Veteran UFC color commentator Joe Rogan has been vocal regarding the portrayal of the late Bruce Lee in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood — and he still maintains the depiction was all wrong.
Lee, the late film star and martial arts pioneer, passed away in 1973. A massive movie star during his pomp, he featured in many a flick, including Enter the Dragon, Fists of Fury and The Chinese Connection, bringing to life one of the first iterations of mixed martial arts to popular culture.
But portrayed in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Mike Moh, Lee’s character came under fire for claiming he would make Muhammad Ali a “cripple” if they ever fought.
In that same scene, Moh’s character is easily dispatched by Cliff Booth — a stuntman and Rick Dalton’s right-hand man, played by the award-winning Brad Pitt. But with director Quintin Tarantino coming under fire for his choice to portray Lee in such fashion — from both critics and the late movie star’s own family and friends, Rogan has not held back either.
“Well, the Bruce Lee thing [in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood] is the one of the things that I really didn’t agree with,” Rogan told comedian Jimmy Carr on his podcast this week.
“I love Tarantino. I’m a giant fan. As a human being, I love him. And as a director, I think he’s the greatest of all time. He is the most consistently exciting, groundbreaking, psychotic films. I f*cking love his movies,” Rogan added.
“The problem is, I know a lot about Bruce Lee,” he, however, argued, adding, “Bruce Lee was and he wasn’t like that. He wasn’t that arrogant guy. And I just think he’s misrepresented.”
Notably, Rogan has raised the subject with Tarantino himself earlier on his podcast. However, the Inglorious Basterds director shut him down by claiming that Lee was known to look down at stuntmen.
He had further claimed that he would empathize with Lee’s daughter if she had an issue with the portrayal of her father in the film. But as far as everyone else was concerned, they could “go s**k a d**k”.
Notably, Rogan isn’t the only prominent figure in the UFC to heap praise on the late Lee, with CEO Dana White making a huge claim decades ago.
White labels Lee the ‘Father of MMA’
Often compared to former two-weight champion Conor McGregor during his UFC pomp — the Dubliner was said to practise a similar loose and flowing striking style used by the late Lee.
But long before the former champion’s emergence in combat sports, Lee was already on the lips of long-time UFC leader, White.
Years ago — back in 2004, in fact– White heaped praise on the former movie star. Even christening him as the likely ‘Father of MMA’.
“If you look at the way Bruce Lee trained, the way he fought. And many of the things he wrote, he said, the perfect style was no style,” White said.
“You take a little something from everything. You take the good things from every different discipline, use what works, and you throw the rest away,” the bossman added, referring to the versatile methods of training being a common practice for top mixed martial artists.
