Neither Norris nor Van Damme is a mere action star. Both have real-life fight experience under their belts.

Sure, Van Damme can do the splits like it's nobody's business. But how likely is he to win a fight against Norris? Well, the Belgian is a blackbelt in karate. That might not sound too impressive, but before he moved to the United States, he competed in full-contact competitions from the age 12 until he left Belgium at 18 years old. His former karate coach, Claude Goetz, a seasoned and world-renowned karate instructor, says in an interview posted on YouTube that Van Damme could've been a champion.

Van Damme is known to take his training seriously, which is required in order to become a human rubber band like him. When he started training in martial arts, his father built him a gym in the attic where Van Damme would train for four hours every day, according to Fighting Arts. As reported by Karate City, he still takes his training very seriously. Van Damme's IMDB profile lists his fighting record as 18-1, with 18 knockouts in kickboxing, and 41-4 for semi-contact karate, which is nothing to scoff at.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB%2Bk2ttbm1fmLW2r8pmpaiqop7AbsLSZqGemZ5isK2t1J2cZq6Ro3qlrcymnGavmKR6uLvUpZtmr5mjfA%3D%3D