Jean-Claude Van Damme PROMO KARATE KICK SHOW (1 of 2)

VAN DAMME'S FIGHT RECORD:
17 Knock Outs 1 Loss

* 1976 at age 16 Van Damme (Van Varenberg) won by knockout over T. Van Oostrum in 46 seconds in a full-contact debut sanction by the European Karate Union in Brussels. Van Damme then threw himself with earnest into his karate training.

* 1977 Van Damme competed in the Netherlands Kickboxing Federation which allowed round kicks to inside and outside of the thigh as well as knee strikes to the body. (Ouch). Matches were five three-minute rounds. Van Damme won TKO over Maurice Devos in first round.

* 1978 The 18-year old Jean-Claude was now a truly skilled fighter scoring an 18-second KO over E. Strauss, a 39-second stoppage when M. Juvillier quit the fight and a 12-second stoppage of O. Lang all at the EKU tournament in Antwerp, Belgium the Beginner Division.

In follow-up tournament in Iseghem, Belgium under World-All Styles Karate Organization (WAKO) he won his second Beginner's Championship with a first round stoppage over E. Leibman and Cyrrille Nollet. Van Damme also scored victories over Andre Robaeys, Jacques Pinarski, and Rolf Risberg. Rules permitting judo throws, footsweep but not thigh kicks.

* 1979 Jean-Claude Van Varenberg (Van Damme) went to Orlando, Florida USA with his 10-knockout wins and no loss to compete in the WAKO World Full-Contact Championships. In his middleweight division he met the unbeaten American fighter Sherman Bergman from Miami, Florida USA in a scheduled two 2-minute rounds. Bergman knocked Van Damme down in opening seconds -- but Van Damme pulled himself up and knocked out Bergman with a beautiful axe-kick ( ). Next Van Damme stopped Portugal's Gilberto Diaz in opening 30-seconds. Elated, the 19 year old skipped training seriously for the semi-finals losing a 2-round decision to Patrick Teugels also from his home country, Belgium; Teugels became the Worlds Vice Champion.

Returning to Europe with a fierce determination known to highly competitive young males, Van Damme knocked out Algeria's Mustapha A. Benamon and Bekim M. Muhammad in independent events by European Professional Karate Association.

* 1980 Van Damme's hometown, Brussels, Belgium hosted the renowned
Professional Karate Association (PKA) event where Van Damme as a young 19 year old teenager knocked out France's highly respected Georges Verlugels in 2 rounds winning the "Professional" European Middleweight Kickboxing Championship.

Weeks later Van Damme in an event sponsored by the European Professional Karate Association, retain his Professional Kickboxing Championship with a stoppage over Hungarian, Andras Kovac.

Van Damme enjoyed run-away popularity at his achievement when defeating older, more experience fighters at just 19.

But before retiring Van Damme requested a rematch with Patrick Teugels who was rated second in the world middleweight division and the only one to have defeated Van Damme. The rematch held in Brussels was scheduled for five 2-minute rounds. Van Damme stormed Teugels with an avalanche of aggressive fury completely overwhelming his opponent; the match was halted in under the two minute mark. Van Damme in a frenzy avenged his only loss and holds a 17 to 1 victory record!

The Best of Karate
VAN DAMME'S FIGHT RECORD: 17 Knock Outs 1 Loss
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