by and how they win or lose fights in the judges eyes. I don't think he had much of a wrestling background, but the ability to manipulate and create submissions certainly shows some form of ground game.

The only thing not working for Bruce is that he wouldn't have dumped supplements into his body that would have made him freakishly stronger than he was meant to be. And while that doesn't always dictate the winner, we see many lucky punches end a fight from a guy charged up on whatever (legal or not) in order to pummel his way to victory.

All in all, I think that Bruce may have looked at this as somewhat barbaric and needless. Not to say cage fighting is bad, but I think the differences in cultures and backgrounds with respect for the Martial Arts is very different. Combat sports in it's birthplace was meant to teach discipline and respect and has been passed down for centuries, to where it now IS the culture of the people.

Whereas in our culture we are very new to Martial Arts, and have twisted it to quench our blood lust. How could we not? We were raised watching our heroes shooting people, and playing guns as children, so our tendencies for violence led us to this point. We celebrate it by selling t-shirts to anyone who can wear them, as opposed to a day when tradition dictated that the GI and belts were worn by those who EARNED them. Besides, I and I don't know for sure but the liklihood of seeing todays cage fighters mediating is as likely as seeing Bruce himself out drunk in a club "making it rain."

Again, nothing wrong with it all, and I'm glad guys can get paid to cage fight rather than shoot each other for free in the streets, but it's why we're almost a world apart. If we were to take a Martial Arts pioneer and put him in a a cage, I think Chuck Norris is the guy you'd want.

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