Ryan HockensmithSep 29, 2025, 10:04 AM ETCloseRyan Hockensmith is a Penn State graduate who joined ESPN in 2001. He is a survivor of bacterial meningitis, which caused him to have multiple amputation surgeries on his feet. He is a proud advocate for those with disabilities and addiction issues. He covers everything from the NFL and UFC to pizza-chucking and analysis of Tom Cruise’s running ability.Follow on X
Cormier is breathing fire outside the Kaseya Center in Miami, where he will do commentary for UFC 314 back in April. But at this moment, he is one of 18 MMA experts that we tasked with a seemingly simple question: Which Hollywood star who has portrayed a fighter would win a UFC-style MMA tournament? (Spoiler alert: Seagal did not fare well.)
ESPN created two brackets of fighters — 18 men, 10 women — and presented matchups to our experts to generate rankings and scouting reports for everybody from Linda Hamilton and Scarlett Johansson to The Rock and Jackie Chan. Our panelists were given several weeks to review footage and rank the actors, not their characters, at their absolute athletic peak. For example: They were asked to assess Ralph Macchio circa 1986’s “Karate Kid II” rather than 2025’s “Karate Kid: Legends.”
In the first video, Seagal tells Cormier in a hushed tone that he has a move to show him. This move, he says, is so dangerous, so secretive, that only Cormier can see it.
So he does. Off camera, he shows Cormier the move. It’s a right-hand aikido strike to the throat that no one has ever hit in an actual UFC fight, and that includes Cormier. He says he tried it three times against Jones and was easily swatted away each time.
Now, Cormier pulls up the second video and starts laughing. Seagal’s hair is an impossible shade of black, and he is wearing one of his bizarre late-stage Seagal muumuus. Seagal has a blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he sits at the side of a cage. He looks like a toddler getting ready for story time, and Cormier begins to break character. He genuinely loves Seagal, but the whole scene is hilarious.
“Dude, look at him,” Cormier says, unable to hide his laughter. “He’s massive. Humongous. If I had hit that one move, I would have won the belt.”
Even with Cormier’s positivity factored in, Seagal lands in a surprising place: 18 of 18, behind Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze and Jake Gyllenhaal.
“Jason Statham would fold up Seagal and clean the floor with him.” — Marcus Kowal, former Strikeforce fighter with black belts in kickboxing and Krav Maga
“Steven Seagal is bulls—. A little kid could beat him up.” — Merab Dvalishvili, current UFC bantamweight champion
Gyllenhaal played a boxer in the 2015 movie “Southpaw,” then was Dalton in last year’s “Roadhouse” remake. He even shot a scene in the Octagon during UFC 285. At the time, he was 6-foot, 184 pounds with 5% body fat and did a decent job as a former UFC fighter. But our panel said he has no business in a real MMA fight.
“I love Jake Gyllenhaal. But come on, he was ‘Bubble Boy.’ How does he win in the Octagon?” — Julia Avila, former UFC fighter (9-4 record) and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt
“Gyllenhaal isn’t big enough to hang with most of these guys. He would get squashed.” — Holly Holm, former boxing and UFC world champion
“He is in great shape. But I think he just picks movies that make him look like he can fight.” — Daniel Cormier, former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion
“I don’t think Ralph Macchio really knows karate. And if he does, it’s an American, watered-down version that little kids do. That’s completely different than real karate.” — Mike Brown, former UFC featherweight, BJJ black belt, and now a renowned MMA coach
“I’m not a huge fan of karate, so even if Ralph Macchio’s karate was really good, I’m not sure how much of it would work. I think it’d be pretty unrealistic to think he could beat very many of these guys. His karate didn’t seem like it had much power.” — Alexis Davis, former UFC vet and black belt in two different forms of jiu-jitsu
“I doubt Liam Neeson beats anybody on this list. Maybe Tom Cruise, because he’d have a size advantage. But I don’t think his actual technical skills are very good.” — Sam Alvey, eight-year UFC vet with a BJJ black belt
“He plays a tough guy in movies, but I don’t actually think he could take a punch. I don’t think he has the fight mentality in him.” — Din Thomas
Cruise’s size (5-7, 170) cost him with our voters, and several said his movie fight skills seem to mostly be Hollywood magic, using jump cuts and wiggly cameras. But a vocal minority were believers, giving him credit for being a high school wrestler. More than a few cited his infamous intensity as a big positive if he had a real three-month MMA training camp.
“You know Tom Cruise is a vicious little guy. I don’t know what he could pull off physically, but he’d be a scary opponent. If it’s UFC 1 rules, that means you can headbutt, pull hair, and punch the groin, and I could see Cruise being a mean little chihuahua with all of that no-holds-barred stuff. I think he’d have a really good chance against Steven Seagal.” — Mac Danzig, a six-year UFC vet and BJJ black belt
“Tom Cruise is weird and small. He’s not beating anybody.” — Julianna Peña, current UFC bantamweight champion
“I love the beauty and athleticism of Jet Li’s kung fu. But I don’t think much of any of it would be efficient in an actual fight. He’s a perfect example of someone whose martial arts are fantastic on screen but not great for real fighting.” — Marcus Kowal
“I think Jet Li would be too fast for most of these people. He’d be able to keep people at kicking range and avoid anybody getting ahold of him.” — Holly Holm
“Jet’s a great, gregarious guy with very good martial arts skills. With three months to train, maybe he does well. But I think he’d be the first to tell you that he’s not a fighter.” — Randy Couture, six-time UFC champion who starred with Li, Norris, Schwarzenegger, Snipes, Stallone, Statham and Van Damme in “The Expendables” series
More than any other actor/fighter, Reeves presented a tricky case of when his peak actually was. Some experts went with him as Neo in “The Matrix,” when he was heavily showing off kung fu. But that was 15 years before the more varied martial arts he showed in “John Wick.”
Either way, Reeves was applauded for his background of heavy jiu-jitsu, judo and karate training he began in the late 1990s and kept doing up through the Wick movies.
“Keanu Reeves would beat up pretty much anybody in Hollywood. I also think he would break people with his tenaciousness — and I wouldn’t mess with his dog.” — Julia Avila
“Keanu has a lot of heart. But the thing to remember is if it’s ‘The Matrix’ era, then he didn’t have the same skills he’s learned down the road in this ‘John Wick’ era. So, I think Keanu in the Neo era is closer to the ‘Bill and Ted’s’ character than ‘John Wick.'” — Mac Danzig
“Fights always end up on the ground, and I think Keanu has a good ground game. I think he could choke out most of these guys, and I don’t think he would be afraid to get down and dirty.” — Alexis Davis
On the positive side, several voters said Van Damme’s stock as a martial artist has become so picked on that he may actually be underrated now. Van Damme indeed had a legitimate kickboxing background, with sound technique on display in his late 1980s heyday in “Bloodsport” and “Kickboxer,” among other movies. On the negative side, the majority of evaluators had a grand old time unmercifully goofing on Van Damme for his splits, improbable high kicks and meme-able dancing.
“Jean-Claude has pretty kicks. They look good on camera, and I think he could land some of those against these people. He’s got decent size and speed, so I think he would be tough.” — Holly Holm
“Van Damme is better than people realize. He gets teased a lot. But you don’t get that build without working hard, and I think his kickboxing was good. I would take him over a lot of these guys.” — Chael Sonnen, longtime main event fighter in three weight classes and four different fighting organizations
“Patrick Swayze is in my top three, and the reason is that he can dance. That means he has good body control and can move, which typically makes for a good fighter. I think he beats almost everybody.” — Din Thomas
“Ain’t nobody beating Dalton (his ‘Roadhouse’ character). Not much of what he did in that movie would translate to a UFC fight. But he is an athlete and has a great physique. You’d have to really dig into training to get him well-rounded, though I do think he’d be OK in a brawl.” — Clay Guida
“Rocky was choreographed fighting. But he took some punches shooting that, so he’s tough physically. And he has the fitness and mental toughness to be a good fighter, too. Everything points to him being not bad as a fighter. Stallone would beat Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal, for example.” — John McCarthy
“Stallone is a mini Arnold Schwarzenegger. Very strong. Lots of power. I could see him struggling to win a lot of these fights, but always being one big punch away from a knockout. He might not win decisions on the judges’ scorecards, but always be dangerous for an upset KO.” — Alexis Davis
“Stallone is a pretty short guy, so he’d have a hard time against some of these big, strong guys. There’s a limit to how much he could do against a massive athlete like Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Rock or Dave Bautista.” — Bob Cook, a former UFC fighter who is now one of the most sought-after coaches in MMA
Snipes finished in the middle pack with almost every expert scout, with “Blade”-era Snipes (1998) as the peak version of the actor. He received credit for having been a lifelong martial arts practitioner (black belts in Shotokan karate and Hapkido) and being an incredible athlete. But he got flagged for both his height (5-9) and allegedly ducking out of a possible UFC fight 20 years ago against Joe Rogan. “I think he knew I was going to kill him,” Rogan said on a recent podcast.
“I think Snipes has very good striking skills and he was very athletic in his prime. But I don’t think he has the size to deal with some of these guys. A guy like Dave Bautista definitely beats Snipes.” — Din Thomas