Bruce Lee 265 62.50%

Mike Tyson 159 37.50%

Agree. People forget that Mike Tyson was 100 pounds heavier than Bruce Lee and knocking out some big bad dudes in the 1st round. Bruce Lee was a movie star with great skills, Tyson was a killer. Tyson would have literally separated Bruce Lee’s head from his skull in the first round.

A better poll would be would win in an MMA match - Mike Tyson in his prime vs. Jon Jones in his. (Jon Jones, BTW, because wrestling and jitsu)
[Reply]

Just goes to show how silly people are with their ideas about fighting.
[Reply]

Tyson is 220lbs and built like a brick shit house.

Lee is probably 135lbs soaking wet.

Lee would get destroyed.
[Reply]

Any half way decent MMA fighter in a heavier weight class would destroy Mike Tyson. It wouldn't need to be Jon Jones. Sorry, Tyson was great at boxing but MMA is a completely different beast that if you haven't trained for will get you eaten alive.
[Reply]

Absolutely. Of course we are assuming a static hypothetical world where Tyson fights like a boxer in UFC 1. In that world, BJJ guys win every time as long as in a similar weight class (and maybe even if not). But can you imagine Tyson with a wrestling or BJJ game? Holy shit.
[Reply]

I always thought these imaginary scenarios was just taking X in their prime with their knowledge set vs Y in their prime with their knowledge set and who would win but we can imagine anything I guess can't we :-)
[Reply]

You think Mike Tyson didn't fight guys that were bigger than him? Everyone he fought had a reach advantage - he knew how to deal with it.

As has been noted, he was so damn hard to keep out of your kitchen because he'd just keep coming. He'd get that head down behind his gloves and keep you from landing anything square then he'd just pursue, pursue, pursue. If you tried to stand there and keep him back with jabs, that would work - for awhile. But he was cat quick and the moment you missed with a jab, he inside on you. Now you're trying to back up to re-gain the space you lost be he's not letting you. Because again - he just kept coming.

And here's one of my favorite things about Tyson and I've alluded to it before - he's one of the best displays of the kinetic chain in action you will ever see. Tyson could step and delivery a punch that used that step to his advantage. He was able to use that step to help rotate his hips and in so doing take all that energy, put it into his back and then rotate his torso through and put a TON of energy into the punch.

So sure - try to keep him at distance. It can work if you're pristine in your execution or if he's not on his game. But you're not trying anything that hasn't been tried. He knows how to deal with length; he's been doing it his entire career. He's GOING to get inside you at some point and he's probably going to deliver serious damage when he does. So you'd better be able to take a wallop and then you'd better hope you catch him off balance and put one on the button.

Because you're not gonna stick and move your way to a win against prime Tyson. He was in too great a shape, he was too fast, he was too powerful and he was, in a seemingly impossible convergence, a relentless technician. It's hard to be as persistent AND as sound as he was. A war of attrition isn't gonna work.
[Reply]

Lee wouldn't have been physically strong enough to beat Tyson in any form of fighting. He couldn't win by submission, and he damn sure couldn't knock him out.

The poll results are shameful. :-)
[Reply]

Tyson easily. Lee is dead.
[Reply]

Couldn't win by submission either.

I've used this example before, but I saw a russian guy (Belfort I think) get Jon Jones in a full arm lock and use his entire body to pry into that elbow. And Jones was just so powerful that he was able to hold him off and eventually stand himself up with a grown ass man hanging from his arm, shake the guy off and beat the shit out of him.

Even the 'submission' folks simply do not realize how powerful these guys are. 135 lb Bruce Lee isn't doing shit to get Mike Tyson to submit. If Vitor can't get Jons to submit when he's putting his entire body into the guy's arm, Bruce Lee isn't doing a thing to Mike Tyson.

EDIT: Ah shit - I see you said COULDN'T beat him by submission. Yeah - that.

There's literally not a single thing Bruce Lee could do to defeat Tyson.
[Reply]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure if Lee tried to choke out Tyson, Tyson would simply peel his hands off his neck, like a regular guy might to a 12-year-old.
[Reply]

Come on, dude. This is massive hyperbole lol Lee was still a grown ass man.
[Reply]

Yes, but he was a grown man who weighed 135 pounds. Versus a regular guy on the street? Of course Lee would dominate. Against Tyson? 135 pounds isn't close to enough to stop a prime Mike Tyson from doing whatever he wants.
[Reply]

I watch boxing , but obviously don’t have the knowledge of the ins and out you do. But Buster Douglas was the tallest guy he fought at 6’4. And he lost. Fury is 5 inches taller with a longer reach. And I don’t know what the outcome would actually be. But I just think it would be a hell of a problem for Mike. And I was a big Mike Stan back in the day.
[Reply]

In a boxing match, Mike would KILL Bruce. In a karate fight though?? Bruce was a master at using peoples muscle against them. If Mike could get hold of him he’d likely pummel him, but if Bruce could evade and and use karate moves he MIGHT have a chance. No doubt Bruce was much quicker, mostly because of the size difference. But if Mike was able to get hold of him! It’s probably over! But what the hell do I know? I’m sitting in the hospital on my ass!
[Reply]