fo2sh

what i am asking is: is van damme a kickboxer, i mean did he take kickboxing lessons, or is he just a karate champion? coz when i saw [kickboxer] it appeared to me that he really knows how to kickbox

S.Anucha

Its not Thaiboxing thats for sure. But i think he actually was european champion at one time.

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"...Don't worry. When you are in the ring, you're all by yourself. No one can help you. So, all you can do is fight. So fight! Don't back down. Like in life, no one is going to live your life. So, no one is going to fight your fight for you. Muaythai is not winning or being better than the other guy. It is learning to lose before winning and to give from your heart before receiving. In muaythai, you always win and lose. So, don't worry. (Smile)..."

sslinky

I saw a TV documentry that said he was a champion kickboxer (probably European as S.Anucha said) when he was around 18'ish.

eXcessiveForce

He claims to be a champion kickboxer from europe but no one has ever been able to come up with any proof that he has ever competed or even trained at a school or this any instructor. General thought is that he is a fraud. And he has crap technique on his jump kicks.

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eXcessiveFORCE.

If you must use force, make it excessive.

Maxetai

Is Van Damme A Kickboxer?

The man is an actor. End of story.
There's no need to look further into it.

Thai Bri

There are thousands of Kickboxing Champions. I've even seen a few in my own home town. And it is a small town.

Thousands of associations have their own "World" championships and, hey presto.

I've even seen two brothers invent their own art. Have their own World Championships, in which they came first and second, and then market themselves as "World Champions" in the press.

Its bullshit - like 99.9% of the Martial Arts.

sslinky

Wether or not he is a good fighter, I don't know, but I would say he has some of the best kicking technique I've ever seen - however it is karate-style, not MT. I think that's one of the things that made him popular, that he had such excellent technique.

The documentry I saw showed an old picture of him wearing KB'ing shorts, and claimed he was some champion or other, so I guess he did at least train - don't know what he was champion of though.

Thai Bri

In all fairness he has impressive "show" techniques and a great build. And he's made himself millions. So he can hardly be slated too much!

IPON

I also understood that Vandamme was a "kickboxing champion"but when and what org. I don't know. I do know that van Damme studied and uses Tang Soo Do, I believe this was his only style. I think I saw that on a documentary also his instructor talked about how he made him into a fighter and then a chump......I mean ah um champ

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A person who is said to be proficient in the arts is like a fool. Because of his foolishness in concerning himself with just one thing, he thinks of nothing else and thus becomes proficient. - Hagarkure

sslinky

According to the documentry... the thing with Van Damme is that he didn't particularly want to be the best fighter in the world, what he really wanted was to be a movie star - and to be fair to him, he made it, where many others had failed.
It also showed him still in amazing shape - he must be at least 45 now, and he doesn't have a ounce of fat on him - "in the best shape of his life"! -according to him.

sherwinc

That man cannot fight like that if he is not a fighter. Anyone is a fighter cause we have 2 arms and 2 legs, many of us did not develop... but that actor made it in all of his films. He cant do that fighting moves if he is not a fighter for real life. its a common sense. There's no need to look further into it.

sslinky

http://www.budo-az.com/budo/html_e/biodamme_e.php

Maxetai

Fight like what? We're talking about movies here. In a movie one doesn't fight, he/she "dances". It's all choreography. Given a good direction of action sequences, and nearly anyone can look like a great fighter.
Van Damme is definitely in great shape and knows to some degree Martial Arts, but let's not get carried away with what we see on the screen.

Toudiyama[NL]

So is Bas Rutten now but he still was a karateka/kick/thaiboxer/MMA
Dolf ludgren was a kyokushin karateka


But in the beginning van damme was promoted as a champion karateka from Blgium or neighbouring country, how come I've never heard of him before that
Now thay claim he was a champion kickboxer, yeah right, he would have is ass handed to him

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William Eriepa

I wouldn't go too hard on Van Damme, you can't judge what you don't know. And from what I have seen, he could beat your average professional kickboxer.