The Karate Kid & MMA

It's been almost 23 years since The Karate Kid exploded on to the silver screen and instantly became a martial arts movie cult classic in North America and around the world. The Karate Kid movie was an inspiration to young kids who were bullied and overcame that fear by kicking the bully's ass much the same as our good friend Daniel LaRusso.

Following the movie's release and immediate success, Karate dojo's started to fill up in droves which also saw an increase in other martial arts training centers receiving the spill over traffic. I am sure that some of our favorite MMA fighters of today were also inspired by The Karate Kid movie to commence with their martial arts training.

It was an exciting time for martial arts on the big screen with Chuck Norris, Steven Segal, Jean Claude Van Damme (who can forget Frank Dux from the movie Bloodsport), and a bunch of others that came and went with the slew of Ninja movies that excited martial arts fans and movie lovers alike.

Arguably, the most famous movie of all the classic 1980's martial arts movies has to be, The Karate Kid

Here is the final scene of The Karate Kid with Daniel up against Johnny of Cobra Kai:



Sad to say (and watch) but Sean "Smoked" Salmon used the crane kick (made famous by the character Daniel LaRusso of the Karate Kid) unsuccessfully against Rashad Evans. It was embarrassing to watch but who knew he'd get knocked the fuck out for it in the next round. Mr.Miyagi was not impressed with the fillet of Salmon.



So, we fast forward a few years to the present and we have a very clever music video that ties in not only the Karate Kid theme but also the original cast members such as Johnny, Daniel LaRusso and the whole Cobra Kai team - very cool



Here is a guilty pleasure of mine, Reggie Warren Jr. explaining what his experience was like at the tournament with Daniel LaRusso and that guy that said, "Get him a body bag" - Killer stuff