Chuck Norris, an American martial artist as well as an actor and speaker, is a black belt in Tang Soo Doo, jiu-jitsu, and Judo. Bruce Lee, an absolute legend when it comes to martial arts, was known for his agility and speed.

Both these men are big names in their fields,?but that is not the only thing common between these two contemporaries. Both of them were born in the year 1940, and were on the same path to greatness, until the untimely and tragic death of Bruce lee in 1973.

Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee were training buddies, and the former talked about their time training and working out together. Norris and Lee regularly hung out together and engaged in sparring sessions. They even knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses and gave advice to each other. Their bond was inevitable- two strong martial artists coming together out of respect and appreciation for each other.

Chuck Norris on Bruce Lee’s training style

When Norris and Lee were fighters, there was no MMA-style fighting. According to Norris “…MMA wasn’t in existence when Bruce and I were training and when I was fighting. Even though we fought bare-fisted during our competitions, we had a lot of injuries, but it wasn’t an MMA style fighting.”

Read more: ?Started Eating Hamburgers and Drinking Malt?: Before His Iconic Bruce Lee Fight Scene, Chuck Norris Had to Change His Diet for a Bizarre Reason in 1972

It is clear from the way Norris talks about Lee, that he had massive respect for the guy. In fact, Norris was sure that if MMA was around during their time, they would have made strides in the sport.

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He says, “I felt I would have done well and I think Bruce would have too. He was a fanatical trainer. When he and I work out, we work out for 3 or 4 hours in his backyard in Culver City California.”

While Norris and Lee were training buddies, Norris did complain about Lee not taking time to recharge. Right after training together, Norris would sit down and take the time off. But not Lee; Lee would drop to the floor and start doing crunches.

Norris said to Bruce Lee, “…you’ll burn that engine out if you keep right on training all the time.”?But according to him, it was not an easy thing to do for Lee. “Bruce had a hard time doing that, he had a hard time recharging.”

Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee’s relationship

The two martial artists became friends during the US karate championships held in the year 1968. It was because of this equation, that Lee wanted Norris to star in The Way of the Dragon. Their iconic fighting scene together in the movie became a rage amongst the audiences. People were excited to see the Kung Fu masters of the east and the west come together.

Ironically, Norris had no interest in becoming a film star at that point. But he went because Lee called, and that film became the first of many films that Norris would later become the protagonist of.

Watch this story: Bruce Lee: Top 5 movies of the legend you need to know