Long ago we missed the 80th anniversary of the birth of Bruce Lee, who died in 1973 aged just 32, but is considered as the father of MMA – Mixed Martial Arts. He was born in Chinatown, San Francisco but died in Kowloon, Hong Kong where he was raised from one year old, his parental ancestry Cantonese; from 12 he attended La Salle College and took up martial arts (judo & karate) after being beaten up by a street gang; he then trained in wing chun kung fu, then became a gang leader himself in The Tigers of Junction Street; he also trained as a dancer and in 1958 won a cha-cha championship and won a school boxing championship in Hong Kong but reputedly beat in a street fight the son of a Triad family and was under Police attention so returned to SF’s Chinatown 1959, then went to Seattle, Washington & studied drama & philosophy at University of Washington; as his career took off he relocated to Oakland, California to be closer to Hollywood but also drew attention at the Long Beach International Karate Championships, which he won twice. He became the great icon of martial arts cinema with only 32 screen credits. He made lots of Hong Kong films then hit wider fame on TV as Kato in Batman & The Green Hornet 1966-7 and after other minor TV roles had a minor star turn as martial arts instructor in Longstreet 1971 until he became global with the film The Big Boss 1971, success from which led to Fist of Fury & Way of the Dragon 1972 before Enter the Dragon 1973, which was set in Rome. He died young from a cerebral edema caused by reaction to a headache tablet and is laid to rest in Seattle. Posthumously a compilation was put together from unused shots to make Game of Death 1978, and because of the demand for more Lee later the more shoddy Game of Death II in 1980. He had invented the martial art Jeet Kune Do (Way of the Intercepting Fist). With all the famous friends he taught and partnered - Steve McQueen, James Coburn, George Lazenby and Chuck Norris to name a few - he was also heavily adopted in Bosnia, with a statue there – and of course there is one in Hong Kong. We believe him worthy of a match in his honour and hope you accept – if the number or ratings do not suit, then please make contact.
Equaliser769
