Are you wondering what Jason Statham’s martial art style is? Or the martial arts Jason Statham knows?
In this article, we’ll look at the martial arts Jason Statham knows, Jason Statham’s martial art style, and whether Jason Statham can fight in real life.
To understand Jason Statham’s martial art style, we first need to know the martial arts he knows.
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What Martial Arts Does Jason Statham Know?
The martial arts Jason Statham knows are Brazilian jiu-jitsu, karate, kickboxing, wing chun (kung fu), and taekwondo.
Jason Statham started self-teaching wing chun, kickboxing, and karate from a young age while he was working market stalls with his dad.
However, he never picked up formal training in his teenage years because he was a member of the British national diving team for 12 years, even competing at the 1990 Commonwealth Games at the age of 23.
However, formal martial arts training started for Jason Statham at 31 years old, around the time he landed his debut movie role in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels in 1998. He picked up where he left off, training in karate, kickboxing, and wing chin.
After becoming friends with the film director Guy Richie, both started training Brazilian jiu-jitsu together in 2002. Shortly after starting, they joined Renzo Gracie’s Academy in Manhattan, New York, when Jason Statham was 35 years old.
Fast forward to 2023, Jason Statham is currently a purple belt in Bjj, having trained inconsistently over the past 21 years. When he does train in the UK, he attends the Roger Gracie Academy in London.
It’s unknown when Jason Statham started training in taekwondo, or how much formal training he had, but he’s likely to have taken some formal taekwondo training between 2002 and 2010 as a way to develop his high and flashy kicking techniques seen in his movies.
Because of his martial arts and athletic (diving) background, Jason Statham performs a large majority of his stunt work in his action films which feature many different martial arts.
What Is Jason Statham’s Martial Art Style? (Movie Fighting Style)
Jason Statham has been in dozens of martial art/fighting movies, where his main martial art style is mixed martial arts, with a heavy influence from karate.
This is because he’s in many fighting scenes and the broad range of techniques and martial art styles he uses must be considered mixed martial arts. Within this mix, Jason Statham’s main martial art style is kyokushin karate, an aggressive style featuring close-range fighting, head kicks, and direct punches.
As well as karate, Jason Statham’s MMA style also includes wing chun, taekwondo, kickboxing, capoeira, eskrima, and hapkido.
In The Transporter (2002), Jason Statham’s martial art style features a lot of close-quarter fighting with elbows, blocks, parries, high kicks, flashy kicks, and wrist manipulation (wing chun, hapkido, and taekwondo)
In Transporter 2 (2005), Jason Statham’s martial art style features a lot of karate and taekwondo style kicking with evasion. He also uses capoeira-style acrobatic and inverted kicks.
Also in this movie, Jason uses a long pole with many techniques resembling the bo staff – which he learned by training in wing chun.
In The Expendables, Jason Statham’s martial art style features a lot of throws, direct punches, karate chops, side kicks, and strikes between the thumb and fingers in a chopping motion known as yubi hasami (shotokan karate).
In The Expendables 2, Jason Statham’s martial art style features shurikenjutsu, as he’s an expert in throwing knives and bladed weapons. He’s also great at fighting with knives, which mostly comes from the Filipino martial art of Eskrima.
It also features him as a close-quarters combat expert, mostly resembling karate-like direct and precise striking.
Can Jason Statham Fight for Real? (In Real Life)
Although Jason Statham has never fought professionally or even competitively at any level, it’s likely he can fight in real life if put up against opponents of a similar age (55) and weight (180-185 lbs).
He’d be able to fight in this age and weight range because he’s maintained amazing physical shape throughout his life, starting with 12 years of diving followed by his martial arts training and roles in martial arts/action films where he performs his own stunts.
On top of his martial art skills in kickboxing, wing chun, karate, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he’s also been weightlifting and doing calisthenics for years, so he’s likely much stronger with better conditioning and cardiovascular endurance than opponents of a similar age and weight.
So, despite not having competitive fighting experience, it’s highly likely Jason Statham can fight for real.
What Is Jason Statham a Black Belt In? (Martial Art)
Jason Statham isn’t a black belt in any martial art. The highest rank Jason Statham achieved is a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which he’s trained in since 2002 (21 years currently).
Jason Statham isn’t a black belt in any martial art because he grew up as a diver, competing for Britain at the 1990 Commonwealth Games before turning to an acting career.
While acting, he learned various martial arts but never dedicated himself to any one martial art as he was focused on acting and also enjoyed bodybuilding and calisthenics.
The Bottom Line
So, ‘what is Jason Statham’s martial art style?’
Jason Statham’s martial art style (fighting style) is highly influenced by the martial arts he knows in real life. They are Brazilian jiu-jitsu, karate, kickboxing, wing chun (kung fu), and taekwondo. Within his movies, he uses a variety of these, so his martial art style must be considered mixed martial arts (MMA).
You may also be interested in the fighting style of Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Jet Li, and Wesley Snipes.
