What really happened when Steven Seagal fought Jean Claude Van Damme

Back in 1997, actors Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme were arguably at the height of their fame. Not only this but they also shared something else in common. They were both martial artists. Seagal was a known Aikido practitioner, whilst Van Damme was a known kickboxer. They still fly these flags today and are notoriously proud of their martial arts background. So, what happened and why did their beef start in the first place?

According to Sylvester Stallone in an interview with FHM, Seagal had been claiming that he could “Kick his ass” when referring to Van Damme. Obviously, this is quite a dangerous statement to make when it comes to a known kickboxer. At this time, Stallone was also hosting a house party in Miami…and it just so happened that Seagal and Van Damme were in attendance.

Upon hearing the news, Van Damme offered Seagal outside to fight but Seagal didn’t fight him. According to Stallone, “Seagal made his excuses and left. But Van Damme, who was berserk, tracked him down at a nightclub and offered him out again.”

It seems that the pair didn’t fight in the end but according to Sly, it was Van Damme who was in the driving seat. At the same time, even though Seagal was initially making bold claims of victory, he ultimately backed down from fighting Van Damme.

Remember, although this paints Van Damme in a stronger light than Seagal, it is from the mouth of Sylvester Stallone. In other words, this is just his recounting of events. At the same time, Sly is known for being a stand up guy and would have little reason to lie about what went down.

Steven Seagal vs. Jean Claude Van Damme – who would win?

Whilst Steven Seagal has certainly let himself go in recent years, he was actually in decent shape in the late 90s. This makes sense considering he was much younger and probably more physically active. However, Jean Claude Van Damme looked to be in far better shape and visually had an excellent physique. In other words, not only was Van Damme more toned compared to Seagal, he was also bigger in terms of muscle mass. This would be relevant if the two did get into a confrontation.

Not only this but more importantly, Van Damme trained kickboxing – whereas Seagal did Aikido. Back then, Aikido had a far better reputation than it does today but these days it is often laughed at by the martial arts community. With this in mind, kickboxing is certainly the more effective of the two when it comes to fighting.

Lastly, when it comes to fighting records, we know that Van Damme had a solid record whilst fighting in Belgium. Even though he probably wasn’t fighting the very best in the world, he was still legitimate and did full-contact competitions.

The same can’t be said for Seagal whose fighting record doesn’t exist. It’s not like Aikido had tournaments either and many dojos didn’t even do sparring to pressure test the techniques.

Summary

In conclusion, it looks like Van Damme would certainly defeat Seagal in a fight. Not only was he stronger and in much better shape, he also trained a more effective martial art and there is literal proof that he competed. In comparison, Seagal was the weaker of the two whose martial art is held in lower esteem, whilst he also has no competition record. Still, you never know with fighting and there’s always a degree of luck involved which may have helped Seagal.

To summarize, the two never got into a fight which was probably a good thing for Seagal. Of course, we’ll never truly know what went down or who would win if they did fight but it’s still fun to speculate. On a final note, it looks like Van Damme had a pretty active time during the 90s when it comes to fighting other celebrities. For instance, he once got sucker punched by Chuck Zito after the two had a falling out.

Want to learn more about Jean Claude Van Damme? Check out his biography here.