Gene
LeBell, a man who is widely credited for making grappling a
popular discipline in combat sports, has died at age 89.
Advertisement
Lebell was a beloved figure in the martial arts world, and his
reach extended to multiple arenas, including judo, mixed martial
arts, professional wrestling and as a Hollywood stuntman. He won
won the heavyweight and overall Amateur Athletic Union National
Judo Championships in 1954 and 1955 before eventually transitioning
to professional wrestling.
In more recent years, he become known for being in the corner of
former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda
Rousey. However, the list of people he has trained with
includes luminaries from multiple walks of life such as Sugar Ray
Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris and Roddy Piper, to
name a few. Other notables who trained under Lebell include
Gokor
Chivichyan, Karo
Parisyan and Manny
Gamburyan.
Lebell has appeared in more than 1,000 movies and has authored 12
books. He also served as the inspiration for the Cliff Booth
character played by Brad Pitt in “Once Upon a Time in
Hollywood.”
Former UFC champion and Pancrase star Bas Rutten paid
tribute to Lebell on
Facebook while referencing an incident in which “The Godfather
of Grappling” allegedly choked out Steven Seagal on the set of a
movie.
“The great Gene LeBell, toughest man I know, has passed away and
left us at the age of 89,” Rutten wrote.
“…We all heard the crazy stories, about Seagal, and that he was the
first guy to fight MMA in a match against the Boxer Milo Savage
in 1963 (I wasn’t even born), still pulling wheelies on his motor
cycle when he was like 84 years old and if you go online, you find
thousand more stories. I have always loved Gene, every single
person I know loves Gene, and I am proud to say that we always had
fun when we met, always cracking jokes.”
The aforementiond bout with Savage is the lone bout listed on
Lebell’s MMA resume, when he defeated the professional boxer with a
choke in the fourth round of their fight on Dec. 2, 1963. It is
believed to be the first true mixed martial arts bout.