Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kickboxer or Hoax?

[legwarmers1980]

I'm a big fan of Jean-Claude. When he first received acclaim as an action star in the late 1980s, he was bashed by "so-called" martial artists experts as being a fake.
Don "The Dragon" Wilson called Van Damme a phoney & challenged him to a bounty match. Someone from BLACK BELT MAGAZINE (might have been the editor at the time, not sure) said Jean-Claude was 0-1 as a kickboxer.
Throughout this whole time, JCVD never complained & never even tried to defend himself. He knew in his heart what he did & had nothing to prove.
Recently, thanks to the internet, tons of information has come out about his full-contact career. Former opponent Patrick Teugels "claims" two victories over VAn Damme. This might be true, or it just might be one victory. Some published records list Van Damme as 18-1 (18 knockouts) and others list 18-2 (18 knockouts). The 18 victories are the same on both records, only the "loss" column is in dispute. Dozens of photos showing Van Damme fighting are now out on the net along with some video footage of some of his matches.
Van Damme has victories over legit fighters like Patrick Teugels, Sherman Bergman, and Gilberto Diaz.
Jean-Claude was for real, yet still, people love bashing him. The evidence supports the facts. Jean-Claude fought full-contact. He won 18 fights. He won 18 fights by knockout. Regardless of 1 or 2 losses to Teugels, Jean-Claude broke Teugels nose and stopped him in 1 round. Jean-Claude KO'd American kickboxer Sherman Bergman in 56 seconds. Bergman was 56-8 (56 KO). Gilberto Diaz had 44 victories in South America & lasted 13 seconds with JCVD. He also KO'd British Champ Mike Henning(s), & French Champ Georges Vergugel in 2 rounds.
Could JCVD have competed today? Sure. If he was 18 & trained today, there's no doubt he could compete in K-1 or Kickboxing. His 100% KO ratio gives him that punchers change.

[TrentS]

I used to think JCVD was pretty fakeish, then I saw him on the front cover on that magazine Kung Fu back in the day, made me think twice, I was also told he had silicon implants to make his muscles bigger

[NO FATE]

Are you fucking serious...? my nose started bleeding half way through reading this.

[Blaze-Holiday]

jcvd is legit. he was a kickboxer for real before his fighting career. people just know him for his movies and acting and not his european fighting circuit back in the day.

[4nobject]

remember elain on seinfeild? remember when she said" FAKE .FAKE .fake fake. Fake!!!"
thats jcvd, FAKE
if he had a 18-1 or 2 record there is no way he gets beat up in a vancouver night club by a non pro street punk lol
jcvds body guard had to take care of the guy after he fukd up van fake!
get over your man crush already

[Iron Wolf]

Originally Posted by legwarmers1980

I'm a big fan of Jean-Claude. When he first received acclaim as an action star in the late 1980s, he was bashed by "so-called" martial artists experts as being a fake.
Don "The Dragon" Wilson called Van Damme a phoney & challenged him to a bounty match. Someone from BLACK BELT MAGAZINE (might have been the editor at the time, not sure) said Jean-Claude was 0-1 as a kickboxer.
Throughout this whole time, JCVD never complained & never even tried to defend himself. He knew in his heart what he did & had nothing to prove.
Recently, thanks to the internet, tons of information has come out about his full-contact career. Former opponent Patrick Teugels "claims" two victories over VAn Damme. This might be true, or it just might be one victory. Some published records list Van Damme as 18-1 (18 knockouts) and others list 18-2 (18 knockouts). The 18 victories are the same on both records, only the "loss" column is in dispute. Dozens of photos showing Van Damme fighting are now out on the net along with some video footage of some of his matches.
Van Damme has victories over legit fighters like Patrick Teugels, Sherman Bergman, and Gilberto Diaz.
Jean-Claude was for real, yet still, people love bashing him. The evidence supports the facts. Jean-Claude fought full-contact. He won 18 fights. He won 18 fights by knockout. Regardless of 1 or 2 losses to Teugels, Jean-Claude broke Teugels nose and stopped him in 1 round. Jean-Claude KO'd American kickboxer Sherman Bergman in 56 seconds. Bergman was 56-8 (56 KO). Gilberto Diaz had 44 victories in South America & lasted 13 seconds with JCVD. He also KO'd British Champ Mike Henning(s), & French Champ Georges Vergugel in 2 rounds.
Could JCVD have competed today? Sure. If he was 18 & trained today, there's no doubt he could compete in K-1 or Kickboxing. His 100% KO ratio gives him that punchers change.

Thanks for the post man. I used to love JCVD and Segal movies back when I was a kid. This was a good read. Well researched. Much appreciated.

[gevoudane]

I never did have any video of him in any full contact style kick boxing. But back when I use to trade video tapes with other martial artists I did have some video of him in point fighting and he was pretty impressive. But when I watched him he didn't seem to pull off alot of combos it was more of just trying to get one quick fast strike in. So from what I was able to see I think if he had a good trainer he could do decent in modern style fighting. I don't think he would have been dominating though.

[PJ]

* Overall 18-2-0 (18 knockouts)[27][28][29][30][31][32]

* 1977: Won: Knocked out Toon Van Oostrum in 1 round.
* 1977: Won: Knocked out Maurice Devos in 1 round.
* 1977: Lost: Decision to Patrick Teugels 3 rounds.[33]
* 1978: Won: Knocked out Eric Bruno Strauss in 1 round.[34]
* 1978: Won: Knocked out Michel Juvillier in 1 round.
* 1978: Lost: Decision to Patrick Teugels in 3 rounds.[35]
* 1978: Won: Knocked out Orlando Lang in 1 round.
* 1978: Won: Knocked out Emile Leibman in 1 round.
* 1978: Won: Knocked out Cyrille in 1 round.
* 1979: Won: Knocked out Andre Robaeys in 1 round.
* 1979: Won: Knocked out Jacques Piniarski in 1 round.
* 1979: Won: Knocked out Rolf Risberg in 1 round.
* 1979: Won: Knocked out Sherman Bergman in 1 round.[36][37]
* 1979: Won: Knocked out Gilberto (Gil) Diaz in 1 round. [38]
* 1980: Won: Knocked out Mustapha-Ahmad Benamou in 1 round.
* 1980: Won: Knocked out Bekim-Moussa Muhammad in 1 round.
* 1980: Won: Knocked out Micheal J. Heming in 2 rounds.[5]
* 1980: Won: Knocked out Georges Verlugels in 2 rounds.[39]
* 1980: Won: Knocked out Andres Kovac in 2 rounds[40].
* 1980: Won: Knocked out Patrick Teugels in 1 round.[41]

impressive to say the least

[mikeyt113]

ask chuck zito.

[WhiteBelt777]

Originally Posted by mikeyt113

ask chuck zito.

Ziiinng!! I mean...Kapow!