Over at Bloody Elbow, Kid Nate–who’s just one of the best MMA writers anywhere and brought us that amazing tribute to Evan Tanner a while back–is at it again. He’s got a belated Happy Birthday profile to one of the few guys who can rightfully claim to be the ‘baddest man on the planet’–”Judo” Gene Lebell:

Carrying on with what I started with Helio Gracie, here’s another tribute to a living legend. Yesterday was the 76th birthday of a man who may not be the grandfather of modern MMA but is certainly a great-uncle at least: Judo Gene LeBell.

Gene didn’t just carry the torch for one fighting art, he carried two — being one of the leading representatives of Judo in North America AND one of the few men to keep the tradition of “real” American catch wrestling alive during the second half of the 20th century.

Gene is also a Hollywood legend as a stunt-man and stand-in for stars from Bruce Lee to Burt Reynolds.

He still keeps his hand in the sport and if you’ve seen Karo Parisyan or Manny Gamburyan you’ve seen Gene’s students in the cage applying the judo they learned at his feet.

LeBell is considered not only one of the baddest dudes *ever*, but is universally admired by everyone who knows him. Must read stuff…

Happy Belated Birthday Gene LeBell @ Bloody Elbow