Ron Van Clief

Ron Van Clief

Birthday: 1943-01-25

Place of Birth: Brooklyn, New York, USA

Biography: Ron "The Black Dragon" Van Clief is a martial arts legend. Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1943, he started martial arts training in his early teens. At 5 feet 10 inches and 190 pounds, Van Clief was fast, powerful, and tough. He won 10 New York State Full-Contact Karate Championships. He won multiple Karate Point-Fighting Titles. By the early 1970s he had earned his 10th Degree Black Belt. His karate record was reported to be 110-8. In 1994 at age 51, he launched a comeback on December 16, 1994 fighting former World JuJitsu Lightheavyweight and Ultimate Fighting World Champion Royce Gracie. The Black Dragon landed one good punch, but was taken to the canvas where after a valiant battle was choked into submission, thus ending one of the greatest fighting careers in martial arts history.

Movies

Fist of Fear, Touch of Death
Fist of Fear, Touch of Death

A television reporter interviews fighters and promoters about Bruce Lee in preparation for a tournam...

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UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors
UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors

UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Ch...

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Kung Fu Fever
Kung Fu Fever

A training manual supposed used by Bruce Lee himself has mysteriously disappeared and is highly soug...

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The Black Dragon
The Black Dragon

Decent, simple, honest Chinese farmhand and ace martial artist Tai-Lin goes to the Philippines to se...

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Black Dragon's Revenge
Black Dragon's Revenge

Three rival gangs embark on a search for Bruce Lee's handwritten "finger fighting " manual....

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Way of the Black Dragon
Way of the Black Dragon

Allison Wong gets abducted by a gang of drug smugglers with a nasty sideline business involving whit...

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Bamboo Trap
Bamboo Trap

The boldest man-trap ever to be set up!...

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The Super Weapon
The Super Weapon

A 1970s documentary that highlights various martial arts fighting styles and features African Americ...

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The Squeeze
The Squeeze

A retired safe cracker is recruited by a young conman to return to the "business" for a million doll...

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Colorz of Rage
Colorz of Rage

Writer-director Dale Resteghini's indie drama follows a young interracial couple (Resteghini and Nic...

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Enter the Clones of Bruce
Enter the Clones of Bruce

Get ready to play a game of death… and another… and another. This wild documentary dives into the Br...

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The Hanged Man: The Story of Ron Van Clief
The Hanged Man: The Story of Ron Van Clief

The astonishing true story of Ron Van Clief, the first black martial arts movie star, known as "The ...

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Death by Misadventure: The Mysterious Life of Bruce Lee
Death by Misadventure: The Mysterious Life of Bruce Lee

Death by Misadventure: The Mysterious Life of Bruce Lee exposes the truth behind Lee's death and the...

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Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks
Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks

The fantastic story of how an ancient martial art, Chinese kung fu, conquered the world through the ...

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That's Brucesploitation! Making Fist of Fear, Touch of Death
That's Brucesploitation! Making Fist of Fear, Touch of Death

This retrospective featurette includes words from filmmaker Jim Markovic, producer Terry Levene, scr...

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Top Fighter
Top Fighter

Welcome to the world of the martial arts. A voyage for the times of the martial arts cinema, from th...

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Hot Lead Hard Fury
Hot Lead Hard Fury

1977: Industrial ghetto "Steel City" is under siege from organized crime, corruption, and a new synt...

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Snow Black
Snow Black

Sarah Camden, a special operations soldier with PTSD, returns home to bury her mother. She realizes ...

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Blazin'
Blazin'

The daughter of a druglord and the son of the chief of police fall in love in this Romeo & Juliet-es...

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UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors
UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors

UFC 4 - used an eight-man tournament format, with the winner receiving $64,000. The event also featu...

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The Black Kung Fu Experience
The Black Kung Fu Experience

This film focuses on how a group of African American pioneers became respected masters in a subcultu...

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