[Jeff Higgins]

A much repeated urban legend when I was a kid was that the Irish footballer, Georgie Best, beat the hell out of Bruce Lee one day in a pub. True or not, I cannot say. Sure had some staying power, though.

I believe that Bruce Lee refused to get in the ring for a real match against Chuck Norris who, at the time, was an actual champion in some discipline.

What is true is that Chuck Zito, former HA and bodyguard to the stars (most notably Liza Minelli), actually did beat the living daylights out of Jean Claude Van Damme in a New York night club one day. Zito had been told that Van Damme was talking smack about him, so he hopped on his bike and motored across town. Folks who saw it said it wasn't even a contest. Zito was apparently an accomplished amateur boxer, as was his dad.

I remember a time before MMA when there was a much more disciplined game involving "martial arts". They fought in a regular boxing ring. They actually had to implement rules requiring a minimum number of kicks to be thrown in each round. Without that rule, it had been no more than a boxing match. Trying to land a kick, and exposing one's self to that degree, had that low of a return on investment. The boxers won. Every time.

MMA introduced grappling to the mix. One must now have a "ground game". Bruce Lee did not, it was not a part of the repertoire in those days. Grappling would not have figured into this match. That leaves boxing and kicking. As such, at twice his size and with similar hand speed, Ali would have destroyed Lee. I would go so far as to say it would have beed irresponsible to even set up such a match. Assuming they got serious in the ring, that is.