The Real Life Bloodsport

Before the UFC there was a little known fighting tournament in Hong Kong by the name of Kumite(ku-ma-tay). That might sound familiar, Kumite was made famous by Jean Claude Van Damme and his Bloodsport movies. Van Damme plays the role of Frank Dux who is tapped to fight in the no holds barred fighting tournament and square off against the world's deadliest man, Chong Li. Of course, Hollywood put their bullshit movie spin on things but for the most part they weren't too far off. Granted, the real Kumite didn't take place in some underground seedy arena with dead bodies flying around. As you can see in the video below the venue is more of an open gym with officials and trainers present and even a British announcer. This pre-dates the UFC and at the time, 1981, was the real best of the best fighting tournament. The video also features Ron Van Clief, the real life Frank Dux, kicking all kinds of ass. At the :40 second mark you can see a guy standing off the mats on the left side with no shirt wearing blue pants. This is supposedly the real Chong Li. It's too bad Ron Van Clief wasn't around for the beginning of UFC, I think he would of done pretty well.