One of the greatest dojo storm fight scenes ever filmed took place in Bruce Lee’s “Fist of Fury” (“Chinese Connection” in the US), where Lee entered a judo dojo to challenge the head master, Suzuki.
While Suzuki wasn’t present, Lee was happy to take on every student and coach in the dojo in a well choreographed and action-packed scene.
In addition to Lee’s masterful striking and grappling, there are many lessons martial arts school owners can take away from this epic scene.
Don’t start beefs with other schools
Lee never would have initiated the dojo storm if Suzuki’s henchmen hadn’t poisoned Lee’s master and interrupted his funeral. All martial arts schools can co-exist and compete on a level playing field without disrupting or bad mouthing each other’s academies.
If you are the head instructor, feed the challenger an upper belt first
In the event of a dojo storm, first use a trusted and tough upper belt to test out the interloper’s skills. At worst, your upper belt loses, but you tired out the challenger a little bit and scouted out his tendencies and moves.
Have your students jump on challenger simultaneously rather than go one-on-one
Once you realize you have some bad *** Bruce Lee character who is about to burn down your school, you can’t afford to send your white belts in one-on-one. Forget all the honor and respect; you need to restrain this guy. Have everybody jump on him and restrain and remove him from the academy.
Your students need to train no-gi
Bruce Lee knew what was up when he took off his jacket. Not only did he want to show off his six pack and pecs, but he knew his judo adversaries needed grips in order to execute most of their offensive moves. As you can tell in the scene, the judo students didn’t know how to grab or attack a shirtless Lee.
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructors must also teach students no-gi and wrestling techniques so they understand how to use hooks to grip and control shirtless opponents.
Once weapons come out, call the police
Once Bruce Lee busted out the nunchuks, the instructor should have called the police right there. In additional to trespassing and assault, weapons like nunchuks are illegal in some states and countries. If a challenger wants to fight in hand-to-hand combat, it’s one thing. Busting out nunchuks, ninja stars, and swords is crossing the line. Lee busted open students’ heads, likely broke a few jaws, and broke a few ankles with his nunchuk rampage.
Head instructor has to stay in shape just in case of challenges
The head instructor for the class let himself go after earning his black belt and cushy teaching gig. He has let himself get out of shape and looks like one of those instructors who never rolls with his students. Based on his one-on-one battle with Lee, you can tell he has some skills, but likely hasn’t been drilling as much. He got really winded and red-faced, which left him open to the attacks of the faster and much younger Lee.
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