What people don't understand is that Bruce Lee wasn't a martial artists. He was a fighter. He wouldn't do competitions because there are rules to it. Bruce would maim or seriously injure someone in a real fight.
And nikkas use to challenge him all the time behind the scenes and he would wash all of them.
He was a fighter but dude WAS a true martial artists
Its just he didn't usually fight for the sport of it like athletes and people do in tournaments. Dude lived the life of a martial artists though... trained everyday since being a child, trained his body everyday since being a child, would run miles forward and miles backwards, hundreds of punches a day, etc.
He lived the life of true martial artists from philosiphies, to creating his own style (which was the first true Mixed Martial Arts), did the meditation techniques, studied his craft and improved it, ran dojos and taught others, etc.
So yyeah he was a fighter but he was a also Martial Artist just didn't do tournament shyt much or was in the MA community like they wanted him to be.
Also the style he used in movies wasn't the style he used in real life. Stuff in movies were high kicks and flamboyant moves. In real life he was more direct and to the point, low kicks, quick steps, straight punches, trying to hide his rythym (Floyd does the same) etc.