GM DAW SPEAKS EPISODE 2: BRUCE LEE- MARTIAL ARTIST OR FIGHTER?
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00:00Hello, it's me, Grand Master Thomas Daw, and in this post, I'm going to be talking
00:17about Bruce Lee, martial artist or fighter.
00:23Now, I never actually met Bruce Lee.
00:28I came very close to buying one of his kimonos that was for sale online a long time ago.
00:36I never met Bruce.
00:37I was born a long time after Bruce died, or supposedly died.
00:45Now, to be honest, there's quite a lot I can say about Bruce Lee.
00:52I'm not going to be completely behind Bruce Lee, and I'm not going to be completely against
01:00Bruce either.
01:02In this post, I'm just going to be stating my piece, you see.
01:08Now, I personally believe that lots of people miss the point about Bruce Lee being the best
01:18who ever lived.
01:20Do I think that Bruce Lee was the best martial artist who ever lived?
01:25Absolutely not.
01:27No way in hell.
01:29Now, anyone can see my videos.
01:33I punch better than Bruce Lee.
01:35You can look at my weapon video, my weapon kata.
01:40I created those kata.
01:42Could Bruce Lee ever use weapons as good as me?
01:46Absolutely not.
01:47Now, let's not think that it's going this way.
01:52I'm just going to give my opinions.
01:54But when it comes to Bruce Lee, people miss the point as to the importance of his legend.
02:03The thing is, Bruce Lee was alive and famous in very racist times, and Bruce Lee's legend
02:16is important because Bruce Lee basically came forth and said, it doesn't matter who
02:24you are, what color your skin is, where you come from, anyone can do this martial arts
02:30stuff if they can be bothered, you know?
02:34And that is the main point I think people miss.
02:38But there's quite a lot about Bruce Lee that we'll never know, and it's only what somebody
02:44wanted to write in a book, what people have said about Bruce and all of this stuff.
02:49And lots of these people are like me.
02:52They never actually met the person.
02:54They've just read a lot of books and seen his films, and it's, there's very much a sheep
03:01effect, especially with Hollywood and martial arts and people.
03:07And I think that lots of people like to believe in the idea of a legend.
03:13If millions of people say that something is true, then lots of people do not know any
03:20evidence to the contrary.
03:23So they agree with the other people saying, this person's the best, this person's the
03:27best.
03:28Now, when it comes to Bruce Lee, you have to understand, I am a grandmaster, and it's
03:38much easier to say Bruce Lee was the best martial artist who ever lived than it is to
03:45actually research martial arts, to train for decades, and to actually realize, no, he wasn't
03:54that good.
03:55But the thing is, Bruce Lee was very good as a fighter.
04:01Bruce Lee had lots of moves and lots of skills and lots of different, you know, a little
04:10bit of knowledge of lots of styles, but I think Bruce Lee was an excellent fighter.
04:19Do I think Bruce Lee was a martial arts expert?
04:22No.
04:23Now, that's going to cause outrage with lots of people, but hear me out.
04:30Bear in mind, I have decades of experience in the martial arts.
04:35I've trained with hundreds of people.
04:37I've had people that are masters of Kung Fu telling me that I was their favorite student.
04:43I've made a lot of friends in the martial arts.
04:48And I've even heard people saying that Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee are both still alive.
04:55Now, I'm not saying one way or the other, but doesn't anyone think it's a coincidence
05:02that Bruce Lee, one of his last films was, I think, Game of Death, and he fakes his own
05:09death to escape harassment and all this shit, and then he's actually dead in real life?
05:16Didn't anyone actually think that's a bit of bullshit?
05:20And similarly with Brandon Lee, Brandon Lee fake his own death.
05:27Everyone thinks that he's dead because of the crow, and the character, in the character,
05:33the crow, he dies and comes back to life for revenge.
05:39It's possible that Brandon and Bruce are both living in China somewhere, but I don't say
05:46one way or the other.
05:47It's all very much just different opinions and things, but as with this post, it's just
05:54my opinions on Bruce Lee.
05:56Now, you may be thinking, some of these people listening to this may be furious.
06:03Why do you think Bruce Lee is not a martial arts expert?
06:07Now, one of the main things is Bruce Lee never had any rank, legitimate belt rank, earned
06:20from anywhere.
06:23So if you imagine all these karate dojos, kung fu places, people he trained with, and
06:30you haven't got one rank.
06:33Now, if somebody came into one of my clubs and they was like, oh, I'm the best and all
06:39of this stuff, and, or you wanted to compete in a tournament I was hosting, for example,
06:47and you told me you didn't have any rank, you wouldn't be able to compete.
06:53Now to the people that are not very well knowledgeable in the martial arts, except for Hollywood
06:59films and things, you do get these monkeys that say rank and belts and things don't matter.
07:07It's an absolute joke.
07:09Can you, rank is very important indeed.
07:13There is a hierarchy in martial arts schools that, you know, can you, you know, just like
07:18the army, there is positions, there's hierarchy, there's different ranks.
07:24Can you imagine an army without ranks?
07:27You would fall to pieces.
07:29Rank is very important.
07:32And with instructors, it helps instructors to know what level you're studying at.
07:38You see, so it's very important to have ranks, I cannot take it seriously.
07:51When people say, oh, Bruce Lee was the best who ever lived, the best martial artist ever,
07:58the man didn't have one belt in karate or anything.
08:02So technically, little kids I used to help teach taekwondo on paper with their yellow
08:09belt or whatever, on paper is better than Bruce Lee ever was.
08:15Now also, there's the Wong Jack Man fight with Bruce Lee.
08:21And I believe that Wong Jack Man actually put Bruce Lee in his place.
08:27And it was hushed up.
08:32It was hushed up.
08:33And the thing is, what lots of people do not know, or they don't want to know about the
08:41Wong Jack Man, Bruce Lee incident, is after Wong Jack Man said to Bruce Lee, and it was
08:48in print, apparently, anytime, Bruce Lee could come back and challenge him again for a rematch.
08:57Now, the common story is that Bruce Lee kicked the crap out of Wong Jack Man.
09:03And I will never agree with that.
09:07Because if Bruce Lee, put it this way, if Bruce Lee kicked the crap out of you, would
09:14you openly challenge him to a rematch anytime?
09:19Of course not.
09:20Now, it's not just me, but it's lots of people that know that story is the truth.
09:27So it's not just my opinion there with the Wong Jack Man thing.
09:30But there's quite a bit that's debatable.
09:36And I think there's a lot of truth in the Wong Jack Man beating Bruce Lee story.
09:42And I heard that he created Jeet Kune Do, Bruce created Jeet Kune Do after the Wong
09:48Jack Man incident to try and save face.
09:52Now, it's very possible that Bruce Lee was angering a lot of people.
10:00And he faked his own death to escape all of the attention that he was getting, while still
10:06cementing his legend.
10:07Now, many people would say Bruce Lee wasn't actually really famous at all until after
10:12he died, unfortunately.
10:14Now, I'm not against Bruce Lee.
10:17I grew up watching Bruce Lee films and things.
10:20And I think it was amazing, his films.
10:23You know, but as a martial arts expert, I don't agree.
10:30Also Bruce Lee, I have heard and people have told me and things that I've read, he could
10:35not stand kata.
10:37Now, lots of martial arts have kata.
10:42And we break down the kata from the kata.
10:45We have self-defense applications, and how to defend ourselves.
10:51Now, Bruce Lee did a lot of research and a little bit of philosophy from all different
10:56books.
10:57And it's his philosophy.
10:59You know, lots of people can quote things from different books and say it's theirs.
11:05And back at the time, there was nobody to, nobody gave a crap about martial arts anywhere
11:12like they do now, you see.
11:14So I think Bruce Lee did very well for himself, exploiting martial arts to create his own
11:21legend.
11:22But I've also heard about Bruce Lee going into karate dojos, and he would fight the
11:29students, but he would never fight the instructors, because he would be, he'd probably get his
11:34ass kicked, you see.
11:37And this is what happened a few times, apparently, but, you know, I cannot really name names
11:43and things.
11:44And also, after the, I've heard that Bruce Lee had a very, very bad temper.
11:53Now, if you go to a karate dojo or somewhere, and you try to learn martial arts in the class,
12:01and you are bad tempered, you will not last five minutes, you see.
12:08So you cannot have a bad temper, you cannot be someone who hates kata, you cannot be someone
12:15who's against everything that we stand for as martial arts experts.
12:21And, you know, Bruce Lee, the story of Bruce Lee and his legend and stuff, you can pull
12:27the wool over the eyes of the general public who don't know any different.
12:32But people that train in real life for decades, people that live and breathe martial arts,
12:38they know Bruce Lee wasn't that good.
12:43But his message was good, you know.
12:46Now, I don't think that Bruce Lee was that bad.
12:52I think as a fighter, as someone who could fight, he was phenomenal.
12:59I think he was amazing.
13:01But as a martial artist, I don't agree.
13:06I don't think there's much depth to Bruce Lee's teachings and his philosophies and things.
13:15And, you know, like, I've seen Jeet Kune Do and stuff, and some of it's okay, but, you
13:21know, the kicks are a joke, the punches are weak.
13:25And it's, I know I'm causing outrage with this post, but I have to tell the truth.
13:32As a grandmaster, I don't say, oh, Bruce Lee was the fucking best who ever lived, because
13:40everyone else said it.
13:42Because it's not true, you see.
13:44You have to realize it's a very big planet.
13:50There's billions of people on this planet, and there's probably about 20 million people
13:57at least, probably more like 100 million martial arts experts that could kick Bruce Lee's ass
14:05when he was in his prime, you see.
14:08And that is not an exaggeration.
14:11But people like to believe in a legend, you see.
14:15And I think it is, maybe it is possible that Bruce Lee did fake his own death to escape
14:22being harassed and to forge a legend of martial arts, you see.
14:29Now, some people have said about Bruce Lee, and after he was dead, all of a sudden, everybody
14:38loved him, and everyone said he was the best, but when he was alive, lots of people hated
14:43Bruce Lee.
14:44Now, there is an interview with Bob Wall in the 1970s, in a Kung Fu magazine, I think.
14:54I mean, this is all before I was born, but it was Bob Wall, and I think other people
14:59were doing interviews, and they were actually saying not long, less than a year after Bruce
15:05Lee had died.
15:08And Bruce Lee wasn't that good, actually, Bruce Lee was rubbish.
15:11And then, give it a month or so, and they've changed their tune, and they spent the rest
15:18of their lives saying, you know what, Bruce Lee was the best who ever lived, nobody was
15:23better than Bruce Lee.
15:25And do you know why they said that?
15:27Not because it was true, but because there's lots of money in it.
15:33The thing is, if you say Bruce Lee is rubbish, nobody wants to interview you anymore.
15:41If you, even if it is true, but if you say Bruce Lee was the best who ever lived, and
15:45all this stuff, then you can keep saying it, you can keep making lots of money, you see?
15:52So Bruce Lee, do I think Bruce Lee was the best martial artist who ever lived, and all
15:57this stuff?
15:58Absolutely not.
16:00I think Bruce Lee was an amazing fighter, but I think he was very bad-tempered.
16:06He never had one single rank in any martial art.
16:12And I don't think he knew one character in his entire life.
16:17So that's just my opinions, I don't mean to offend anyone.
16:21The guy could still be alive, Bruce and Brandon could still be alive.
16:26And if they are, I don't wish anyone any disrespect, but I have to speak because I'm
16:33a grandmaster and it's my opinion.
16:36So I'm not going to argue with people's opinions, I can't be bothered.
16:41So thank you for listening to this, I hope you enjoyed the post.
16:48Have an amazing day.