Who Is an Expert of Kung Fu Who Is the Top 10 Best Martial Arts

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The 20 greatest martial arts stars of all time, ranked

Become a kick out of the best martial arts stars.

With Marvel'southward Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings set to bring kung-fu dorsum to the big screen and Cobra Kai doing a fantastic chore of showcasing karate on the small screen, and all ready to become into its 3rd season, we thought it was loftier time nosotros rated the greatest martial arts stars of all time.

UPDATE: Currently quaternary in our best martial arts stars list, Donnie Yen has signed on to John Wick 4. According to official reports, Yen - star of IP Human being and some of the greatest martial arts movies - will be an old friend of Keanu Reeves, sharing many of the hitman's enemies. The movie is set up to be released mid 2022.

These are the ones that have brought something new to the genre or are just only fantastic at the job of beating people up.

We have rounded up xx of the all-time but there are hundreds, heck, thousands that could be mentioned - all of which are far harder than we could always be.

If we have failed to mention your favourite, and then name drop them below and we volition see if they are deserving of the list. And, no, your mate Paul who once managed to chop a bit of balsa wood in half with his bare hands does non count.

(Additional reporting Marc Chacksfield)

Greatest martial arts stars

The kung-fu rex combined the cardiovascular capacity of an athlete with a bodybuilder's musculature. He performed finger-and-thumbs press-ups, inflated his lats like a cobra, leapt 8ft in the air to kicking out a lightbulb and unleashed the legendary 1in punch. Trained in wing chun, Wu-style Tai chi ch'uan, dancing and boxing, Lee developed a hybrid called Jeet Kune Do or 'Way Of The Intercepting Fist'. He striking difficult and fast, and then danced out of the strike zone – efficient but lethal. Ahead of his fourth dimension, he remains the criterion against whom all others are measured.

He helped bring Asian martial arts to the Hollywood mainstream with his acrobatics and slapstick humour, simply is also an exponent of breakneck-paced kung fu. Chan fuses hapkido, judo, wing chun, taekwondo and hei long in his ain tight, choppy fashion.

If we had to choice ane movie, and then Drunken Primary is essential Chan and one of the greatest kung fu movies e'er made.

Acrobatic action stalwart Li Lianjie is a former wushu champion who became a national autobus while nevertheless a schoolboy. The fighting prodigy was even asked by President Nixon to be his personal bodyguard. After acquisition the Chinese market, Lethal Weapon four (1998) was Li's stepping rock to Hollywood success. His flowing, kickboxing-influenced style is all nigh speed, power and control, hence the phase proper name.

Hong Kong middle-throb and multi-talented mixed martial artist, Yen'southward most influential and well-known work is 2008'south instant archetype Ip Man , the biopic of Bruce Lee's master. It popularised wing chun, the snake-meets-crane close-up gainsay style that'southward all deflections, blocks and short-arm blows. All the more than impressive when you consider that Yen learned the technique in a mere nine months.

The heir to Bruce Lee's throne forgoes wires and stunt doubles, giving his fight scenes a bruising ultra-realism. Raised in rural Thailand, Jaa watched martial arts movies, practised in his father'south rice paddy and somewhen mastered taekwondo, muay thai, aikido, krabi krabong, judo and jiu-jitsu. The star of Ong-bak is also a gymnast, swordsman and loftier-jumper who all the same clears two metres. Jaa's manner is acrobatic, lightning fast, fluid and monumental. At 5ft 6in, he'southward shorter than Lee but punches just as difficult.

Office-Cherokee, part-Irish tough nut Carlos Ray Norris wasn't ever and then: he wasn't an athletic child and but took upwardly tang soo do while in the US Air Force. He went on to earn black belts in three disciplines, invented his own hybrid manner chosen chun kuk practise ('The Universal Way') and became a world karate champion in 1968. Encouraged past Steve McQueen, Norris moved into picture the post-obit year, although the hairy-chested hero'due south screen career didn't truly take off until the Eighties, with a run of cult activity flicks plus cheesy TV vehicle Walker, Texas Ranger that ran between 1993 and 2001.

The ascendant star took up his native Indonesian martial art pencak silat aged 10. Uwais was working every bit a truck driver in Dki jakarta when spotted by Welsh motion picture manager Gareth Evans and cast in 2009'southward indie moving picture Merantau, which saw him master the 'Sumatran tiger style' of fighting. The Raid and The Raid 2 showcased more of his work and fifty-fifty landed him a small role in Star Wars: Episode Vii The Force Awakens

Similar Seagal, The Muscles From Brussels is now a kitsch figure, merely his belatedly Eighties/early Nineties films are indisputable classics. He studied kickboxing, muay thai, shotokan karate, taekwondo, and classical ballet from the historic period of ten, earning a black belt and Mr Belgium crown for body building. Later a shaky start in film (bad breakdancing, being replaced as the conflicting in Predator), JCVD had a run of hits. Trademarks? The splits, babymaker punches and his helicopter kick.

With his genuinely imposing demeanour and gruff voice, state of war veteran Mifune was manager Akira Kurosawa's muse. The pair fabricated 16 films together, most famously 1954'due south Seven Samurai . Mifune'due south fighting style was fittingly macho and ferocious; he was considered by George Lucas to play the part of Obi Wan Kenobi and most got the function of Mr Miyagi in Karate Kid (1984), just was accounted too frightening.

The Cantonese bodybuilder'due south fearsomely muscular physique and downturned mouth invariably led to him being bandage in villainous moving picture roles, the most notable being reverse training partner Bruce Lee in Enter The Dragon and later, Jean-Claude Van Damme. A man proficient in tai chi, wing chun and mostly crushing bones, he always made for a especially charismatic badass.

One of the Hong Kong new wave who reinvigorated the genre in the Seventies and Eighties, cigar-puffing Hung is nick-named 'dai goh dai', or 'biggest large brother'. He'south at present a director, producer and widely respected fight choreographer for the likes of Jackie Chan and John Woo, but started his career as a child actor. Hung's a hefty effigy (starring in Enter The Fatty Dragon , 1978), but is surprisingly active. His circular facial scar was the result of being attacked with a broken bottle outside a Kowloon nightclub.

Perhaps more of an action man than a pure martial artist, the Hong Kong hero is one of the all-time at training for specific roles and pulling off fight choreography with aplomb. This is particularly evident in 2000's soulful, Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Subconscious Dragon – as Wudang warrior Li Mu Bai, his wire work and weapon control were breathtaking.

Hui Liu, nicknamed Gordon, shot to distinction in The 36th Bedchamber Of Shaolin – the 1978 archetype that provides a backdrop for Wu-Tang Association'due south debut album. Information technology's the first Shaolin film to show the monastery's training methods, as San Te goes from unskilled fighter to folk hero. Tarantino'due south favourite, the 'Principal Killer' played two roles in the Impale Bill films.

Stephen Chow'south acrobatic work in the likes of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle may exist enhanced with CGI only there'due south no denying the martial arts talents of Grub. As a boy he was inspired Bruce Lee and began training in the style of Wing Chun every bit result. And we're very thankful that he did

The one-time ballet dancer became kung-fu's first screen queen in 1966 classic Come up Potable With Me . She played warrior swordswoman Golden Consume who tries to complimentary her kidnapped blood brother. The film was a major inspiration for 2000's Crouching Tiger, Subconscious Dragon , and so director Ang Lee cast Cheng, by then aged 54, equally the treacherous Jade Fox.

Oftentimes be-mulleted Rhee took up martial arts when he was four years old and mastered taekwondo, hapkido and kendo. Frustrated by a lack of openings in the U.s.a. moving picture business organisation, he decided to make his ain. The brutal All-time Of The All-time (1989-1998) series went on to become cult classics. His big blood brother Simon is no slouch either, and has choreographed fights and overseen stunts for films including The Nighttime Knight Rises (2012).

Raised the bar violence-wise during the mail service-Bruce Lee Seventies. He looked intimidatingly wolf-like and had a flashy, gruesome fight mode to match, ferociously destroying opponents while keeping a thunderous grimace on his bushy-browed face up. Quentin Tarantino'due south a devotee, making Clarence a Chiba nerd in 1993's True Romance and casting him every bit the sword-maker-turned-sushi restaurateur in 2003's Kill Bill Vol 1.

The pioneering kickboxer, who went undefeated in his pro career from 1974 to 1980, can but strike with one leg after an injury to his right. His left leg, though, became ane of the most feared weapons in fighting, with a deadly authentic claw-boot clocked at 60mph, equally seen in The Protector (1985), which likewise stars Jackie Chan.

The South Korean taekwondo and hapkido skilful was oft credited as Bruce Lei due to his resemblance to Bruce Lee. Starred in, aye, The Clones Of Bruce Lee (1981) and a documentary nigh the great man, called The Real Bruce Lee.

If you are to watch one of his movies, though, so make it The Dragon's Snake Fist.

The square-jawed Chicago powerhouse was a springboard diver until, inspired by cult Boob tube series Kung Fu (1972), he started fight-training. He somewhen achieved black belts in both kenpo karate and goju-ryu. His debut starring role, 1991's The Perfect Weapon , saw him single-handedly have on the Mafia – frequently set to the tune of The Power past Snap!

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