Bloodsport is a
1988 martial arts film "Based on true events in the life of
Frank Dux" as portrayed by
Jean-Claude Van Damme. Although it enjoyed little
box office success, it is considered a genre classic by
martial arts film enthusiasts for showcasing a large variety of international fighting styles, ranging from
Kung Fu to
Jeet Kune Do and
Muay Thai.
Plot
Based on supposedly real-life events which took place between 1975 and 1980–1981,
Bloodsport tells the story of an
American man named
Frank W. Dux (
Jean Claude Van Damme), who was trained from his youth in the ways of
Ninjutsu by a
Japanese master of the art, Senzo Tanaka (
Roy Chiao). Primarily to honor his mentor out of gratitude and respect for having been allowed the training in place of Senzo Tanaka's deceased and only son, Dux leaves for
Hong Kong to participate in the
Kumite — an illegal and underground,
freestyle,
single-elimination and occasionally deadly
full-contact martial arts tournament to which the world's best martial artists are clandestinely invited every five years.