The phenomenon that is Steven Seagal has now extended from the silver screen to the eight-sided cage.
A black belt in Aikido, Seagal has parlayed his extensive career in the martial art into a memorable movie career where Seagal has become one of the more notable figures in the action/thriller genre.
Films such as Above the Law, Hard to Kill and Under Siege have helped anchor his legend, but now Seagal has found a second life in the world of mixed martial arts.
Recently, the master of “the way of unifying life energy” has been seen alongside notables in former champion Lyoto Machida and current pound-for-pound great Anderson Silva, taking a considerable amount of credit for their impressive performances against Randy Couture and Vitor Belfort, respectively.
In those bouts, the Brazilians had performed incredible feats of action when they pulled off front head-kick knockouts over their accomplished opposition—to which Seagal was proud to say, “Yeah, I taught them that.”
Seagal has also made efforts to cozy up next to other big names such as reigning UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who deferred to work with the obvious MMA talent, questioning Seagal’s motives and for good reason.
While his accolades as an Aikido expert and movie star precede him, Seagal is now prominent figure in the mixed martial arts world. The legendary Bas Rutten has vehemently worked to debunk the Seagal movement in MMA.
“I don’t think he’s teaching anything to the likes of Silva and Machida,” said Rutten while speaking with MMADieHards.com.
“I imagine Anderson’s just giving a handout. He’s always laughing when Seagal’s around and I think to him it’s just a fun thing. With that front kick, the fourth or fifth thing you’re taught in most martial arts usually involves a kick to the face. I imagine the guys respect him for the movies he’s been in, but that’s about it.”
So whose opinion will you lend respect to more? That of a tiring movie actor who is looking to catch a second wind in a new and popular sport, or that of a two-time world champion who’s widely considered to be one of the best mixed martial artist to ever lace up the gloves?
I’ll go with the latter.
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