As the story goes, it's no small coincidence that Johnny Cage shares initials with one of the nineties' most prolific practitioners of high kicks and splits.

The inspiration provided by Jean-Claude Van Damme is there to be found in a plethora of examples. If there was any doubt, YouTube fanatic TheVanDammeFan2009 has turned the now-classic 1988 tournament film Bloodsport and given it the MK treatment [below]!

Classic sounds and effects from Mortal Kombat and its sequels give Van Damme's performance as real man-turned-movie myth (Frank Dux) a whole new perspective! As is well known, the JCVD connection doesn't end here.

The Belgian star is famously reported to have very nearly found his way into the digitzed sprites of the original Mortal Kombat line-up. The potential relationship came about as a result of licensing interest from the makers of 1992 sci-fi classic, Universal Soldier. As series co-creator John Tobias told us in a soon-to-be-featured Mortal Kombat Online interview, they had other ideas.

... we envisioned Van Damme's involvement as a character in our game's story or as playing himself in the game. That deal didn't pan out and we simply moved on.

Tobias also recalls "Ultimate Kumite" was among the unused titles seriously considered before the series took its famous name.

Bloodsport is the film widely responsible for popularizing "kumite" in Western culture, using it as the name of an underground freestyle fighting tournament Van Damme's character competes in. Fights from the kumite provide the footage used in TheVanDammeFan2009's video.

Special thanks to @noobde for tweeting the video! Find and share more fantastic fan kreations in the Fan Submission forum, and more movie madness in Media & Merchandise.