Lei Tai/ Beimo Duels to the Death?

Were there duels to the death between kung fu practitioners? Like lei tai tournaments that got out of hand or table tournaments like in Ip Man 2? I know that was just a movie, but my parents said there was a lot of violence in Hong Kong at that time, so it could have been possible. I was reading about Yuan Kay-shan and how he was champion of death duels that occured in Foshan. Also, what is beimo? I heard that term thrown around, but what is it exactly? Is it semi-organized verison of lei tai?