The best martial artist of all time, who is he?

[Eric L]

If you we're to name a person who you would consider to best fighter, warrior and martial artist on this planet, who would that be?

One who is alive, of course.

[Manuel]

I'm pretty sure that the best martial artist in the world is not KNOWN by anyone! Because if he (or she of course :-) ) is a master of such extraordinary skill they would also have the infinite wisdom to appear as just "one of us".

Just take a look at any old Chinese bagua master or someone like Koichi Tohei (who I've personally received instruction from). They don't look like fighters/warriors at all: very friendly & humble and often small and scrawny, but they can drop your ass on the floor faster than you can say chopsticks!

[LoneW0LF]

• When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Too bad he has never cried.
• Superman owns a pair of Chuck Norris pajamas.
• Chuck Norris can squeeze orange juice out of a lemon
• Giraffes were created when Chuck Norris uppercutted a horse.
• Chuck Norris is the only person on the planet that can kick you in the back of the face.
• Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.
• Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.
• Bill Gates lives in constant fear that Chuck Norris' PC will crash.
• Chuck Norris died ten years ago, but the Grim Reaper can't work up the courage to tell him.

[Mikahcho]

^Defo!

Everytime Chuck Norris does a push up, the world moves down a little

[Cochonette]

No idea. The best I've seen is Ikeda-sensei, not that I've seen much.

[newsbone]

Originally Posted by Eric L

If you we're to name a person who you would consider to best fighter, warrior and martial artist on this planet, who would that be?

One who is alive, of course.

Jet Lee, of course!

[IamAlsoThat]

It really was at one point chuck norris... I dont know it might still be

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by IamAlsoThat

It really was at one point chuck norris... I dont know it might still be

Yeah. Most people don't know that Chuck Norris was actually the world champion back in his fighting days, for something like 6 or 7 years straight.

I got to meet him about a year or so ago and he is a really nice guy. He is also really short in person! It's crazy.

[Captain Drywall]

me

[Eisho]

Steve Morris.

Now in his mid-sixties, but someone who could have taken Bruce Lee. Check him on the net and YouTube. He's a real fighter and very, very knowledgeable.

Cheers,

Eisho

[Moxie]

Jackie Chan.

[Ted the Mighty]

I don't know but here is a guy who just might: Sifu Wong Kiew Kit's Home Page on Shaolin Kungfu, Chi Kung, Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) and Zen

That's Wong Kiew Kit, perhaps the man with the best claim towards teaching authentic Shaolinquan as was done at the famous Shaolin Monastery by many generations of great fighters and Zen Masters.

Although he himself is a ridiculously formidable fighter, he makes no claims to being the best in the world or any such thing. If I really wanted to find out who the world's best fighter is, he'd be who I'd ask.

As for Chuck Norris, he was never the best fighter in the world. He was a middleweight karate champion. Nothing to scoff at but a far cry from the best in the world.

To wind up this non-answer, I'd like to put forth Tu Jin-Sheng as a candidate. WARNING: Videos linked to "Tu" and "Sheng" are a bit NSFW.

[LoneW0LF]

Originally Posted by Ted the Mighty

As for Chuck Norris, he was never the best fighter in the world. He was a middleweight karate champion. Nothing to scoff at but a far cry from the best in the world.

If you make a list of 10 things Chuck Norris cannot do, he will appear at your house and perform them all. Your life may be forfeit.

[Captain Drywall]

David carradine could pretend to fight. same with Jackie Chan. you must look beyond actors like Bruce lee. heck keanu reeves looks like he fights and stops bullets in the matrix

[Sam988]

Lindomar, the Brazilian Sub Zero

YouTube - voadora do lindomar

[Plays With Life]

It's me, of course. I've never been defeated in a fight.

Actually, I know of a Russian guy who has a school in Canada. He's ex-Russian special forces. He teaches physical techniques + energy manipulation techniques. I think he'd be well-nigh impossible to fell in a fight.

My guess is some of the best fighters are in intelligence services. They have real-life experience fighting for their lives. Field agents work alone in foreign, sometimes hostile areas. They've got to be pretty darn good at defending themselves in a fight.

[openeyes]

Pac-Man - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Of course, most competitions are biased against him, focusing on arms and legs while banning biting ...

[bluesharpist101]

bruce lee (not alive) and fedor emelianenko.

[supertom]

Originally Posted by bluesharpist101

bruce lee (not alive) and fedor emelianenko.

agreed, that i know of.
Only a master that can manipulate the energy would be the best, but we prob wont know him/her since they would want to keep a low profile

[Brutha]

My guess is some of the best fighters are in intelligence services. They have real-life experience fighting for their lives. Field agents work alone in foreign, sometimes hostile areas. They've got to be pretty darn good at defending themselves in a fight.

Field agents however don't have the time to train as much as people who mainly focus on becoming good at fighting.

[Plays With Life]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Field agents however don't have the time to train as much as people who mainly focus on becoming good at fighting.

Agreed. Good point.

[Ted the Mighty]

Originally Posted by LoneW0LF

If you make a list of 10 things Chuck Norris cannot do, he will appear at your house and perform them all. Your life may be forfeit.

1. Clean my dishes.
2. Give me his autograph.
3. Give me a hand with the plumbing.
4. Do my laundry.
5. Make a generous donation to Unicef and/or Doctors without Borders.
6. Wash the windows.
7. Straighten out that one picture by the stairs that's always hanging funny.
8. Tell all my neighbors what good friends we are.
9. Hide the bodies.
10. Spare my miserable life.

[180]

Lot's of people argue for Bruce Lee being the world's greatest fighter. I'm inclined but not readily accept that.

The fact is, Bruce lee is just well known. How many fighters do we know besides movie stars? Not many. For all we know, Bruce Lee could lose to modern day MMA fighters. Plus, even though he had dense muscle mass... he wasn't exactly the biggest. Skill wise though, he might be up there.

I do think though, that his fighting philosophy was the best. Why? Because it encompassed simply to adapt, be flexible, and "use what works". We all know the "be like water" speech. He said that katas (Strict movements) are mostly useful training, but should not be accepted as real life fighting.

What if we pitted all the best fighters? hell it could even end up being a rock, paper, scissor, thing where the kung fu guy beats karate, karate beats judo, and judo beats Kung Fu.

Unless there's some rich entrepreneur who wants to start something like a "Mortal Kombat" scenario and hire all the best fighters to gather in a tournament. "The world may never know"

God I hope that happens someday. WTF is bill gates doing wasting his money on poor people....



We need more of this:
YouTube - Mortal Kombat Test Your Might

Less of this:
YouTube - Bill Gates: How I'm trying to change the world now (includes the infamous mosquito release!)

[joelr]

If you're talking about fighting in a ring/cage with any fighting art allowed but no illegal moves (eye poke, groin, weapons etc) then it's Fedor.

There is no one who could step into a ring and beat Fedor.


For wrestling the greatest was Karelin
Alexander Karelin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


For boxing probably Ali.


In traditional martial arts it's hard to say because many of the arts are not directly for fighting. For example Kung Fu is from China but if you go there and want to watch or participate in a real full contact fight event they do not use kung fu. San Chow is the fighting art and it's really just American boxing with basic real kicks.
Most of Kung Fu is learning how to perform dance, become flexible and all sorts of graceful movements and quick strikes to the air.

Whereas a San Chow guy shows up at the gym, put wraps and toothguard on and works on the same 6 punches over and over with pads and spars in the ring.

[joelr]

Originally Posted by 180

Unless there's some rich entrepreneur who wants to start something like a "Mortal Kombat" scenario and hire all the best fighters to gather in a tournament. "The world may never know"

God I hope that happens someday. WTF is bill gates doing wasting his money on poor people....

Yeah that already happened! In 1996 an entrepreneur started hosting UFC fights. There was no weight class, no gloves and just basic rules of no eye/groin/finger in mouth attacks.
They had judo, wrestlers, boxers, karate, Brazilian jui-jitsu, sumo wrestlers, maui-tai and more.
The karate guy was "The Black Dragon" 5th degree black belt from NY.
They all fought and the winners went on to fight each other until there was only one guy left.

The first few events were completely dominated by jui-jitsu grapplers then when the jui jitsu guys stopped coming up from Brazil the next 5 or so UFCs were dominated by wrestlers.
Over the years people started studying that Brazillian Jui-jitsu and getting really good so it would cancel out any opponent who was also good at it. Then it came down to who were the best punch/kickers and the folks who were good at real striking arts like boxing and maui-tai were finally winning as long as they also had good grappling skills.

Then weight classes and uniforms were standardized and now all the fighters study it as a "new" art (MMA) which combines all of the things that actually work in ring fighting.

[KarmaAmputee]

Fedor Emelianenko

[Talkofthatown919]

i'd have to say bruce lee and jet li
Those two amaze me everytime

[Dan Fulton]

In terms of real-life combat, I would say Masaaki Hatsumi, creator of Bujinkan.

[elucidate]

I was watching a you tube vid with him in it today.

Oyama, of the Keiokishin school is a freakin' BADASS as well.

He spent 18 months alone in the forest and mountains of japan just fighting nature. breaking rocks with his hand, climbing ice crevices with just bare feet and a roughly made hook , battling the forces of nature...18 whole months...clearly insane and stupendous

Originally Posted by Dan Fulton

In terms of real-life combat, I would say Masaaki Hatsumi, creator of Bujinkan.

[suit up]

george st pierre ............ kidding.

i bet he'd kick chuck norris' ass though.