Benny Urquidez facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Benny Urquidez
Urquidez in 1998
Born	(1952-06-20) June 20, 1952 (age 73) Tarzana, California, U.S.
Other names	The Jet
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Weight	145 lb (66 kg; 10.4 st)
Division	Lightweight Super Lightweight Welterweight
Style	Kenpo-Shotokan, Ukidokan Kickboxing
Fighting out of	Los Angeles, California, United States
Team	The Jet Center
Years active	1974–1985, 1989, 1993
Kickboxing record
Total	67
Wins	63
By knockout	57
Losses	1
Draws	1
No contests	2
Other information
Notable students	Pete Cunningham, David Lee Roth, John Cusack, Richard Norton, Dave Mustaine, Duff McKagan

Benny Urquidez (born June 20, 1952) is an American former professional kickboxer, martial arts choreographer and actor. He is known by his nickname, "The Jet". Urquidez started as a karate competitor where fighters did not make full contact. Later, he helped start "full-contact" fighting in the United States. This meant fighters could hit each other with full power.

He switched to full-contact karate in 1974, when it first began in the U.S. He often fought in matches where the rules were not always clear. Benny Urquidez is famous for winning six world titles in five different weight classes. He was mostly undefeated during his 27-year career. His only official loss was in a Muay Thai match that was very controversial. Benny had agreed to it being just a practice fight, but the result was counted as a loss.

Between 1974 and 1993, his official record was 49 wins, 1 loss, and 1 draw, with 35 knockouts. He also had two fights that were called "no contests" due to arguments. Some sources say he had an even better record, with many more wins. Black Belt magazine named him "Competitor of the Year" in 1978. In 2019, he joined the International Sports Hall of Fame. He has also acted in movies, including films with Jackie Chan.

Early Life and Family

Benny Urquidez was born in Los Angeles County, California. His mother was a wrestling expert, and his father was a boxing expert. His family background includes Spanish, Mexican, and Blackfoot heritage. He has mentioned that his father was Spanish and his mother was Native American.

Benny started competing in sports very young, at age five. He did "peewee" boxing and wrestling in Los Angeles. He began learning martial arts when he was seven years old. His first official teacher was Bill Ryusaki. Benny earned his black belt at just 14 years old. This was very rare in the 1960s. His brothers and sisters also became black belts. His sister, Lilly Rodriguez, was one of the first women in kickboxing.

Kickboxing Career

When Benny was 12, he went to the Long Beach International Karate Championships in 1964. There, he saw Bruce Lee perform an amazing "one-inch punch". This punch sent a 245-pound man flying backward. Seeing this inspired young Benny to start entering martial arts tournaments himself.

He began competing in non-contact karate in 1964. He quickly became known as an exciting fighter. In 1973, he had a famous non-contact fight against John Natividad. This match went into an extra 25-point round, which was unheard of. Natividad won by a very close score.

In 1974, Benny started moving away from non-contact fighting. He entered and won the World Series of Martial Arts Championship. This was a tough competition with very few rules. Over the next 20 years, he fought in many different kickboxing groups. He built an amazing record of 58 wins with no losses. While this record is official, some people still debate it.

In 1977, Urquidez went to Japan to fight. He won by knockout in the 6th round against Katsuyuki Suzuki. This fight surprised Japan, where kickboxing was already very popular. Even though he never earned a rank in Japanese karate, Urquidez calls himself sensei. This is a Japanese word for an expert or teacher.

After 1980, Benny fought less often. He mostly stopped fighting after 1985. He officially retired after fighting Yoshihisa Tagami when he was 41. After his fighting career, Urquidez focused on acting, teaching kickboxing, and creating martial arts choreography for movies.

Benny's late brother, Reuben, was also a martial artist and actor. They appeared together in a training video in 1982. Van Halen singer David Lee Roth was a student of Urquidez. Roth even dedicated the band's 1984 hit song "Jump" to Benny.

In 2000, Urquidez helped start the Los Angeles Film Fighting Institute. This was one of the first schools to teach martial artists how to do stunt work for movies.

Benny Urquidez has trained in nine different martial arts styles. These include Judo, Kajukenbo, Shotokan, Taekwondo, Lima Lama, White Crane Kung Fu, Jujutsu, Aikido, and American Kenpo. He also created his own style called Ukidokan Karate. He used to teach at The Jets Gym in North Hollywood, California. Today, he still teaches privately and works as a stunt coordinator in movies and TV. He teaches Ukidokan kickboxing at Team Karate Center in Woodland Hills, California.

Movie Roles

Urquidez has acted in many martial arts movies. His first film was Force: Five (1981). Later, he made two famous movies with Jackie Chan: Wheels on Meals (1984) and Dragons Forever (1988). In these films, he plays a very tough opponent who fights against characters played by Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, and Yuen Biao. His final fight with Chan in Wheels on Meals is considered one of the best fights in Jackie Chan's career.

Benny also had a small role as a kickboxer in the movie Ragin' Cajun. He appeared in the 1989 film Roadhouse. He trained Patrick Swayze in his own fighting techniques for that movie. Urquidez was also in the 1991 film Blood Match. In 1992, he was a referee in the movie Diggstown. He had a small appearance in the movie Street Fighter (1994). He also helped train most of the actors for the Street Fighter movie.

Urquidez was in the film Grosse Pointe Blank (1997) as a hitman. He appeared in 1408 (2007) as a ghostly killer. In both these movies, he worked with actor John Cusack. Benny Urquidez has been Cusack's kickboxing trainer for a long time. Urquidez also appeared as one of the bad guys in the first Spider-Man film (2002).

He worked as a fight coordinator for an episode of the TV show Criminal Minds called "The Bittersweet Science". He also had a small role in that episode as an underground MMA referee.

Titles and Awards

• World Kickboxing League W.K.L - Hall of Fame 2013
• Black Belt Magazine
  • 1978 Competitor of the Year
• KATOGI
  • KATOGI super-lightweight (-63.6 kg) world champion: 1978
• Muay Thai Bond Nederland
  • M.T.B.N. welterweight (-66 kg) world champion: 1984
• National Karate League
  • N.K.L. lightweight (-70.5 kg) world champion: 1974-1975
• Professional Karate Association
  • P.K.A. lightweight (-65.9 kg) world champion: 1976-1977
• STAR System World Kickboxing Ratings
  • S.T.A.R. undisputed welterweight (-66.8 kg) world champion: 1985
  • S.T.A.R. undisputed super-welterweight (-70.5 kg) world champion: 1974
• World Kickboxing Association
  • W.K.A. super-welterweight (-70 kg) world champion: 1993
  • W.K.A. welterweight (-66.8 kg) world champion: 1985
  • W.K.A. super-lightweight (-64.5 kg) world champion: 1977-1985
• World Professional Karate Organization
  • W.P.K.O. lightweight (-65.9 kg) world champion: 1975
• World Series of Martial Arts Championships
  • W.S.M.A.C. lightweight (-79.5 kg) world champion: 1975-1976
  • W.S.M.A.C. openweight (unlimited weight) world champion: 1974-1976

Images for kids

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  Benny Urquidez in 1998

See also

In Spanish: Benny Urquidez para niños

• List of male kickboxers
• Gracie Challenge