Benny Urquidez
American pioneer of full-contact kickboxing nicknamed "The Jet", who defended his WKA title in the lightweight and super lightweight divisions fourteen times between 1976 and 1985.
Quick Facts
United StatesBiography
Benny Urquidez, nicknamed "The Jet", is an American kickboxer and fight choreographer. He was born on 20 June 1952 in Tarzana, California. He began formal training in 1959 under Bill Ryusaki and earned his black belt in 1966 at the age of 14. Among other things, he trained in American kenpo, Shotokan, taekwondo, judo, jujutsu, Kajukenbo and aikido.
He competed on the point karate circuit from 1964, and from 1974 he was among the pioneers of full-contact kickboxing in the USA. Between 1976 and 1985 he defended his WKA title in the lightweight and super lightweight divisions fourteen times, in 1977 he won twice by KO at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, and in 1978 Black Belt magazine named him "Competitor of the Year". Figures for his professional record differ: according to one source he has 48 wins, one loss, one draw and three forfeits, while others give 63-0-1 with 57 KOs in title fights.
In 1981 he founded the gym The Jet Center; after the Northridge earthquake it closed in 1994, and in 1995 he opened Jets Gym in North Hollywood. Jackie Chan chose him as his opponent in the films Wheels on Meals (1984) and Dragons Forever (1988); their fights are among the few cases in which two real competitive fighters faced each other on screen. For the film Road House (1989) he trained Patrick Swayze, and in 2000 he co-founded the Los Angeles Film Fighting Institute with Emil Farkas. In 2019 he was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame.
Associated Martial Arts
Achievements and honours
- WKA mistr (lightweight/super-lightweight)Professional title · 1976
- Hall of Fame2019