Could an adult chimpanzee defeat Bruce Lee (in his prime) in
hand-to-hand combat? In this scenario, Bruce and the chimp would fight
in the center of a football field, Bruce would have a full week's time
to prepare the fight, and weapons/armor are not allowed. If Bruce Lee
couldn't do it, would *any* human stand a chance?

The question of how strong a chimpanzee is has already been answered
by Google Answers, and can be found here:
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=559145

Since this is really an opinion question, I'd be very interested to
know who the researchers believe would win.

This is the greatest Google Answers question, EVER. I hope some one
puts in the kind of analysis that it deserves.

Incidently you can watch a video of a chimpanzee doing karate here:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1050/karate_chimp_amazing/

Admitatedly the chimp looks awfully clumsy (compared to Bruce Lee),
but you didn't specify that it had to use a martial art. Infact, in my
opinion, when you consider that their preferred attack will probably
be biting, I would bet on the chimp, hands down. A man has no
equivalent to a bite like that.

Some questions just cry out for a reply...and I hope you get one.  I'm
afraid my own experience with karate, Bruce Lee movies and chimpanzees
is all rather limited, so I must recuse myself from this one.

Still, my money would on Bruce, after he fools the chimp with the old
"your shoelace is untied" trick.

Based on the video provided by shockandawe-ga, I'd have
to vote for Bruce. The chimp is quite obviously much 
slower than Bruce. Additionally, Bruce could easily 
defeat many men who were considerably stronger than him,
due to his speed, agility and focused intent.

One of the main points of martial arts is that one who
masters it can easily overcome an opponent who is 
physically stronger but not as well-trained. Strength
itself is considerably overrated when it comes to
effective combat.

sublime1-ga

Keep in mind that both are not restricted to just martial arts- each
participant may use any of the techniques at their disposal. While I
undestand the point that using your opponents' strengths and turning
them into advantages is a key point in martial arts, I think that is a
bit offset by the fact that there is no martial art around that deals
with the specific way of methodically fighting chimps.

The question goes both ways.
Could the chimp defeat Bruce Lee?  Probably not, because he would not
have the goal of doing so, as well as probably not being able to.
But could Bruce Lee defeat the chimp?  The latter's attacking moves in
the video are obviously trained and only on command, but this says
nothing about his innate self defensive reactions and speed of
reaction, plus his four-legged agility.     I expert, however, that
Bruce Lee could get in a killing, disabling or frightening blow before
the chimp knew he was in a fight.
Bruce would be training by learning how and where to hit chimps.
Can the chimp get some aggressiveness training?

Did you guys read this article???

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2005/03/06/ferocity_of_chimpanzee_attack_stuns_medics_leaves_questions/

In light of aforementioned article...

In response to myoarin 's comments, apparently all you have to do is
eat birthday cake in front of them to solicit an horrible attack. Did
you know that chimps regularly hunt and kill baboons? I think the
Bruce Lee supporters are way off base here.

Yay a question I can acutally answer.  Russtyles, I think all the
points you have brought up against Bruce winning are totally valid. 
An adult male chimp is agressive, powerful and completely different
than fighting a human, which is what Bruce Lee's entire experience,
training, and knowledge is geared toward fighting.  Perhaps chimps
might be sufficiently phyisiologically similar to humans that if Bruce
were to use his martial arts to put the chimp in some sort of
submission hold (like a strangle hold cutting off the wind pipe) or
strike a common pressure point, then maybe the chimp might lose.  But
I would think this is highly unlikely, and more likely the chimp is
too different in movement, and strength and vulnerability that Bruce
would not be able to defeat the chimp by using purely his skill as a
martial artist.  So I would say in a toe to toe match with all things
being equal, and if Bruce were only to rely on his martial arts, the
chimp would use his superior strengh and viciousness to defeat Bruce. 
However in the real world, the environment could play a factor in the
outcome.  Bruce could use superior tactics to outwit, out maneuver,
and outdo the chimp.  For example if there were a body of water
nearby, and Bruce were able to move the fight there, then he would
have a much higher chance of success as chimps cannot swim.  Also,
even if the fight started out with hand to hand and no weapons, Bruce
would be much more adept at turning regular objects in his environment
into weapons such as stones, sharp sticks, etc. while the chimp would
only be able to use his natural traits as a chimp to fight.  Although
chimps do use tools, any ordinary chimp would not be able to come
close to matching the skill of Bruce Lee at using ordinary objects as
weapons.  So if you take these environmental factors in to
consideration, then I think that the outcome is more even and either
opponent could easily win.

If I were a betting man...

I'd say Bruce unarmed in a football field: 20:1 Chimp
Bruce in a natural environment where weapons might be improvised: 10:1 Chimp
Bruce armed with a proper martial arts blunt weapon of his choosing. 1:1
Bruce armed with a sharp and pointy weapon of his choosing. 2:1 Bruce Lee

Another angle to consider here  ....
initially how would you get the chimp to want to fight Bruce Lee 
and having gotten it to fight, to continue the contest. 

It takes at least two to make a fight...

Okay, okay, Shockandawe!
Bruce is going to have to offer the chimp a piece of cake with one
hand and then deliver the decisive blow with the other, having spent a
week studying the physiognomy of chimps to know where. You are not
allowed to train the chimp or teach him aggressiveness towards
Orientals.  ;)
Myoarin

myoarin and purplecloud, I think you have an image of the chimps that
you see on TV who are usually juveniles females and are tame and
passive.  A wild adult male chimp is an aggresive dangerous animal and
it wouldn't take much more provocation than invading its personal
space to spark an attack.
shockandawe, I think you dont give Bruce enough credit in your odds. 
Consider the Masai tribe whos young men have to kill lions with
nothing more than a sharp pointy weapon just to be considered a true
man.  If they can kill lions, then I would think Bruce armed with a
sharp pointy weapon could easily take out a chimp with the chimp
standing little to no chance.
And Bruce was no dummy.  He regularly trained against people who
presented unique and interesting challenges to him such as Kareem
Abdul Jabar, a tall, athletic, quick, lengthy reached man.  So I think
Bruce would approach the chimp in a similar way, using his creativity
to figure out a weakness that he could exploit against this unique
challenge.

One more day before this question expires! C'mon now, I came to Google for answers!

Russ,  I read you, but sometimes you just can't give away money!  ;-)
But you got lots of opinions, something you specifically asked for.

But if you really want to know, you could buy a chimp, hire a good
stand-in for the late Bruce Lee (you might have to pay for his life
insurance and offer him a good purse), and hire a stadium and sell
tickets.  Don't forget to have it filmed, that's what's really going
to cover your costs.

Even when the time for posting an answer expires, the question will
stay open for further comments  - unless you close it.
Cheers, Myoarin

Mo offence to bruce lee, or any other martial artist there may be, but
I feel that in such an encounter the person who would fare best
against a chimpanzee, would be one of equal strength-to-weight ratio
as the chimp, such as the current World's Strongest Man champion. The
reason for this is that if it came down to grappling as a chimp does,
it tends to attack and pummel with its fists on top of the opponent
which is lying down, shattering bones etc, which is how they kill each
other. The World's Strongest Man would be the only one with the
sufficient strength to grapple with the chimpanzee and, after all, the
chimpanzees body weight is only about 60kg whereas the WSM could
easily manipulate that weight at great speed and power to achieve the
required grapple.

However, as Bruce Lee's body weight is only about 60kg in itself, his
only chance would be to avoid the dashing attacks from the chimp which
would occur at sprint speed over very short distance, and sidestep at
the last minute delivering a kick, since a chimpanzee would only be at
about knee height. This would go on for several minutes until either
Bruce Lee or the chimpanzee would deliver the final strike, either by
damaging Bruce Lee's leg muscles or by Bruce hitting a vital point on
the chimpanzee.

Remember that a chimpanzee's grip is almost as strong as a dog's bite,
so that it is pretty much down to luck who manages to win.

ps... Why can't we all live together in peace. By the way, how about a
Polar Bear VS a Siberian Tiger?????

There is no comparison here.  Bruce would lose... badly.  Chimps don't
fight with martial arts, and Bruce isn't equiped to bite off a chimp's
nose, ear, feet, nor penis the way chimps have been known to do to
humans.  Chimps are used to hanging in trees for dear life; there is
no question it could latch on to Bruce eventually.  Once this
happened, the chimp's teeth would go to work tearing Bruce's flesh
off.  No, Bruce wouldn't have a chance.  Wait; I'll take that back. 
My friend's mother used to hit him with a wooden spoon.  One time he
raised his hand to block her and the spoon broke in half over his
pinkey.  The laws of physics can do some strange things.  The only
chance Bruce would have is if he placed a well executed kick to the
chimp's teeth that happened to knock enough of theose bad boys out or
loose enough to fall out with further application.  Bruce is fast,
however, I doubt anyone is that fast to take away a chimp's teeth
before he tore off some flesh from you.  In addition to the foresaid,
the Chimp's limbs would be twice as strong as bruce's.  He would have
a hell of a time getting anything done to a chimp that won't let go
and can bite and hammer him with relentless blows.  Sorry, but Bruce
would have 1 chance in 100.