The transcript below is from the video “Bruce Lee: THE GODFATHER OF MMA?” by Mike Ciavarro.

Mike Ciavarro:

The man who made MMA what it is today. One of the fastest growing sports in the world right now. Bruce became this legend without even competing. Lee will forever go down as one of the greatest and most revolutionary artists of all time.

Bruce Lee:

“My last name is Lee, Bruce Lee. I was born in San Francisco in 1940.”

Bruce Lee:

“Well, it’s bad to say the best, but in my opinion, I think Kung Fu is freedom.”

Bruce Lee:

“There are various kinds of strikes. It depends on where you hit and what weapon you will be using.”

Bruce Lee:

“Be formless, shapeless, like water. “

Dana White (UFC President):

“You’ll have people out there debating and fighting over this stuff, there’s no debate, Bruce Lee is definitely the father of mixed martial arts.”

Dana White (UFC President):

“You ask any fighter out there growing up who their inspiration was, everybody, says Bruce Lee. You know, the Gracies were founding fathers of the actual UFC but I think the sport of mixed martial arts was started by Bruce Lee.”

Anthony Pettis (Former UFC Lightweight Champion):

“Before the UFC, before you know any of this stuff was about, I think he was one of the guys that made martial arts mainstream.”

Sugar Ray Leonard (Former Five Weight World Boxing Champion):

“People saw Bruce Lee as a major force, a positive force and he was special.”

Anthony Pettis (Former UFC Lightweight Champion):

“Bruce Lee is the man. Bruce Lee is the reason why most of these guys are using martial arts.”

Sugar Ray Leonard (Former Five Weight World Boxing Champion):

“That was the most amazing thing about Bruce was the fact that he could generate so much speed and velocity and his punches. Short punches that he used, his body and his and his um the type of leverage he was able to gain because he knew he understood the mechanics of the body. That was special.”

Bruce Lee:

“Really, to me, okay, to me, ultimately, martial art means honestly expressing yourself. Now it is very difficult to do. I mean, it is easy for me to put on a show and be cocky and be flooded with a cocky feeling and then feel like pretty cool and all that. But to express oneself honestly, not lying to myself, and to express myself honestly, that, my friend, is very hard to do. And you have to train. You have to keep your reflexes so that when you want it, it’s there.”

Jon Jones (Former UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion):

“You know, it just makes you feel powerless because no one’s going to be like Bruce Lee. No matter how much you stay or how much you learn, how much you try to be that type of person.”

James DeMile (Former Bruce Lee Student):

“Bruce could beat us all and I don’t mean it would be a struggle. I mean, he could beat us all. We didn’t have a chance. This was in an actual fight situation where I tried to hit him. I tried to knock him out. We tried to hurt this kid because he was always embarrassing us in demonstrations and just in general.”

Keanu Reeves (Movie Star & Martial Artist):

“The thing about Bruce Lee was he did real Kung Fu, you know. I’ve heard stories like from Enter The Dragon, they’re shooting scenes and then the real Kung Fu guy goes your kung fu is no good. They go in the back and, you know, one guy comes back and it’s Bruce Lee and after that, no one really says anything, you know. He was the real deal.”

Jim Kelly (Actor & Student of Bruce Lee):

“Bruce Lee was a step above everybody, I mean, everybody. During that era, even today, I mean it holds up today, but during that era of 60s and 70s, Bruce was just great and in my opinion, he was just a step above. No matter how great everybody else was, Bruce was just a little step above. He was just absolutely unbelievable.”

Jackie Chan (Actor & Martial Artist):

“Some kind of like a half traditional Chinese, half traditional American, so this is what makes him unique. The way he talked, the way he present then, just unique. You know, he’s just great.”

Sugar Ray Leonard (Former Five Weight World Boxing Champion):

“I’ve told people all over the world that Bruce Lee was one of my idols, mainly because of his mental stability, because of his fighting spirit, because it was more mental than just physical. For him, it was like what he called emotional content and for me, because of my mental stability, I was able to beat those guys.”

Bruce Lee:

“Actually, you see, I mean, it’s a combination of both. I mean, here it is the natural instinct and here is control. You are to combine the two in harmony, not if you have one to the extreme, you will be very unscientific. If you have another to the extreme, you become all of a sudden a mechanical man, no longer a human being. So it is a successful combination of both. So therefore, it’s not pure naturalness or unnaturalness. The ideal is unnatural naturalness or natural unnaturalness.”

Shannon Lee (Bruce Lee’s Daughter):

“The difference one person can make is the difference he can make to one other person, and then one other, and then one other. It’s the inspiration, the spark, the light to move just one person and where there is light, there is no darkness.”

Joe Rogan (Comedian, Martial Artist, & UFC Commentator):

“… guy and one particular style of movie. It created like a whole way that people wanted to fight. They wanted to start kicking people. Before that it was like fisticuffs.”

Snoop Dogg (Musician & Actor):

“Now you got to watch his legs now.”

Joe Rogan (Comedian, Martial Artist, & UFC Commentator):

“Yeah, they’re like one group of people figured it out.”

Snoop Dogg (Musician & Actor):

“And Bruce Lee made sound effects a part of fighting as well.”

Joe Rogan (Comedian, Martial Artist, & UFC Commentator):

“Yeah!”

Snoop Dogg (Musician & Actor):

“Because you would never not do his move without saying “whataa” “whoo”.”

Joe Rogan (Comedian, Martial Artist, & UFC Commentator):

“It’s so attractive to people to fight that way, to like kick each other.”

Sadhguru (Yoga Guru):

“A 185-pound man went and fell in the pool with a three-inch punch, just that’s all, no like this, just, that’s all. Because you’re using the manipuraka “whoo”, the man will just fly.”

James DeMile (Former Bruce Lee Student):

“When I say Bruce was a fighter, I’m not saying that he was a good tournament fighter. I’m saying I’ll put him against anybody, any weight division, any size, any background, and I’ll put my money on it as a fighter.”

Robert Lee (Bruce Lee’s Brother):

“Sincere martial artist in film and he really managed to project that image and I guess when the public saw that, it’s just something that they’ve never seen before. It’s something that is really dynamite and dynamic.”

Shannon Lee (Bruce Lee’s Daughter):

“He’d really been let down by the sort of rigid structure of his traditional art, you know, in a real fight where there were no rules. And so he really just threw that out and wanted to express himself as a fighter in the totality.”

Conor McGregor (Former UFC Featherweight & Lightweight Double-Champion):

“That’s what a true martial artist can do. They can adapt under any circumstance. Bruce Lee said, “Be formless, shapeless, like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put in the teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend!”