Benny Urkides is a former American karate and kickboxer. The Black Belt in 1978 named Urkides "Fighter of the Year". Today he is a successful stunt director and kickboxing coach. There are quite a few world-class celebrities among his students - Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Kurt Russell, etc.
early years
Benny Urkides was born in June 1952. His father was a professional boxer, and his mother was seriously involved in wrestling. They are known to have nine black belts for two.
Benny began boxing in early childhood. Already at the age of fourteen, he was able to get his first black belt, and this was quite a rare occurrence in the sixties. By 1964, Urkides had a reputation as a talented fighter, and by 1973 he had won several important championships in point karate (in other words, contactless karate). At a prestigious international tournament in 1973, in one of the contactless fights, he defeated a rather serious fighter - John Natividad.
Urkides' achievements in full contact karate and kickboxing
In 1974, Urkides stopped practicing the contactless style and began to act like a professional according to the rules of full contact karate (this martial art is rightly considered the forerunner of kickboxing).
In 1977, Benny first came to distant Japan, where he fought according to the WKA standards (these standards, in particular, allow kicks). In his first fight, he fought against the Japanese Katsuyuki Suzuki. As a result, Urkides managed to knock him out in the sixth round. Then the rival of Urkides was the fighter Kunimatsu Okau, who had never lost before. His Urkides also knocked out in the fourth round.
In the eighties, Urkides entered the ring much less often than before. One of the brightest fights of this period was the 1984 fight against Ivan Sprung in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The fight was fought in accordance with the Muay Thai rules, and Urkides proved to be stronger here: in the sixth round, Sprung lost by technical knockout.
After 1985, Urkides' career as a kickboxer practically came to an end - in his track record there are only two more fights: in 1989 - with Nobui Azuki, and in 1993 - with Yoshihisa Tagami.
In just nineteen years - from 1974 to 1993 - Urkides fought 63 (according to other sources - 58) official battles. At the same time, he managed to brilliantly prove himself in various versions of karate and kickboxing (PKA, MTN, KATOGI, WKA, NJPW, AJKBA) and left his sport in the status of an undefeated champion.
Urkides as an actor
Urkides has starred in about twenty movies (mostly action films). His first film work was his role in The Power of Five (1981). Then he portrayed negative characters in two tapes with Jackie Chan (in this case, we are talking about the tapes "Diner on Wheels" in 1984 and "The Dragon Comes Suddenly" in 1988).
Urkides also got tiny roles in the films "Duel in Diggstown" (1992) and "Street Fighter" (1994). In the latter case, the famous Jean-Claude Van Damme was his filming partner.
A few years later, in 1997, Urkides appeared in the black comedy Murder at Gross Point as a hitman commissioned by the main character, Martin Blank (played by John Cusack). And in 2007 he played a ghost in another film with John Cusack in the lead roles - "1408".
Urkides as a stunt director
In 2000, Urkides, together with Emil Farkas, opened a studio in Los Angeles focused on staging various film stunts related to martial arts. This studio was actually one of the first in its segment.
A wealth of practical experience has enabled Urkides to propose solutions that really increase the level of contractions on the screen. He acted as a consultant in films such as "House by the Road" (here, among other things, he personally taught Patrick Swayze's fighting techniques), "Natural Born Killers", "Spider-Man", "Batman Returns", etc.
Personal life
Today Benny Urkides is married - his wife's name is Sarah. The couple also have a child - a girl named Monique. Both Monique and Sarah train with Benny at his Los Angeles gym. At the same time, Sarah is also a professional stuntwoman.
It is known that some other relatives Benny (eg, brother Ruben and Lily's sister) too fond of martial arts.
