Bruce Lee and the roots of MMA, the illustrations — Adolfo Arranz

How Bruce Lee and street fighting in Hong Kong helped create MMA

Black and white illustration of a narrow alleyway with old buildings, hanging wires, and laundry lines. Two people are fighting in the alley, with a dog nearby and a person peering out of a window.

Many illustrations for this fascinating project about Bruce Lee and his roots with the Mixed Martials Arts.

Rough sketch process of the main illustration

A sketch of a narrow alley with two people fighting, surrounded by tall buildings with windows and hanging laundry.

Black and white illustration of an alleyway between old buildings with laundry hanging and two children fighting, while a woman looks out of a window.

Sketch of an alleyway with two people dancing, surrounded by buildings with windows, laundry lines, a bench, and various rooftop structures.

A black and white sketch of a narrow alleyway in an urban Asian setting, with tall, closely packed buildings, hanging wires, and a few people working or talking near windows, with signs and laundry hanging overhead.

Young people would gather on the rooftops of buildings to engage in lively fights.

Black and white line drawing of a group of people gathered on a rooftop, some sitting and some standing, with a dog and an antenna visible on the left side.

A black and white line drawing of a multi-story building with people on the rooftop and in the windows, with some people playing music and socializing. A hand with a stylus is working on the drawing on a digital tablet.

Part of the illustration process.

A woman and a man practicing a martial arts or boxing stance, with the woman on the left and the man on the right, both in a fighting pose with fists raised.

I created some animations for this project.

Black and white drawing of two men boxing inside a ring with an audience in the background.

An illustrated recreation of Bruce Lee fighting Gary Elms.

This story was published in May 2019 in collaboration with Pablo Robles, Dennis Wong, Darren Long and Mathew Scott. You can read it at the South China Morning Post.

Print version for back page

All the illustrations and graphics shown in this link are under the copyright of the South China Morning Post.

Black and white sketch of a shirtless young man with short hair in a martial arts stance, with fists clenched and focused expression, set against a dark background with abstract lines.

Thanks for the visit!

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An alley in Guangzhou

Matheson St, Hong Kong

High Noon

Don Quijote de la Mancha

Scarlet Street

How Bruce Lee and street fighting in Hong Kong helped create MMA

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Murder in Seadrift

Wang Tong

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Death and the Salesmen

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