The "Muscles" wants to tussle

We all no Jean-Claude Van Damme can kick some butt in the movies, but now he wants to prove it in the ring.
That's right, the aging action-movie star, now 49, recently announced during a press conference in the Ukraine that he wants to try his hand at professional kickboxing. He supposedly already has a bout set up for later this year in Macau against Somluck Kamsing, a Thai kickboxer who won a gold medal in boxing at the 1996 Olympics.
Kamsing, who is now 37, won the medal in the featherweight division.
"It's kind of dangerous, but life is short," Van Damme said.
Van Damme wanted to fight in Las Vegas, but many states in the U.S. have strict guidelines for fighters over 35. Randy Couture, 46, will take on 45-year-old Mark Coleman in the main event at UFC 109 next week, but both fighters received special permission and passed a regiment of tests to do so.
Plus, those two fighters have plenty of fighting experience. Van Damme has never fought professionally.
The Nevada Athletic Commission has no record of Van Damme ever applying for a license to fight.
Dave George, who runs Combat Zone MMA in Massachusetts, said he couldn't predict how Van Damme will do in a real fight, but did say that being in the ring, or cage, is much different than being in the movies.
"Hollywood is Hollywood," George said. "They can do anything."
The actor, who earned the name "The Muscles from Brussels" during the 1980s, is best known for his action movies such as "Kickboxer," "Time Cop," and "Bloodsport," a movie that is a blemish on the otherwise stellar acting career of Forest Whitaker.
On the screen, Van Damme has made Chong Li submit and knocked out Tong Po. But this is reality and Van Damme has no professional experience in the ring.
It cold be ugly if Van Damme goes through with this. Kamsing is a trained fighter and 12 years younger than Van Damme. It's hard enough to step into the ring against an amateur, but going up against a gold medalist in your first fight is just crazy.