The Twenty Most Influential of Our Time....

Buka

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Who do you think has influenced Martial Arts the most in the last 50 or 100 years? Or whatever time frame you want.

I think there's a lot of ways to go. I could put Art Davie in there, he started the first UFC. That start has resulted in Martial fighting to be on television every damn week of the year. Never thought I'd see that in my lifetime.

Bruce Lee? He certainly started changes in the arts, or at least people's perception of Martial Arts. Certainly brought a whole lot of attention to the arts.

Robert Trias? He opened the first dojo in the United States. Should he be on that list? What about the guys that opened the first dojos in your country? Who were they and how much of an influence did they have on the Arts where you reside?

The Gracies? Chuck Norris? Remy Presas? Ed Parker? Gichen Funakoshi? Jugaro Kano? We certainly all know those names.
Muhammad Ali? I know he was a boxer, but I consider that a martial/fighting art. He got more publicity than anyone I can think of.

What do you guys think? Who would you consider for the list of the top twenty most influential Martial Artists of our time?
 

Hong Kong Pooey

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Bruce Lee no.1 for me.

GM Yip Man is up there too, but I'm biased.

Agree on all the ones you've mentioned that I've heard of, and what about the Marquis of Queensbury?

His rules enabled boxing to be accepted as a respectable sport by polite society.
 

Tames D

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Steven Seagal
Jean Claude Van Damme

Like them or not, they and their movies influenced alot of new martial artists.
 

jezr74

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Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Dolph Lundgren, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao

Think your going to have two categories, MAists that are known in MA circles\countries, and world\movie renown. Do you count the WWE?
 

Tames D

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Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Dolph Lundgren, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao

Think your going to have two categories, MAists that are known in MA circles\countries, and world\movie renown. Do you count the WWE?

And then there's Master Ken ;)
 

jezr74

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Ji Han-jae

Actually Hapkido (1972) was the first Martial Arts movie I ever saw as a kid and got be started.
 

hoshin1600

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1960's
elvis presley
George mattson
Robert Trias
Ed parker
Joon Ree

1970's
bruce lee
chuck noris
bill wallace
david caradine
koichi tohei
Tom laughlin
joe corley

1980's
pat morita
sho kosugi
steven hayes
morio higaonna
fred villari (the term mcdojo is part of the lexicon)


1990's
steven segal
royce gracie
fred ettish (without his part in ufc history TMA practioners may not have woken up)
billy blanks (many shools would have shut their doors if not for teaching some form of kick boxing)



2000---
dana white

but above all.....
lawyers, accountants, insurance companies, law makers and political agenda PC mentality left wing nut jobs
 

K-man

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Wow! I'd be struggling with a top 100 without trying to pick 20.

From Karate
Chojun Miyagi, Gichin Funakoshi, Mas Oyama, Gogen Yamaguchi

From Krav Maga
Imi Lichtenfeld

From Aikido
Morihei Ueshiba
Koichi Tohei
Steven Seagal

From CMAs
Bruce Lee
William Cheung
Emin Boztepe

From BJJ
Mitsuyo Maeda
Helio Gracie

From Judo
Jigoro Kano

From Boxing
Mohammed Ali

For promoting Martial arts in Australia
Tino Ceberano
Bob Jones
 
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Buka

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Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Dolph Lundgren, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao

Think your going to have two categories, MAists that are known in MA circles\countries, and world\movie renown. Do you count the WWE?

Maybe, that's a better way to do it. Movies, TV, media, whatever, sure do reach a lot of people. Maybe Steve Chen, Jawed Karim and Chad Hurley should be on there. They started Youtube. I mean, heck, most of us go there all the time.
 

Spinedoc

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1960's
elvis presley
George mattson
Robert Trias
Ed parker
Joon Ree

1970's
bruce lee
chuck noris
bill wallace
david caradine
koichi tohei
Tom laughlin
joe corley

1980's
pat morita
sho kosugi
steven hayes
morio higaonna
fred villari (the term mcdojo is part of the lexicon)


1990's
steven segal
royce gracie
fred ettish (without his part in ufc history TMA practioners may not have woken up)
billy blanks (many shools would have shut their doors if not for teaching some form of kick boxing)



2000---
dana white

but above all.....
lawyers, accountants, insurance companies, law makers and political agenda PC mentality Right wing nut jobs

Fixed it for ya...:)
 

hoshin1600

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Fixed it for ya...:)
hey im an equal oportunity kinda guy :) Mcains comments on MMA shows he kinda closed minded.
but i was thinking specificly about Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts back in the 80's he passed a law making nunchucks, throwing stars and manrikigusai or any other chain weapon illegal, that can have heaver penalties than hand guns and knives, at least you can get a permit for a hand gun. there were better ways to solve the problem at the time but he went for an outright ban that is still in place today. im still pissed off about it to his day.
 
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Buka

Buka

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hey im an equal oportunity kinda guy :) Mcains comments on MMA shows he kinda closed minded.
but i was thinking specificly about Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts back in the 80's he passed a law making nunchucks, throwing stars and manrikigusai or any other chain weapon illegal, that can have heaver penalties than hand guns and knives, at least you can get a permit for a hand gun. there were better ways to solve the problem at the time but he went for an outright ban that is still in place today. im still pissed off about it to his day.

Mary Jo - "But, Senator, what if I get pregnant?

Ted - "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

May there be a hell. Oh, please let there be one.
 

K-man

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