[sherdog.com, whatever that is...] Combat Sports Pioneer "Judo" Gene Lebell Dead at 89 Years Old
Gene LeBell, a man who is widely credited for making grappling a popular discipline in combat sports, has died at age 89.
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."
===== rest: https://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Combat-Sports-Pioneer-Judo-Gene-Lebell-Dead-at-89-Years-Old-187656 _____________________________________________________ Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key [email protected] [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
