Donnie Yen Real Fighting Experience and Prowess Donnie Yen was a rebel when he was young, due to the huge expectations and pressures from his parents as his mother is the founder of the Chinese Wushu Research Institute in Boston and his father was a scholar and a musician. Yen joined a Chinatown gang in Boston, MA, in his early years. He was a very curious teenager who sought to exchange martial arts knowledge with people from different martial arts backgrounds which led to him gaining profound knowledge in practical martial arts, and having a reputation as a street brawler. There's one reported occasion that confirms him being an efficient martial artist. According to news reports by Hong Kong news channels in the late 1990s, Yen was at a nightclub with his then girlfriend, Joey Meng. Inside the nightclub, Joey got harassed by a troublesome gang who had taken an interest in her. Yen warned them to leave her alone but to no avail. As Yen and Joey left the club, the gang followed and attacked Yen. According to the news, Yen beat up eight members of the gang who were hospitalized. This incident is still known in Hong Kong to this day - with people bringing it up in discussions concerning real fights as well as in relation to comparing credible fighting skills of various Hong Kong martial arts actors. Malaysian Tan Sri and Martial Arts Star Michelle Yeoh has said that Donnie Yen is the fastest guy she has worked with. Other martial arts stars such as Jackie Chan and Jet Li also have stated that Yen may be the best fighter in terms of practical combat in the Asian Cinematic Universe. World class fighters such as former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Cung Le and former World Boxing Heavyweight Champion Mike Tyson who have worked with Donnie Yen in films Bodyguards and Assassins and Ip Man 3 respectively, have both claimed that Donnie Yen is an incredible martial artist and will do well in authentic combat. While filming Ip Man 3, crew members were afraid that Mike Tyson, who was a professional boxer, would forget the choreography and throw real punches to injure Yen. However, it was Yen who fractured Tyson's finger while using his elbow to block Tyson's punches. Tyson has since said in various interviews that Donnie would beat him in a real fight. Yen remained humble and downplayed the entire event, claiming that it was purely an accident.