I love martial arts! In some ways I wish I was enrolled in martial arts growing up as opposed to playing football, basketball, baseball, with naturally a side of skateboarding and BMXing. But hey, only so many hours in a kid’s day.

Anyways, I watch a bunch of martial arts stuff – way too much Van Damme and figuring out if Steven Seagal is legit or a poseur!

Anyways, Benny “The Jet” Urquidez most definitely is NOT a phony. Some of you older dudes may remember him, especially if you were one of those kids ordering martial arts magazines or into early Jackie Chan [Supposedly his fight in “Meal on Wheels with Benny is epic];you may know The Jet, but he was before my time, and only recently have I come across him. His feats and stories are insane!

I think he racked up over 200 wins with zero losses. Cited as the creator of “Kick Boxing”. Actually fought in Hong Kong death matches. Got ice-picked in the ass in another street fight. He weighed about 140 going up against true heavy weights around 240 [this was before a lot of the weight classes, kinda like early UFC]. Starred in movies. And of course, still found time to teach.

I don’t know how a movie about him isn’t made since he’s like real Frank Dux, and many [including Bruce Lee’s former students] believe his speed and power rivaled Lee’s.

I know I’m missing out on a lot [like the Gracie controversy], but you can write 3 books on the Jet, and still not get everything in.

So, here’s some stuff on him I came across:

This is him older telling some stories, going over technique.

This is the time he unwittingly fought in a Kumite match for a measly fur coat! Crazy stuff. Notice he never says if he actually killed his opponent! Moral of the story. Never agree to anything in Hong Kong!

This is The Jet relaying the story of being one of the first to go against a Muay Thai fighter, “I didn’t even know what Muay Thai was. I thought that was his name…then he started elbowing me, and I was like, ‘ok, this is a street fight’. I didn’t know!”

You can read the comments to get more of an idea about the man and his legacy; needless to say, he’s a real American bad ass.