47 Facts About Benny Urquidez

Benny Urquidez was born on June 20,1952 and is an American former professional kickboxer, martial arts choreographer and actor.

Benny Urquidez made the transition from point to full-contact karate in 1974, the year of its inception in the US, frequently fighting in bouts where the rules were ambiguous and contrasts in styles were dramatic.

Benny Urquidez is known for once holding the rare achievement of six world titles in five different weight divisions, and remained largely undefeated in his 27-year career.

Benny Urquidez has appeared in occasional acting roles, including the Jackie Chan movies Wheels on Meals and Dragons Forever, and played a hitman in George Armitage's Grosse Pointe Blank.

Benny Urquidez was born in Los Angeles County, California, the son of a wrestling mother and a boxing father.

Benny Urquidez's parents are of Spanish, Mexican and Blackfoot ancestry.

Benny Urquidez has said that his father was Spanish and his mother was Native American.

Benny Urquidez began competing in 1958, at the age of five, in "peewee" boxing and wrestling in Los Angeles.

Benny Urquidez received his black belt at the age of 14, a highly unusual feat in the 1960s.

Benny Urquidez's sister Lilly Rodriguez was a pioneer in kickboxing for women, and their late brother Reuben Urquidez appeared with Benny in a documentary on the combination martial art budojujitsu.

At the age of 12, Benny Urquidez attended the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964.

Benny Urquidez witnessed a demonstration by Bruce Lee, including the one-inch punch which sent a 245-pound man flying back.

Benny Urquidez entered the point circuit in 1964 and earned a reputation as a colorful fighter.

At the 1972 Santa Monica Kempo Open, Benny Urquidez lost in the finals to Brian Strian.

Benny Urquidez competed in England and Belgium as a member of Ed Parker's 1974 US team.

Benny Urquidez protested the decision and petitioned the WKA's Howard Hansen to classify it as a no-contest.

Subsequently, Benny Urquidez became devoted to acting, teaching kickboxing and martial arts choreography.

Benny Urquidez's late brother Reuben was a competitive martial artist and actor; they appeared together in a 1982 training video, World Of Martial Arts, along with Steve Sanders, Chuck Norris and John Saxon.

Van Halen lead singer David Lee Roth dedicated the band's hit 1984 song "Jump" to Benny Urquidez, of whom Roth was a student.

Benny Urquidez has had training in nine styles: Judo, Kajukenbo, Shotokan, Taekwondo, Lima Lama, White Crane Kung Fu, Jujutsu, Aikido and American Kenpo.

Benny Urquidez continued to teach at The Jets Gym in North Hollywood, California.

Benny Urquidez teaches ukidokan kickboxing at Team Karate Center in Woodland Hills, California.

Benny Urquidez was the first kickboxing champion with an international profile who operated as a free agent under different rules for different sanctions.

Benny Urquidez scored flash-knockdowns against Narongnoi in rounds three and six as well as five legal throws over three other rounds.

Third, Benny Urquidez fought to a seven-round NC against Billye Jackson in West Palm Beach, Florida, on August 8,1980.

Meanwhile, on August 2,1978, Benny Urquidez faced the then fifth-ranked welterweight Thai boxer, Prayout Sittiboonlert, in Tokyo as part of the Shin-Kakutojutsu Organization's first independent event.

Benny Urquidez lost a heart-stopping decision to the Thai, who controlled the fight with relentless knee attacks and through the masterful use of Thai clinches.

However, for unknown reasons, Benny Urquidez canceled the fight on the day of the event.

Benny Urquidez slipped to the canvas in round two; and Tagami scored a clean flash knockdown in round nine.

In September 1994, Benny Urquidez revealed he had been challenged by Rorion Gracie for a mixed martial arts bout as part of the Gracie Challenge.

Benny Urquidez claimed to have backed down from the fight, considering it to be just a promotional stunt, due to Rorion demanding to fight for free after having negotiated for a fight purse.

Benny Urquidez claimed Urquidez only wanted to fight under kickboxing rules, to lessen the chance of being defeated, and that Rorion refused on the grounds that he was "not a kickboxer".

Benny Urquidez has played a number of roles in various martial arts movies.

Benny Urquidez is depicted as a relentlessly tough opponent who is defeated in the climactic fight scenes of both movies.

Benny Urquidez's final fight with Chan in Wheels on Meals is considered to be among the finest fights of Chan's career, including by Chan himself.

Benny Urquidez cameoed as a kickboxer in the Troma film Ragin' Cajun.

Benny Urquidez appeared in the 1989 film Roadhouse as one of the fighters seen at a car dealership which is partially destroyed in elaborately choreographed mayhem.

Benny Urquidez trained Patrick Swayze in his own fighting techniques for the film.

Benny Urquidez appears in the 1991 film Blood Match, and in 1992, he played a referee in the James Woods and Louis Gossett Jr.

Benny Urquidez has a cameo appearance in the movie Street Fighter, playing one of several prisoners put in a truck with Ken, Ryu, Sagat and Vega.

Benny Urquidez was responsible for the physical training of most of the Street Fighter cast.

Benny Urquidez was set to play a different character in the franchise, Raven, in a game based on the movie, but the character was later scrapped.

Benny Urquidez performed in the film Grosse Pointe Blank as Felix La Poubelle, a hitman sent to kill a character played by John Cusack.

Benny Urquidez appeared in 1408 as a spectral killer with a hammer, again with Cusack.

Benny Urquidez appeared as one of several thugs who accost Kirsten Dunst's character in the first Spider-Man film during an attempted robbery; Benny Urquidez plays the thug wearing a black-and-white-striped T-shirt who makes kissing noises at Dunst.

Benny Urquidez was a fight coordinator for an episode of the television drama Criminal Minds, "The Bittersweet Science", and appears in the episode in a 30-second role as an underground MMA referee.

Benny Urquidez is believed to have 11 undocumented matches, winning 10, drawing one with all 10 victories by way of KO.