Mortal Kombat & Bloodsport
One of the biggest martial arts video game franchises was inspired and influenced by one of the most popular martial arts movies of all time.
There is little question that the Mortal Kombat franchise from MK 1 to it’s successful sequels, and the movies that came out of the video game’s huge success, was a product of the popularity of the movie Bloodsport (1988). Johnny Cage was modeled after Jean-Claude Van Damme in Bloodsport (Beresford, 2019) who was modeled after the 1975 Heavyweight Kumite Champion Frank Dux (Arbeiter, 2021).
DID YOU KNOW: Van Damme Was Almost in the MORTAL KOMBAT Arcade Game?
GS 2 Bloodsport+EntertheDragon=MK? - Frank Dux vs. Chong Li
Mortal Kombat 11 Johnny Cage Bloodsport Reference
Source:
Arbeiter, M. (2021, April 20). 15 surprising facts about mortal kombat. Mental Floss. Retrieved April 2, 2023, from https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/62727/15-things-you-might-not-know-about-mortal-kombat
Beresford, Jack. “11 Ultimate Facts about Jean-Claude Van Damme’s Bloodsport.” Ultimate Action Movie Club, 15 June 2019, https://ultimateactionmovies.com/11-ultimate-facts-about-jean-claude-van-dammes-bloodsport/.
Once you start looking at the game and their characters you notice other similarities between Frank Dux’s Bloodsport and Mortal Kombat,
Apparent similarities appear to exist between Liu Kang and Kung Lau and the Kung fu Kumite fighters who appear in the first part of the movie and as noted in one of the above videos in the case of Liu Kang compared to Chong Li (Bolo Yeung), the Hawaiian fighter nut punched by Dux (Van Damme) in the movie and Goro (who gets nut punched a lot by Johnny Cage among others doing the splits no less).
The Nut Punch of Frank Dux (Van Damme) compared to Johnny Cage's Notorious Nut Punches
Also, Japanese Ninjutsu is prevalent in Mortal Kombat with the character Scorpion and in Frank Dux’s Bloodsport Ninjutsu is the art that he learned from Shidoshi Senzo Tanaka, played by Roy Chiao,which was Dux’s real life Ninjutsu master and Frank Dux founded the first American Ninjutsu style, Dux Ryu, in 1975 and the Black Dragon Organization with the character Kano (Black Dragon, n.d.) is a big coincidence since the Black Dragon Society (Kokuryūkai) is the one in conjunction with the Internatinal Fighting Arts Association (IFAA) in Bloodsport and in real life in addition to the Black Dragon Fighting Society organized and sponsored The Kumite which also had a lot in common with Mortal Kombat’s the Red Dragon Clan as well (Black Dragon, n.d.), not to mention the Black Dragon Logo for MK. Lastly “Test Your Might” challenge is not unlike the Dim Mak seen in Bloodsport or what Grandmaster Frank Dux actually preforms it.
The Ninja Scorpion - Shidoshi Senzo Tanaka & Frank Dux - Ninja Master Frank Dux
The Black Dragon Logo of MK compared to the Logos of the BDFS & IFAA/OBDFS
Test Your Might compared to the Dim Mak entry requirement
in Bloodsport & the Dim Mak of Frank Dux
Source:
“Black Dragon.” Mortal Kombat Wiki, https://mortalkombat.fandom.com/wiki/Black_Dragon.
Mortal Kombat 30th Anniversary Official Trailer compared to the Fights of the second day at The Kumite
Mortal Kombat (1995) Official Trailer compared to Bloodsport (1988) Official Trailer
Mortal Kombat (2021) - Official Trailer #2 | Lewis Tan, Ludi Lin, Joe Taslim, the Bloodsport ShowTime Special
These movies no doubt have benefited from the door Bloodsport kicked down. Therefore, as we can see, Frank Dux’s Bloodsport and Mortal Kombat are forever connected!