Bruce Lee’s influence in the realm of fighting has been time and again lauded by Joe Rogan. He has been a fan of Lee since his martial arts days and has praised Lee’s influence in shapin͏g the ͏MMA world. However, in his most recent escapade, Rogan highlighted the movie star’s shortcomings against an actual fighter.

Joe Rogan, in episode #2118 of the ‘Joe Rogan Experience,’ exposed how Gene LeBell was toying with Bruce Lee when they fought each other. Let us dig in to get the context behind the story.

At the ‘JRE’ #2118, Joe Rogan hosted the American duo from the band ‘The Black Keys.’ While having a conversation about fighting, the podcaster emphasized the relevance and importance of Judoka and actor Gene LeBell in shaping the world of MMA. The BJJ black belt emphasized that he was one of the first fighters to have ever stepped into a boxing ring without having any proper training in the sport and still win the match.

“Gene LeBell is a legend. He was a judo champion and one of the first guys to do mixed martial arts fights. Like, he had a fight with a boxer way, way back in the day and just strangled this boxer and put him to sleep… He was the guy that also trained Bruce Lee,” said Rogan.

The million-dollar podcaster further explained that LeBell showcased a little American humor to Lee when they crossed paths at the set of ‘The Green Hornet’. He further added, “He taught Bruce Lee about grappling. Bruce Lee was doing these movies, and it was a little unrealistic… Gene Lebell was like, ‘Let me show you what I can do to you.’ He just kind of grabs Bruce Lee and hoists him over his head and says, ‘Listen, settle down. Let’s not pretend you’re the baddest motherfu**er on the planet.'” 

Bruce Lee and Gene LeBell’s friendship explored

LeBell once recollected the incident of running into Lee on the set of the show. “One of the first things I noticed was that although Bruce was small, about 130 pounds, he had a tremendous upper body. Bruce was also very fast and wanted to always take action beyond what the script called for. Once the director called action, he got that and a lot more from Bruce,” said LeBell in an interview. Rumor has it, the infamous scene featuring Bruce Lee and ‘Cliff Booth’ in Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ was inspired from this story.

After their friendly chit-chat, Lee and LeBell became good friends. They trained together, sometimes in LeBell’s dojo, and sometimes in Lee’s dojo. “At that time I had a small dojo near Paramount Studios. Bruce would come to my school and I’d go to his. Back then, he had a small school in Chinatown. We worked out on a one-on-one basis and we both learned a great deal from each other. He taught me a lot of Kung Fu moves that I had never seen before,” said LeBell.

LeBell was one of the greatest grapplers of all time. He was nicknamed ‘The Godfather of Grappling’, for his dominant grappling skills. He popularized grappling in fighting and is probably one of the main motivators behind MMA.

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