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ESPN’s 30 for 30 ‘Be Water’ revisits the day Bruce Lee changed martial arts forever
- Bruce Lee’s legendary exhibition at the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964 began the martial arts movement that is still developing today
- ‘We walked away thinking he was changing things up,’ says legendary Ron Van Clief, who went on to become one of the UFC’s first commissioners
Reading Time:4 minutes
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Bruce Lee altered the course of martial arts history when he walked out on to the auditorium floor at the inaugural Long Beach International Karate Championships on August 2, 1964.
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It would take the best part of a decade for Lee’s vision to seriously go global but those in the crowd that day knew they’d seen something very special.
Ron Van Clief was there in California among them.
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“He was a maverick,” Van Clief said. “All the great fighters were there and it was a spectacular event. You know it really changed martial arts. It started the martial arts movement that you can see still developing today.”
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