Muhammed Ali versus Bruce Lee !?!?!?!?

Question

In a no rules fight, who would win Lee or Ali? We all know Rocky Balboa would KO all their asses because it is refreshing to see an old man peppering the Champ. But seriously, who would win?

Answer 1

It seems to me that Ali did a match against a kickboxer in his prime. The Kick boxer laid on his back and kicked at Ali's shins.

I can remember Howard Cossell saying "If he ever stands up Ali is going to knock him out"

Ali developed blood clots after that "bout"

I think the match up you have is pretty far fetched though.

Ali by a mile.

Answer 2

Bruce lee

Answer 3

Ali would win. No 130 pound man can beat a trained 230 pound boxer. That is why boxing has weight classes. Bruce Lee was an actor who spread the myth of his own greatness.

A better question would be Seagal versus Lee. Real fighters beat fake actors every time!

Answer 4

Bruce lee could probably beat ali if the rumors about Lee are true.
Boxing lets you get away with so many things that are not possible in an unstructured fight. The best boxers adapt and rely on positions that are safe in boxing but are extremely vulnerable in a real fight.

Answer 5

In a no rules fight, i would still have to take Ali. Yes, Bruce Lee is so much faster, and he could try to keep Ali away, but Ali would only need to catch him once and that would be it.

(As for the Steven Segal vs. Bruce Lee, I think I would take the white guy who was able to teach a Japanese martial art to the Japanese over just about anybody. Yea, his movies were crap, but before the movies, Segal was a 7th dan black belt with two schools that he taught at.)

Answer 6

Rockky Marciano>Ali>Lee(even Lee said he'd lose to him)>rocky balboa....he's just a joke of an old man

Answer 7

Well like bluto said, if only we knew Bruce's real skill level, we'd be able to make a more definite answer, but it seems like Bruce knew more about fighting (mentally) while Muhammad had more experience actually fighting (physically). Just cause you know something doesn't mean you could actually do it. So I'd say Muhammad would seem to have a bigger advantage, skill-wise and experience-wise.

Answer 8

Bruce lee would not have to break a sweat-
ali would be on the ground like a butterfly that got stomped by Godzilla!!!!

Answer 9

I love how bruce lee fanboys who know nothing about either bruce lee, muhammad ali or martial arts and fighting love to chime in on stuff like this.

1- Bruce lee studied ali's form to help create/influence his style

2- Bruce lee admitted ali would kick his a ss.

3- Bruce lee is much much smaller and shorter than ali- having:

a) much less reach advantage- propably even with legs,
and
b) is much smaller and weaker than ali.
c) speed wise ali is probably quicker, but even if he isn't, bruce would have to move more than twice as fast just to get in on ali over the reach advantage ali has, this would be coupled by the simple fact that any fighter would know that HANDS ARE MUCH QUICKER THAN LEGS. Ali would have no trouble striking bruce, bruce would have much trouble even making contact with ali. And ali would be much much better with his hands than bruce as that is his specialty.

d) ali withstood blows by foreman, just took them, and bruce might be strong- FOR HIS SIZE, but foreman just has way more power than him.

A fight between bruce lee and muhammad ali would likely end up like the mike tyson alex stewart match up for bruce lee. He just can't physically compete, he has no advantages that can be used to overcome ali's size and stregth and reach advantage.

Lee's actual skill level to begin with is suspect because he never fought anybody professionaly, we have no video evidence of his actual fighting ability (except for that one unimpressive sparring video), while for ali we have all of his fights on tape, a long and recorded history and accurate ability to judge his great skill.

And if you really want to look at each man's contribution outside of fighting, Ali wins that one hands down too. While bruce lee certainly opened the doors to give chinese an opportunity in the limited arena of hollywood, Ali was considered the 3rd most influential figure in the civil rights movement. His status as the heavyweight champion of the world gave him the unique position of bieng able to be recognized and respected and he used that position in a positive way to lecture and give speeches about civil rights and such.

Comparing the two in any respect is not even like comparing apples and oranges, its like comparing a freshly picked apple with a rotten bug infested orange.

A fairer comparison for bruce lee fighting wise might be sugar ray robinson or sugar ray leonard.

Answer 10

Hands down, Bruce Lee. Why? Bruce Lee was well rounded in every facet of fighting. He was an excellent striker and had balance and reflexes akin to a cats.

The first style he learned was Kung-Fu. However, he took it upon himself to research and practice many other forms of fighting. Every thing from boxing to fencing. As many may know, he developed his own style called Jeet Kun do ("The way of the intercepting fist"). It was a style based on effective forms of offense and defense derrived from a variety of different styles. For the most part, it was a philosophy of fighting.

Bruce Lee's theory on fighting was, take what works and discard the rest. His goal was to always find the most efficient way possible to win a fight, using all opportunities that present them self. In other words, he never condemned him self to one train of thought, in regards to any given style. What ever worked, he used.

Aside from his vast technical expertise, Bruce Lee was an amazing athlete. He trained relentlessly. He was equally focused and dedicated to developing a body of perfect health, as he was at sharpening his martial arts skills. As I said before, he had very sharp reflexes and speed and agility like you wouldn't believe. He was also extremely conditioned.

Among his many amazing feats that he's performed, one of my personal favourites is his "two finger push-up". Basically he did a one-arm push up on two fingers!

Bruce Lee has worked with many different kinds of people, when he was teaching. When he was working with Kareem Abdul Jabar, because of the basketball stars height, it presented challenges for Bruce, when striking. But Bruce would always adapt and that was probably his most valuable asset as a fighter; his adaptability.

Muhammed Ali is widely regarded as the greatest boxer in history. I won't dispute that. Ali (formerly Cascius Clay, before he became a Muslim) was very skilled and conditioned, in his prime. He would often be able to win part of his fights by psychologically, chipping away at his opponents confidence. He had very good strategy and was fast.

The problem when for Ali is, if he were to fight Bruce Lee, he'd only have one means of offense that he could employ effectively and that's punching. Bruce Lee had a broad arsenal of strikes to use and the means to counter and protect from all of them.

Even if Bruce Lee would loose, trading punches with Ali, he'd use kicks for range and would get on the inside of Ali and put him in a submission hold. Because of Bruce's speed, he'd take his time and gradually pick apart Ali by striking and coming out and continually doing this until Ali can't stand or hold his hands up any more.

Bruce's best strategy against Ali, would be to take get Ali off balance and damage his legs with kicks. All Bruce would need is for Ali to over commit to a punch and Ali would be history.