8 Of The Best Gene Lebell quotes

‘Judo’ Gene Lebell is known as being one of the best ever US Judokas as well as being a mean Catch Wrestler. Whilst he bought the US a number of throws and cool submission holds, he also coached Ronda Rousey to UFC glory whilst teaching her Judo over the years as well. That’s not the half of it though, as Lebell also famously got in a bust up on set with Steven Seagal. According to some, Lebell choked Seagal unconscious and made him poo himself.

This is a claim that Seagal vehemently denies and has gone on record to call Lebell a pathological liar. Regardless of who is being truthful, the point is that Gene Lebell is a very colorful character and has a number of great stories, one-liners, and tales. In fact, he’s literally colorful as he was synonymous with the color pink. Sit back and read his 8 best quotes below – for both Judo, grappling, and life in general.

“You’ve got a nice neck for choking”

“Everything I did was practical. You have to strip things down and get to the practical stuff”

“Steven Seagal should take medicine because he’s got diarrhea of the mouth”

“People think they can take a pill and become a champion. But the harder you work, the luckier you get. You have to work a move hundreds or thousands of times”

“My philosophy has always been it’s good to learn everything”

“If you fight for a living you can’t give a damn about the opponent because they’re trying to take food out of the mouth of your kids’ mouths. You’re in competition with everybody. The trick is, just don’t them know you’re competing with them”

“I’ve been around here for 104 years and I’ve seen women on Olympic teams, national champions. Ronda Rousey is the best I’ve ever seen”

“The Brazilian style is copied after a lot of the old pro-wrestlers, the legitimate shooters”

If you’re a fan of Gene Lebell, check out his book, Grappling Master. This book should come with a warning though, if you try this on your training partners they will probably hate you forever!