Who's the GOAT?

Who’s the real heavyweight among these "actors"? Or better yet, who walks away as the winner if they all met in an underground tournament on top of Ben Lomond? Let's be honest—if you were watching a movie starring any of these guys back in the day, it was almost certainly some illegal karate tournament plot.
Most of you probably haven't heard of half these names, but if you spent any decent chunk of the 80s glued to action-karate flicks (honestly, what else was playing in the 80s?), you've definitely seen most of this crowd.

P.S. Marc Dacascos and Dolph Lundgren weren't just acting. Dammit.

Here are the fighters, just so people can put a face to the name:

Chuck Norris

Jean Claude van Damme

Steven Seagal

Dudikoff

Richard Norton

Lorenzo Lamas

The Dragon

Bolo Yeung

Jeff Wincott

Matthias Hues

Did you seriously just call yourself an expert on Bruce Lee? Give me a break. You’re clearly way too young to be talking like that—maybe try being born twenty years earlier if you want to have an actual opinion...

copperdriver15 said:Are you kidding me with this Bruce Lee talk? What are you even on about? Go back and try being born twenty years earlier...

I didn't include Bruce on purpose. He hasn't earned a spot on this list, so let's stop pretending for a second.

My apologies there. 👍
It looks like neither Jackie nor my stuntman Chan made the cut.
Personally, I’m putting my vote in for Van Damme, though I have to say Mini Morris is pretty solid too—he's right up there with Bruce Lee. 😉

Chucky 🙂 is the ultimate icon 👍
And let's not forget he actually went toe-to-toe with Bruce Lee, too!

Walker, Texas Ranger😁 😁 😁

I still remember being a kid and watching one of his movies—maybe it was Lone Wolf or something like that. There’s this scene where they beat a guy senseless, shove him into the trunk of a Chevy, push the car into a hole, and bury the whole thing under sand. All this happens right after Chuck finishes a beer; he actually had a fridge built into his cassette player drawer.🙄 He manages to pull a Jeep out of the mud and still has enough energy left to beat everyone else up. Honestly, it's almost impressive.

So what’s the deal with George Pendovski, Billy Drago, Mr. T, and Frank Zagharino?
If I have to pick from that bunch, I’m riding with Bolo Yeung—the man’s an absolute icon. (He went toe-to-toe with Bruce Lee, if I recall correctly, though his name is actually Yeung Tzse)
You totally overlooked the Tae Bo master himself, Billy Blanks.
Though, if we're talking true legends, I've always had respect for Sonny Chiba.

mellowrider50:
I still remember watching this one movie when I was just a kid—something like Lone Wolf or whatever—where they beat this guy up, shove him into a trunk, roll him into a hole, and bury the whole thing under sand. Then after Chuck knocks back a beer (man, he had a fridge right in his cassette player drawer), he somehow digs him out and just lays everyone else out. That's real cool.

And you've got Chakotay from Voyager (Beltran) playing a major supporting role here.😎

What kind of poll is this even supposed to be? Asking who the best ballerina is belongs in the Other Art subforum.
Look, don't make me call in Jackie Chan to bend the spines of this whole top ten list—and you along with me—for why I even bothered mentioning such a sacred name on a thread like this...

And where is that "Jackie_Chan_eye_gouging_Chuck_Norris.gif" emoji now? Right when you need it most!!!!

Jackie doesn't even touch that "league" up there (and neither does Bruce). Are people blind? I’m seeing some folks here who clearly have zero clue what actually makes a solid B-movie actor.
You totally missed Adrian Paul, too.
We should probably just open the whole damn pool to include fighting legends while we're at it.

Bruce and Jack added 😎

Eric Jackson43 said:What about George Pendowski, Billy Drago, Mr. T, and Frank Zagharino?
Out of that bunch, I’m backing Bost Yeung—he’s the real deal. (He fought Bruce Lee, if I recall correctly, though his name is actually Yeung Tzse.)
You also overlooked the Tae Bo master, Billy Blanks.

The poll is limited to ten spots, unfortunately. That's why Cynthia Rothrock, Dacascos, Lundgren, John Saxon, Brian Thompson, Billy Blanks, Eric Roberts, Adrian Paul (would Lambert fit in then?), Patrick Swayze, and Wesley Snipes made the cut. You can't fit an entire army of martial arts legends in here—not even including The Karate Kid.

As for Billy Drago, I'm not sure he qualifies as a fighter. I have a friend who claims to have seen his entire filmography; I'll ask him. To me, he's just a psychopath who loves holding his pistol between his nose and eye like he's kissing it. He has a scene like that in almost every movie he's in. He's more of a pop culture icon than a combatant.

I'm casting my vote for Dudikoff. In his movies, the man takes down entire armies of genetically enhanced ninjas single-handedly. I spent most of my childhood wanting to be a ninja... but with a red belt.😉 (I still remember those specific hand signs Joe uses to create a smoke screen, giving him just enough time to change into his red-belt ninja suit.)
I included links to photos of the nominees in my first post.

driftingowl27 said:Bruce and Jack added 😎

Total bust. No Jet Li here. 😢 And honestly... I can't even make up my mind between Jack and Bruce... if Jet Li were in the mix, he'd just have me spinning in circles trying to choose...

In my opinion, Bruce Lee and Jackie (or even Jet Li) don't belong on this list because they aren't B class like the guys mentioned above. It would have been better if driftingowl27 had included Billy Blanks or Marc Dacascos, or someone else entirely. Now everyone is just going to vote for Bruce, and we'll never actually find out who the greatest fighter—or faker—really is.

Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan just don't belong in that category, period. So look, Moderator, if you aren't actually steeped in this specific subgenre, maybe don't weigh in. (No offense intended, but if you aren't part of that inner circle, you really don't get what I'm talking about here.)
And honestly, just because all these amateurs keep bringing up Bruce and Jackie and trying to lump them in with the rest of this genre doesn't mean anyone should actually take them seriously.
You're better off mentioning guys like Frank Zagharino, Paul, or Dudikoff instead.
Even Jet Li isn't part of this particular group.
I almost forgot about "Rowdy" Roddy Piper too! 🙂

Dudikoff is already past his prime. All that's left is to get rid of Jackie and Bruce (and honestly, that's a job for the moderators alone)

I’m asking the OP to add Jet Li to this list. If we're including that hack Lorenzo Lamas, then sure, nimblemarlin17 can stay on there too... but Jet Li definitely needs to be included.

Look, people, Lamas is on this list because he’s a total disaster. Jet Li isn't a disaster, which is why he didn't make the cut.
I mean, am I actually delusional enough to think Seagal is one of the greatest fighters ever? Of course not. This is a list of B actors.

BTW, I can't edit the list. That's reserved for the moderators.

How can you even call a legend like Lorenzo a total flop?
Just kill yourself already. 🙂
And for the rest of you, try to grasp the fact that Lianjie isn't even in the same league as icons like Bruce or Jackie; we could probably start an entire separate thread just for them.
Seriously, how did you all manage to overlook the legendary Bruce Lee !?!?!?!?
If you haven't sat through "Finishing Blow," "Poison Hand," or "Night of Great Showdown," then you don't get a seat at the table when talking about martial arts!

My apologies. I was referring to the quality of the films (and in Lorenzo's case, his TV series). Lorenzo is decent, though he isn't someone I'd recall after all these years. But Jet, Bruce, and Jackie? As I've said before, they don't belong in this conversation.
Jet blew up in the 90s, and now he just churns out trendy bullet-fu movies in the vein of The Matrix.
Jackie is a massive superstar.
Bruce is practically a household name. Everyone knows who Bruce Lee is.
As for the actors on this list, they're only known by people who follow martial arts cinema closely—and even then, there are kids today who haven't the slightest clue who Jean-Claude Van Damme is.

I just remembered two others:
David Bradley
Jeff Speakman

Bruce Lee is an absolute legend🙂