i want you to hit me as hard as you can... The 1988 Cannon cult classic
Bloodsport traces the triumphs of ferocious fighter Frank Dux - no no it's Dux. Gotcha
like put up your dukes right? as he battles his way through the underground martial
arts competition known as the kumite. This sweat-soaked action flick starring the muscles
from brussels himself Jean-Claude Van Damme was purportedly based on the real story of Frank Dux,
a wildly colorful character who also served as fight coordinator on the film. But was Frank
Dux indeed a badass martial artist or a fraudulent self-promoting huckster? Or something in between?
Get ready to make full contact and find out what the [ __ ] really happened to this movie!
First a bit about what we know is true about Frank Dux:
born in Toronto on April 6 1956, Dux really did serve in the U.S. marine corps reserve
from 1975 to 1981. However in his memoir Secret Man An American Warrior's Uncensored Story - which
has since been pulled from publication due to controversy - Dux claimed to have served
overseas in Vietnam where he allegedly earned the medal of honor and other esteemed decorations.
But there are zero official records of Dux ever leaving the US and serving overseas, and his
service records indicate no sign of ever receiving the commendations he claimed to have earned.
In fact the freedom of information act reveals that in 1978 military doctors
recommended that Dux seek psychiatric evaluation for exhibiting "flighty and disconnected ideas."
Even more damning, in BG Burkett's award-winning book Stolen Valor, the author outed Dux as a fraud
who never served in Vietnam at all, especially since the war had already concluded by the time he
enlisted. But Dux refuted this by saying he never claimed that he served in Vietnam specifically,
only clandestine missions in southeast Asia. However Dux is again contradicted in his infamous
1980 interview with Black Belt magazine in an article entitled Kumite A Learning Experience,
which states he has a distinguished military record in the Vietnam conflict. Likewise a 1987
issue of Inside Kung Fu magazine also described Dux as a Vietnam veteran. In Stolen Valor, Burkett
included a photo of Dux posing in his military uniform proudly boasting his honorary medals and
ribbons - which were incorrectly displayed out of sequence and were later revealed to be part of a
Halloween costume. Dux also wore an army medal in the photo even though he served in the marines.
In Bloodsport, Frank Dux goes AWOL from his military post to fight in the kumite, a secret
illegal mixed martial arts tournament held every five years in a different city and featuring
the deadliest and most skilled fighters in the world. According to Dux he never went AWOL but
did participate in the three-day 60-round single elimination kumite event in 1975, which took place
in Nassau in the Bahamas rather than Hong Kong as depicted in the film. But Dux takes the story much
further, claiming he was a CIA operative, saying "my involvement in that tournament was part of
a plan to infiltrate the criminal organizations that organized the fights. The original idea was
to participate in the kumite tournament and make a few contacts. We initially assumed i would lose
but eventually i became one of the best kumite fighters to ever participate in the event." Dux's
supposed CIA involvement under director William J Casey, who died in 1987 before confirming any
of this, has also been disputed multiple times over the years by several prominent intelligence
figures including director of Central Intelligence Robert Gates and general Norman Schwarzkopf,
further questioning Dux's reliability as the narrator of his own life story. Dux has even
backtracked with his own memoir declaring that he was misrepresented on the book cover, which boasts
he was the CIA's finest covert operative. This kind of uncertainty all seems pretty standard
when it comes to Dux's convoluted biography. Dux's boastful kumite fighting record has also
been under heavy scrutiny over the years. At the end of Bloodsport, Dux's credentials are displayed
but this is purely Dux's word as none of these records have ever been officially substantiated.
First of all a note about the kumite itself: in 1988 Kenneth Wilson, spokesman for the Bahamas
ministry of sports, rejected the entire existence of the tournament stating that
"it was impossible a martial arts tournament of that scale could have been kept a secret."
Dux also asserts that he was the only American to win the kumite and says he was only allowed
to speak about the event publicly as a way to recruit more American fighters. In the
previously mentioned 1980 Black Belt article, Dux claims his fighting record was 321-1-7,
which not only differs from the movie's undefeated statement but also in 2014 Dux told AXS TV that he
ended his fighting career with a perfect record. These kinds of inconsistencies make it a challenge
to believe any of Dux's claims. Inside Kung Fu magazine editor Curtis Wong has publicly
questioned Dux's alleged consecutive streak of 56 knockouts in a single tournament saying it
would be mathematically impossible due to the overall number of participants in the kumite.
With no way of actually proving Dux's unfathomable fighting record his history remains a mystery.
Prominent MMA website Fightland named Dux as one of the biggest martial arts frauds. What we do
know is true is that Dux indeed helped raise the profile of the ninjutsu martial art he practiced
in the film and in real life. Hhe even created the Dux Ryu Ninjutsu spin-off practice which
he taught in southern California for decades. In the film his trainer is named Senzo Tiger Tanaka.
Dux admits this character is actually an amalgam of the real Tanaka and a man named Jack Seki, an
extended Tanaka family member. Dux says he began training with the "world famous" Tanaka at age 16
after being recruited by the sensei, but despite supposedly being world famous there is also
zero evidence that Tanaka actually ever existed. There are no records of his birth, death or life.
In fact the character's name appears to be ripped from Ian Fleming's 1964 James Bond novel You Only
Live Twice, in which the ninja commander is named Tiger Tanaka. When Dux was confronted
about this so-called coincidence he countered by saying that Fleming often named his characters
after real people. For years Dux said that he had no clue of Tanaka's whereabouts stating the
two ended on bad terms in the 1970s. But in 2016 Dux's website declared that Tanaka died in Japan.
Then a year later Dux claimed he found Tanaka's death certificate which stated he died in Los
Angeles in 1975. More conflicting information from a guy who spins more webs than Peter Parker.
While Tanaka's existence has never been verified, Jack Seki's has. Seki was a skilled jiu jitsu
master who trained under his legendary father Sanzo Seki, but there is little documentation
proving Seki's mentorship to Dux. One fabrication that Dux will admit to is the film's first meeting
with his sensei. In Bloodsport a teenage Frank breaks into Tanaka's house to steal a sacred
sword. Dux said this was the producer's idea and he initially objected but then admitted it was a
clever narrative device to help viewers understand the importance of martial arts and discipline
on impressionable young minds. Before delving further into the details of the movie let's
see what screenwriter Sheldon Lettich had to say about the real-life character of Frank Dux. In a
2012 interview Lettich told Asian Movie Pulse: "i had known Frank Dux for a number of months before
i came up with the idea for Bloodsport. Frank told me a lot of tall tales, most of which turned out
to be [ __ ] but his stories about participating in this so-called kumite event sounded like a
great idea for a movie. There was one guy who he introduced me to named Richard Bender who
claimed to have actually been at the kumite event and who swore everything Frank told me was true.
A few years later this guy had a falling out with Frank and confessed to me that everything
he told me about the kumite was a lie - Frank had coached him in what to say." Lettich also called
BS on Dux's military record and said that after increasing scrutiny he stopped claiming that he
won the medal of honor, and then began saying that he'd never told anyone he won it. Lettich
said by then nearly everyone knew he was just "a delusional daydreamer and a big bullshitter."
Still, despite a glaring lack of proof, Frank Dux maintains his implausible story as the
unwavering truth and contends there has been a vast conspiracy for decades to delegitimize
his accomplishments. For what possible reason? According to Dux, so that rival martial arts
instructors in Los Angeles could put him out of business and reap their own financial rewards
in his absence. At one point Dux even claimed he wrote the script for Bloodsport himself,
or at least said that his screenplay entitled Enter the Ninja - not to be confused with the
1981 Cannon movie of the same name - was really the basis for Bloodsport. Sheldon
Lettich rejected this as well stating there was no script prior to what was written for Bloodsport
In 2013 Dux also told Buzzfeed he designed Van Damme's fighting outfit in the film
and even paid for it himself when local costumes purchased in Hong Kong were all wrong for the
characters. In 1988 as Dux's reputation further came under question upon the movie's release,
Black Belt Magazine's writer and editor publicly expressed regret for naively publishing Dux's
story as truth years earlier, and even questioned the existence of the kumite altogether.
While the kumite is believed to really exist, it seems pretty obvious that the tournament was not
accurately depicted in Bloodsport, especially Dux's status in its ranks.
Dux further strained credulity by insisting that the real-life ceremonial sword he was
allegedly awarded for winning the kumite in 1975 was sold in order to fund a mission
to purchase the freedom of Philippine orphans who Dux says he rescued from ruthless pirates.
Okay, so after wading through that pool of improbability, is anything in Bloodsport
actually true? Well there's the character of Ray Jackson, played by Donald Gibb - perhaps best
known as Ogre from Revenge of the Nerds. Jackson is apparently based on two of Dux's close friends,
mainly Richard Robinson, a black belt in jiu jitsu who Dux says he first met at the kumite in Nassau.
Although Dux would point critics to Robinson for corroboration of his kumite fighting record,
years later it was revealed that Robinson was actually Dux's old high school buddy from
Venice California, which didn't help either of their reputations. Dux has also said that
Swedish karate champion Kurt Peterson helped inspire the character of Jackson. Amusingly
in the movie the Jackson character doesn't demonstrate a single fighting move recognized
by the martial arts community. So how about Dux's hulking adversary in the film Chong Li, played by
Bolo Yeung? He must have existed in real life, right? According to Dux he sure did, but again
perhaps unsurprisingly Dux also claimed the real Chong Li died before the movie was made, either
succumbing to brain tumors or maybe perishing in a car accident. Yet another discrepancy. Dux
also says he was momentarily blinded during his match with Chong Li but it was from a combination
of sweat and herbal oil and not the intentional act of powdered villainy depicted in the movie.
Well what about the famous brick breaking scene, did that occur as seen in the film?
Nope. While Frank did demonstrate a different method of dim mak, or death touch, on various
TV shows and live exhibitions at the height of his martial arts career, he makes no claim of
performing such a feat at the kumite. Likewise the ambitious journalist character and love interest
in Bloodsport was completely made up for the film, with Dux insisting that he would never be intimate
with a woman so soon before a fight. Another addition by the filmmakers was Dux being chased
by a pair of American military officers sent to track down and arrest him. After all, Dux claims
he never went AWOL because he was actually on a top secret CIA mission to infiltrate the kumite.
And that's probably as good a place as any to stop. By now we firmly established that Frank
Dux might have been a skilled martial artist, but also had a powerful penchant for weaving tall
tales - he even once claimed to have thwarted an assassination attempt on Steven Seagal.
But still, with all the conflict, conjecture, controversy and apparent hyperbole, here's what
is true about Bloodsport: its success launched the action career of Jean-Claude Van Damme, and it
remains an all-time bad ass fighting flick and a beloved classic among fans of martial arts movies.
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