benny the jet urquidez, real or fake?

Hi all, surfing around the web i've red a lot of articles about this fighter.
He claims he had about 200 or more fights and NEVER lost. !! Incredible i though.
He also claimed he have fought thais (can't remember the name but i saw the video clip on mike miles) and always won! straight and clean!
I don't like him ,i think he's a bully but he must have some skills indeed , anyway some web site stands for he lost and he lost bad with thai fighter but federation declared a no contest fight for no reason just to keep clean his fights carreer.
Can someone clarify this to me? i 'm really curios about .
Thanks


To SANDY HOLT : i saw Costaguta (also saw the manifest of the fight night with your guy and him ) but he told me he has some problems with that video , it's way better you e-mail directly to him at marcocostaguta@libero.it
see you

VERY REAL, but from a different era and surrounded by lots of unsubstantiated shit. I have videos of his fights from the mid 70's, full contact, on mats with throws and all sorts, very strange to watch. His fight in Thailand, very dubious, mixed reports as to the outcome and the possible arguaments about refining the rules. Refining the rules was a very American thing back then. Make the challenge and then try and get an edge on the rules (no dis-respect intended guys, it's just the way that it was then. It's different now). Peter Cunnigham fought out of the Jet Center and he was a bit of an exception, fighting anyway you wanted and preferring a leg kick.
BUT BENNY THE JET - Get past the hype and he was/is very real both as a fighter and a trainer.

He was as real as they come and make no mistake about that. Ignore his "record", he lost a couple fights (I have them on tape), yes they were covered up (this also was unfortunately a bit of an American thing back then, pretnd the loss didn't happen) but exactly as Bulldog said, look past that and you have a guy who was a legitimate great, period. I think he was one of the most important pioneers of the sport.

He was a pioneer in America and definately the real thing. I just watched his fight the other day with Tagami in 1993. Even though most think he lost (he did win the decision though), it was nice to see him at 40 something still banging away. I'm not convinced he is the best trainer as what fighters has he produced in the last decade or so? I don't even know if it was he who trained Pete Cunningham or someone else in his gym. I've met him a few times and he really is a strange cat to meet. Very mysterious, kinda like Bruce Lee. He had a great gym in the 80's called the Jet Center that was just revolutionary for its time. I saw him fight a few times live when I was very young and he was just something else to see, far ahead of anyone else at the time. Hell, even today, if he were young, he would be the guy to beat regardless of the rules.

Here's what I can say about him. He was always a slow starter. His early rounds he would sometimes even take punishment and lose the early rounds. Round 3 or 4 is when he got warmed up (his fights were usually 8 rounds and up). That made his fights even more exciting because some of them seemed like he was making a comeback and that added more drama.

He was known for his spinning back kick. He's dropped many fighters with it. Unlike most people that I've seen that have tried to apply this move, he had an excellent sense for when to apply it. He would use it in a combination rather than just walking up and throwing a spinning back kick (like fighters often do today). He also used a very tight spinning back kick and would throw it within very close range, usually punching range, which is rare. Usually fighters throw that move within long kicking range.

What I thought he was most skilled at was his timing. After he got warmed up, the timing of his moves was very good. He seemed to stun fighters in their tracks with counter punches and use that to setup his combinations. He seemed to read fighters timing very well. That is my observation of his fighting ability. That, and he could take a punch very well, which helped him get through the early rounds.

"KICK-BOXER" not THAI-BOXER and he didnt look too much in shape ! BUT he WAS !!!! and very stong and good stamina ! But did lose to a couple of Thai-fighters that DIDNT go on his record I BELEIVE ! ?? !
and
THANKS REF: MR Cotagutta ref: Video thankyou as my fighter NEVER sean his fight to this day from 3 years ago !
cheers
sandy man

points:
-benny was the best in fc,when fc started..after the pioneer generation of joe lewis,ross scot, isaenas duas(?),jeff smith and gordon franks , I think that he came to the publicum...

-later ,due to the pressure of the low kick bouts (mostly coming from kickboxing environments)he switched to kb/low kicks...however, he has also tried to make some fc matches,and ý think after the fc fight with "havanas" he has left this discipline in irrevocable sense,since it is said that his kicks have been slowed down due to the kb/low kick training (may be,because the methologies of fc and kb are different in training...)

-for me he was the best kb fighter in the world...but, as "sandy" said only kickboxer ,not muay thai...I was asking always whether he has fought in muay thai or not...I have heard that he has only two fights against thais...but, the result gossips were always different...some people were saying that he won ...soem said "draw"...there was also no video available in the market about those fights...finaly,after years when I saw video clips, the subject has been clarified at my encounter,namely he has lost, especialy against sittibonlert...

anyway, no matter ...he was a very good kb fighter...

He did not lose the first fight to the Thai fighter. It was a no contest and later in the rounds he was even dropping the Thai with leg kicks!

The second Thai he fought Sittboonlerd is where he did indeed get his asswhooped and they took it off his record.

He lost two fights and they were not put on his record but people get those two losses confused and think that both of them were to the two Thais that he fought.
His first fight which was taken off of his record was a F.C. fight against Billy Jackson which after the fight he claimed it was just an exhibition.

That fight with Billy Jackson was great, a war. Benny lost on points. He was knocked down at one stage which is what turned the fight around. Surprised they never rematched...
Benny's a really great guy, I sometimes think it was the guys around him and his publicists who instigated the stories of him bever losing a kickboxing match and erasing those losses.

Here's a picture of Benny fighting one of the Thai's here in L.A. Cal. 1976...

Flame

Wow, that Thai is alot bigger than Benny.

I love his old fights !! the most I like his scenes in ,,the kings of the square ring,,. This picture is from January 1990 in Tokyo,my friend Peter Smit (after his fight with andre mannaart)with the legendary Benny Urquidez.

Benny was the BEST! A true legend and fantastic fighter. He had such a pulverising style. A true banger and he had an awesome jump-back kick. He had some losses which were mysteriously scratched from his record. Still, a true master of his Sport and a pioneer of Kickboxing!!!

Benny has actually beaten a Thai Boxer by the name of Sanun Plypoonsup in Hawaii, This was actually a Thai soldier that learn how to box international style primarily and then entered a martial arts competition. He had and lost to Benny, twice.

Benny's second Thai fight was with Narongnoi Kiatbundit in Los Angeles 1977. The rules were knees but no holding, Both fighters had to wear foot pads and it was for 9, 2 minute rounds. There are two sides to the outcome of this fight but both agree that Urquidez was knocked down in the last round with a kick to the head. Some people say he got up, some say he didn't. Regardless there are professional films of the fight but they were never let into circulation. (On mike miles sight it shows them switch camera angles, and some of panther production videos show clips of the undercard that day).

Benny's third fight was suppose to be a tune-up against Prayuth Sittiboonlert. This was suppose to set-up a showdown with Toshio Fujiwara. Prayuth had already lost to Fujiwara. What actually ended up happening was that it was a harder fight than Benny expected and it went to Prayuth. A tape in circulation shows clips from 2 rounds, but I believe that this was actually a 6 round fight. If you can fight a DVD out there called "Kings of the Square Ring" there is a documentary on it.

Benny had never fought in Thailand though I heard there was something in the works that he was suppose to meet up with Jitti Muangkhonkaen (Sor Thanikul). Jitti ended up fighting with Ernest Hart.

I think the only reason that he didn't compete in Muay Thai is that it wasn't as popular (in his country) as FC was at the time. If Benny were in his prime today, I'm sure he would compete in Muay Thai as it's more popular.

But because of this, some people today won't give him any respect or see him as a great fighter. Too closed minded.

Somewhere out there, there is a publication that had a ring record of all Benny's fights. It also had Don Wilsons too. This was like an Inside Kung Fu special edition.

Can anybody scan and post it?

I would kinda like to compare the two to see how they stack up.

Benny's best wins were over Dana Goodson (Heavyweight) Ernest Hart, Howard Jackson, Suzuki, Okao, Ivan Sprang, Kong Fu Tak, Tamarashiro, Nobuya, Tagami.

Don Wilson best wins were over Dennis Alexio, Jean Yves Theriault, Maurice Smith, Panya Sornoi, Branko Cikatic, quite a few others that I can't remember now.

I thought Benny was the more exciting of the two to watch, but Don has quite a few Hall-of-famers on his resume, controversial wins or not.

I must agree with Brian,Benny was a amazing fighter ,as well as a pioneer, Had Thai boxing been ,more main stream then ,Benny pocessed all the tools to attain the very highest level but he would have had to have access to the very best coaches .His dedication ,focus,techinical skills ,work rate,ring craft and above all mental strenght would have helped him transcend kickboxing into a fully fledged Thai boxer

NOI, Wilson vs Theriault was actually a draw...although Wilson should have got it.

For a guy who started off in Kenpo and did Western boxing, he did remarkably well in international style bouts against guys trained specifically for that sort of fight. He was a pioneer in the US, though as a trainer he doesn't seem to have done much??

Look at some of his books and you can see a guy throwing stiff karate into boxing and adding in some Thai later in life after fighting in Japan so much, that he did what he did deserves respect

His record is crap though, manipulations by his handlers, but don't hold it as a mark of poor skill

He LOST, BADLY his last fight, it was quite a scam

Here's another picture the same nite Benny fought the at the olympic aut. in Los Angeles this is who Benny was supose to fight and for some reason Earnest Hart ended up getting ko'ed by this guy. Earnest hit him with a right cross then stepped back as the Thai fell forward and didn't even try to break his fall with his hands landing face first and some how got up before the 10 count and later ko'ed Hart...if I remeber right they took Hart out on a stretcher...

Flame

brian, I cannot agree when you say that at benny's time mt was not known in the usa...the fc, kb promoters,pioneers knew well what mt was...however, they had a good market and they didn't want to lose the market ...at benny's best time ,during his fights in japan ,he knew well from japanese kb men what mt is ,because the japanese side (like fujiwra,kurosaki)was training, fighting mt...additionaly, there will be no doubt that an international fighter like benny should know or has been taught to minimum what "muay thai" is...otherwise, he was young, not so old and he would have continued his fighting career in muay thai, as well...(as he has done previously many times...switching from tournament karate to fc, then from "fc "to "kb"!)... you see;he is able always to switch...why not then to "mt"?..the reason is simple: "he felt himself better in kb and decided to stay in this range...

anyway, he was a very good kb fighter with a realistic kb fighting attitude...

Part 1 of a 2 part ring record of Benny Urquidez...

Flame

Part 2 of a 2 part ring record of Benny Urquidez...

Flame

That is some funny shit!! I love the way the old school fighters used to manipulate there records until it suited them! Those explanations are hilarious, if ever there was some major tweaking and covering up on a record this is it!! Hee..hee!
The funnbiest thing is they try to say the fight with that Thai boy was only an exhibition match, yet they tried to kill eachother and Benny took a pasting! The fight was an official eliminator to see who would fight some Japanese dude which was hyped for ages! The story there says he was there for an appearance and jumped in the ring because one of the fighters pulled out on the night! Hilarious! Anyways Thai boy won fair and square! I only feel sorry for the guys who beat him in the ring who still have to listen to the very small minority (the're still out there believe it or not!) who dont believe they beat Benny fair and square! Thats a shame and insult believe me!

To NOI,

Actually, the Fujiwara-Sittiboonlert fight took place AFTER Benny lost the decision to the Thai. Also, his fight against Nobuya Asuka was an "exibition" contrary to what his record indicates. It was in '89. Benny had't fought for 5 years, but had a weight advantage. But if the this had been an official fight, I believe he would have got a nod.

To Brian Ritchie and ercan gürgöze,

I believe Benny had been popular among the Japanese fans for what he had been doing, and the fans loved his flashy techniques . In those days, the Japan-Thailand matchups were declining in popularity, and that was the primary reason the Japanese sanctioning bodies (both the All-Japan kickboxing Federation and the Japan Kick Boxing Association) agreed to fight against the WKA in the compromised rule in order to regain the status as a spectator sport in the country. Otherwise, most Japanese fighters wouldn't have fought under the rule which prohibited elbow and knee to the head. I believe Benny did his best with his given opportunities at his given time. He was paid better for fighting the Japanese under the rule I mentioned, and was very popular. There was no need for him to fight against the Thais.

Seen some tapes of very poor quality ... apparently either they manipulated the video from the beggining or it was the fault of the tape's ageing - it looked like Benny did well against the Thai guy ... but maybe they simply cut off some parts of the bout.
True problem is that IMHO his style is totally obsolete for nowadays - it was anyhow weird for those days too. Strange combination of boxing and karate kicking with some traces or so to say flavors of Thai. His combinations were successful within his own hands but if followed as such without good knowledge of rhythm breaking will accustom practitioners with bad habits. Due to need to adjust kicking distance with spinning kick from punching range he used a high and rather unstable stance - if taken as such this strategy will kill both balance and power of a regular Oriental rules or Thai rules fighter.
He is great in respect to personal achievements taking into consideration the freshness of the sport in those days ... but with all due respect, what he looks like now is a sorta "evolution niche" = like those peculiar animals of Australia (no offence aussie guys, it's just a comparison) which developed peculiar shapes and styles of life compared to any other mammals due to the isolation of the continent :)))

on subject
all interesting reading i must add above ! cheers !

Well, kangaroo in my place is a derrogatory term for stupid freshmen in boxing who jump up and down too much ... I wouldn't be so nasty against Ben cause in any event he was an awesome fighter ... it was just a metaphore aboout someone becoming very peculiar after a long evolution on his own ...

6000 person riot!?!?

They musta really solds some tickets!!

I never thought about it at that magnitude. Someone told me that they served beer in bottles at the Olympic back in the day.

Flame. Were you able to get out of that place without getting hit at all?

NOI

Yeah bottles were tossed inside and out but mostly outside...we will never forget that night. Mostly a lot of shoving so we just went with flow we could see fights all around us. I think not being a drinker really helped us to get out that nite... :)

Flame

Benny,the jet,Urquidez in action !!

Benny Urquidez and his sister Lily Rodriquez

Benny Urquidez and his family together with Thom Harinck as tourists in Volendam

Benny Urquidez vs Ivan Sprang on 15 january 1984 in Holland.

Benny Urquidez vs Ivan Sprang on the cover of the zendokan magazine.

More pics please guys.


These are awesome Dirk and Flame.

ercan wrote "brian, I cannot agree when you say that at benny's time mt was not known in the usa...the fc, kb promoters,pioneers knew well what mt was...however, they had a good market and they didn't want to lose the market"

Sure, they were aware of Muay Thai. But there are FAR many more Muay Thai gyms and promotions in the U.S. today than there were back then. The comparison of popularity of MT in the US between today and in the 70's is not even close. That's why I think that if Benny were to be in his prime today, he would be involved in Muay Thai rules bouts, or at least K-1 rules or modified Muay Thai (w/o elbow). He wouldn't be doing low kick or above waist rules Kickboxing today.

Dirk

Was that the same show Lily fought Lucia 1984??? Great pic's...Dirk

Flame

Just my two cents,
Jean-Yves Theriault clearly won his fight against Don Wilson, and the draw was bullshit. The only reason people thought that Don won, was because the announcers went nuts (pro Wilson announcers) whenever he landed a side kick. Problem is, the kick always landed on his perfectly positioned blocking arms.
Jean-Yves landed the harder, more punishing blows.
Total robbery!

dirk,

as far as I remember the fight with "sprang" was on "kickboxing"...no knees allowed...and benny has won the fight?..(of course, how could be the opposite as he is undefeated?!..)

flame,

as far as I remember lucia (rijkers) won the fight...am I correct?...

chheers,

Ercan Gurgoze

Lucia won 1st round ko via leg kick...but not sure about the date...

Flame

Hi John,
Great pictures !and a great report !!
Yes,that gala had two mainevents :
Ivan Sprang vs Benny Urquidez (Urquidez WINNER ON K.O IN ROUND 5)
Lucia Rijker vs Lily Rodriquez (Rijker WINNER ON K.O IN ROUND 1)
Hi Ercan,
This gala was under auspicion from the M.T.B.N ,it was on 15 January 1984 and the organisation was in hands of Thom Harinck and Peter Stolp.

Hi Dirk

Can you tell us how old Lucia was at this fight??? I heard she was 15 or 16...

Flame

Benny Urquidez on airport schiphol.

Hi John,
Lucia was only 16 years old when she fought Lily,this picture is from 2 months before the fight.

Thai/kickboxing Videos
by
Nikko Toshogu Press

L.Carbin (NL) vs. D.La Borgne, Lucia Rijker (NL) vs. Lilly Rodriques (USA) and many more!!
Time: ca. 90
Order# KB103 PAL
LOOK ON http://www.nikko-sportsvideo.com/

Thanks Dirk,

You can see Lucia's age better in that last picture...

Flame

Your welcome John,
Lucia Rijker was born on 6 Dec 1967.
So on 15 January 1984 ,she was only 6 weeks 16 years old.

Dirk

WOW...a very foused girl at a very young age...she had to start training I'am guessing about 12 or 13 to be at the level of fighting international bouts...

Flame

Canuck, I have the Theriault vs Wilson fight on tape. The tape I have has French commentary so it can't be said that I was influenced by pro-Wilson commentators.
I thought Wilson won pretty clearly. I know you used to train with Theriault, so I don't mean any offence, but I think the majority of people saw it that way too.

Here's Benny on the set of "Price of Glory" staring Jimmy Smits. Benny was the stunt cordinator on the set and chorographed the fight seen's...my youngest champion Edgar Gonzalez had a smll part as did I...Edgar seen here in the gray and black...

Flame

Here's Flame with Jimmy Smits after shooting one of the fight seen's...

Flame

Anyone know where to get a copy of the Theriult/Wilson fight on tape?

Lucia stopped Lilly on a leg kick. In speaking to her, she told me that Benny had jacked up her leg before the fight. What a brother!

Peter,,Hurricane,, Smit (after his fight with andre mannaart)and his trainer Jan Vleesenbeek together with the legendary Benny,,The Jet,,Urquidez.

I found som evideos of Benny...

http://www.mikemiles.com/video/urquidez_kictbaldot.AVI

http://www.mikemiles.com/video/urquidez_sittiboonlert.AVI

http://www.mikemiles.com/video/urquidez_sittiboonlert.AVI

Take a look!

hi flame,

I think that you are 6 years elder than me...for sure, you have also a good experience in ring disciplines...when did you start mt?...

thanks,

Hi Ercan

I started in 1975 but it was very new to us here in the States...now we have so many Thai fighters and trainers here every month I still learn something new and having a great time passing it on...we have still have so much to learn!!!

Warning Muay Thai can be addictive...

Flame

I understand you very well...mt is like drug...when you touch once , then it is impossible to leave...I have been involved about a 20 year period ,quit due to health & business life between 1997-2002...however, I could not help myself from opening the gym again due to the taste...I am currently not training ,but even "teaching" enjoys me a lot...(hoping that as a trainer you would understand what I am talking about...)

cheers,

Ecran

For sure I understand and agree with you...teaching and passing on knowledge is enjoyable for sure... :) And Benny did inspire me in my early training to learn more about Muay Thai...now my fighters have far surpassed what we did back in the late 70's with the knee's the neck wrestling with good boxing skill's they are becoming well rounded fighter's that I take lot's of pride in.

This Sat. Nov. 2nd I will be taking Alan Florez to Canada to fight on Mike Miles show...At 18 years old with over 65 fights under his belt is well on his way to become a world class fighter some day...this is all so our frist fight with full Muay Thai rules!!! This is something we are very excited about, win or lose we hope to put on a good show...

flame,

I wish you and your fighter success during and before the fight...care about the elbow attacks, since I think that the canadians have the basic via thailand (as far as I am aware they have also experience about the dutch style well.i.e boxing and effective combos)...however, I believe that your fighter has also good boxing skills...
anyway, as you described "win or lose...", the most important thing would be "the experience you would gain and the testament realized..."
cheers,

Benny is real. His comeback fight with the Japanese in the early / mid nineties ago was silly though and Benny's skill had gone (due to age I'd say). He won that (I think?) though but his opponent was a Japanese nobody.

Benny fought a 'demonstration' match with Terry Hill when he was in New Zealand many years ago (brought here by Ian Waite I think).

Benny was at the very first K-1 many moons ago... as a commentator and special guest.

A very very nice person too.

THE TRADITIONALIST

Ecran

Thanks very much for the encourgement...we have a few ax'ers up here as well, Mark L. and Mat...I meet Colin H. and Abdul last nite at the weigh in....saw the Australian team has two fighters here as well...Also meet Mr. Miles last nite, got a chance to talk with Doug Dicky and his fighter Jorge, and it looks like its going to be good show. Mike asked use not to post the results until after the show airs here in Canada....e-mail me if you want the results that way we keep Mr. Miles happy. :)

Flame

Nick -- where did you get the old videos? I had posted a while back about getting old Benny "the Jet" videos. I'm very interested in purchasing some myself.

Thanks.

Hey Flame,

What a coincidence. Just about to watch the Jimmy Smits movie on cable tv.

thai fan email me privately, i think i know of a place.