JCVD

[Xue Sheng]

When I first moved to Maui I used to fly out to L.A and stay at Billy Blanks’s house for a week to ten days. Billy had been one of my Instructors in Massachusetts, my sparring partner and the best man at my wedding.

Billy had a rocking dojo in Sherman Oaks at the time. The busiest, most packed dojo I’ve ever been in to this day. (The place was absolutely NUTS)

Jean-Claude was there for a few days. A really nice guy, polite, friendly, just an all around good dude. He was supposed to teach a seminar but some nagging health issues raised their ugly head
and prevented it. Too bad, I would have liked to have done some training with him.

I know people say some crap about him but I never saw it. Of course there were a lot of big dogs in that gym, so I don’t know.

But I liked Jean-Claude. A lot.

Of course you meant Jean-Claude…. I knew that before the thread started…. You know virtually everybody…. I mean other than Chuck Norris… is there anyone you don’t know

 

[Same Trick]

Uh? You mean the fight record at

Jean-Claude Van Damme - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

is made up?

Being from the late 70s and early 80s, It's nearly impossible to verify unless one goes physically to the paper archives of the organizations, if there are any. WAKO for example - they don't seem to have any results online now, never mind about the late 70s/early 80s..

Sorry, i don’t have access to Wikipedia from the location I’m at. Anyway, the wiki page must have links to its sources of information, if those sources are from recognized martial arts organizations that arrange tournaments and similar championship competitions I’ll be happy to take part of the links to those organizations webpages listing Mr..Van Varenberg.

The only info that I could google is that he supposedly competed in(and around?) Belgium between 1976-1980/(82)? in semi-contact format, that mean he competed between the age of 16-20/22 years old.

Kickboxing was introduced to Europe(Germany)around the time when Jean-Claude began competing .

However the info I can find on JCVD says he competed in semi-contact/(light contact) format, I’m not sure that was even on the map then in Europe when it comes to kick-boxing ?

But, as I understand JCVD trained in Shotokan karate and this styles own competition rule allow reasonable contact to body while it’s “skin” touch/contact to head/face - a kind of “semi-contact one could perhaps say. What I can find he’s supposedly has a 44 wins/4losses fight record, whatever that mean in competing in tournament competition?

I google Shotokan/karate organizations in Belgium, the little that comes up searching his both names on those webpages, nothing comes up. Also found a short list of the all times best kickboxers in Belgium, he’s not on there either. But I’m searching by writing in English, if I could write Flemish, French or German perhaps more results will come up ?

Compared with Dolph(Hans) Lundgren who’s martial arts/karate(kyukushin) career can easily be verified JCVD’s(Van Varenberg) seems a mystery.

 

[Sammy Naur]

Sorry, i don’t have access to Wikipedia from the location I’m at.

That's odd. Where are you?

Kickboxing was introduced to Europe(Germany)around the time when Jean-Claude began competing .

Where are you getting this information?

That's another very odd statement. Savate alone has a 2-3 hundred years history. And Belgium isn't Germany.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

That's odd. Where are you?

Quite a few countries have banned wikipedia. China and the middle east are the big areas, and Russia censors what pages come through

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Mind you, the thing with 'active flexibility' like in a high kick is that it isn't actually flexibility, just a specialised kind of strength. Dancers do a lot of barre work to develop it. The attitude that weights harm your flexibility/ stunt your growth and give you hairy palms is dying out fortunately but one still encounters it occasionally. Not here though.

So long as you can still wipe your own butt.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Sure the Brussels muscles was(is) a leg flexible guy, but could he use it in fight ?
Apparently he once got manhandled by a biker so that the tough guy Michael Rourke had to step in and stop the one sided fight.
The muscles also had claimed a kickboxing champion record but when challenged by a verified kickboxing champ he declined in silence.
JCVD seemingly did Shotokan karate in his home country but any proof of high level competition record seem not to exist.
Online it says he’s 1.75 m short, Steven Seagal could probably kick higher than that without a single visible muscle on his body

I saw JCVD get the snot knocked out of him in front of Spago restaurant in the early 90s. Big guy in a real Stetson hat with a feather in it. You can probably look it up. A lot of people saw it. I just happened to be walking by with friends on our way to Tower records to see some punk band play in store.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

I think Seagal nowadays couldn't tie his shoe lace

He certainly can’t see them.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Sorry, i don’t have access to Wikipedia from the location I’m at. Anyway, the wiki page must have links to its sources of information, if those sources are from recognized martial arts organizations that arrange tournaments and similar championship competitions I’ll be happy to take part of the links to those organizations webpages listing Mr..Van Varenberg.

The only info that I could google is that he supposedly competed in(and around?) Belgium between 1976-1980/(82)? in semi-contact format, that mean he competed between the age of 16-20/22 years old.

Kickboxing was introduced to Europe(Germany)around the time when Jean-Claude began competing .

However the info I can find on JCVD says he competed in semi-contact/(light contact) format, I’m not sure that was even on the map then in Europe when it comes to kick-boxing ?

But, as I understand JCVD trained in Shotokan karate and this styles own competition rule allow reasonable contact to body while it’s “skin” touch/contact to head/face - a kind of “semi-contact one could perhaps say. What I can find he’s supposedly has a 44 wins/4losses fight record, whatever that mean in competing in tournament competition?

I google Shotokan/karate organizations in Belgium, the little that comes up searching his both names on those webpages, nothing comes up. Also found a short list of the all times best kickboxers in Belgium, he’s not on there either. But I’m searching by writing in English, if I could write Flemish, French or German perhaps more results will come up ?

Compared with Dolph(Hans) Lundgren who’s martial arts/karate(kyukushin) career can easily be verified JCVD’s(Van Varenberg) seems a mystery.

My friend Jose is from Spain and is 63, he trained with JCVD and saw him compete. He says JCVD was a champion there at that time. I have no proof of anything regarding him.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Let's be honest. There are sooooo many "championship" events that pretty much anybody can reasonably claim to be a champion.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Let's be honest. There are sooooo many "championship" events that pretty much anybody can reasonably claim to be a champion.

True. My dogs daddy is a grand Champion, and his Grand daddy is too.

 

[Tez3]

Ok. What is a 'thronged' warrior? Things aren't comfortable for martial arts.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Let's be honest. There are sooooo many "championship" events that pretty much anybody can reasonably claim to be a champion.

My dogs a show dog, and won a "best in show" championship. Just ignore the fact that it was a halloween dog event at a brewery where all the staff obsess over him.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

My dogs a show dog, and won a "best in show" championship. Just ignore the fact that it was a halloween dog event at a brewery where all the staff obsess over him.

Pics please.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

I won a speech competition in 1st grade out of about 3000 kids total. Thats my only claim to any title whatsoever unless you count jackassery in which I am undefeated for over 40 years.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I came in 2nd in the pinewood derby in Cub Scout

 

[Tony Dismukes]

Let's be honest. There are sooooo many "championship" events that pretty much anybody can reasonably claim to be a champion.

I have a championship belt sitting on my bookshelf that I earned in a mixed Muay Thai/Bando tournament back in 2002. It’s a little less impressive when you know that there were only two of us in my division and so I only had to win one fight to earn it. But it does say “Champion” on it.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

I have a championship belt sitting on my bookshelf that I earned in a mixed Muay Thai/Bando tournament back in 2002. It’s a little less impressive when you know that there were only two of us in my division and so I only had to win one fight to earn it. But it does say “Champion” on it.

But you earned it nonetheless.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

But you earned it nonetheless.

I did. I’m proud of the accomplishment. I was 38 years old. My opponent was probably 10 years younger. I was relatively new to full-contact combat sports, with only one prior fight. I was never naturally tough or athletic. So it was a great learning experience and something to feel good about.

But I’d still feel like a fake claiming to be a kickboxing champion, even if I could technically justify it based on the belt.

I don’t know what sort of tournament experience JCVD has to back up his claim of being a champion, but it’s probably more than what I have.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Would winning a raffle count, i won one of those once