Van Damme as "Guile": Man, did this movie suck.Belgian action movie star Jean Claude Van Damme, whose starred in more than 40 martial-arts themed action movies, recently revealed his motivations to get in the ring for real and mix it up with an Olympic gold medalist.

However, as was reported months ago as a likely outcome to the push to get in the ring, Van Damme was recently denied his license to fight in the state of Nevada, citing concerns for his health and safety, and also a more strict set of guidelines for fighters age 35 and older.

This coming weekend, 45-year old Mark “The Hammer” Coleman will take on 46-year-old Randy “The Natural” Couture in a fight that could’ve (and perhaps should’ve) happened more than a decade prior. This is of relevance in light of the fact that Van Damme recently applied for licensing and was denied at his own age of 49.

Four fighters age 35 or more (Couture, Coleman, Matt Serra, 35, and Frank Trigg, 37) who are competing on the UFC 109 card were asked to submit neurological evaluation for clearance to compete on the card, highlighting the more meticulous guidelines set for aging athletes in combat sport.

Though he took place in some of the most memorable fight scenes on the silver screen in the 80’s, Van Damme, who will turn 50 on October 18th of 2010, has only some point fighting credentials dating back to the 1970's, into 1980.

Yikes.

His push was to fight former Olympian and thai boxer Somluck Kamsing as the finale to a proposed reality show. Kamsing was best known as a featherweight gold medalist in boxing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic games representing Thailand and fighting at 126 lbs. He also won gold at the 1994 Asian games at Hiroshima. Now 35, Kamsing’s last two bouts in 2000 and 2004 were both losing efforts.

Van Damme’s Motive Questionable

Between Couture and Coleman, the two have participated in more than ninety professional fights, and still came under licensing scrutiny by the state athletic commission. Considering that Kamsing is a gold medalist with more than ten Olympic boxing matches on record, and Van Damme is an aging movie star nearing senior status with no professional combat sports endeavors recorded to date and only point-fighting karate as a youth in the late 1970’s on his resume, the athletic commission in Nevada was quick to deny Van Damme’s application, citing safety concerns and the ageing move star’s tandem of old age and inexperience.

Though only proposed in concept as a finale to a reality series that will most likely not see production, at least for now, Van Damme declared his motivation at a press conference in Ukraine last year.

"[A fight is] dangerous, but life is short," said Van Damme.

"I want to prove to young people and even to mature people that a man can go into some very strong physical effort and training, and also be a movie star."

With the collective of mature people pondering their ability to endure strong physical training while being movie stars at an all-time high, it seems that as Van Damme’s stared in the mirror admiring his Bloodsport physique for the last twenty years, he may have missed out completely on the careers of stars such as Vin Diesel, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Lee, Michael Dudikoff, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Steven Seagal… you get the picture.

Poor Jean Claude Van Damme. I personally do not want to see him die, but it would appear that he’s grown bored with rewatching Bloodsport and Kickboxer compulsively as he relives his glory days. Rather, at nearly 50, Van Damme’s testosterone is finding its second (and perhaps last) wind, leaving him with the impression that nearly twenty years later, he might be able to take this kickboxer thing somewhere.

My prediction: If Van Damme were ever granted a license to fight, he’d take that kickboxing thing to the mat with him several times before the ref stopped the fight.

Queens of the Stone Age vocalist Josh Homme says in his 2007 song ‘3’s and 7’s’, “You’ll go nowhere based on who you appear.”

While this may be true in some cases, California and Hollywood’s silver screen are definitive exceptions. Van Damme’s gotten everywhere based on the big-screen appearance that he can kill you while looking intense and delivering knockout-blows dramatically. If I were him, as I sat atop a million dollars’ worth of mansions, cars, perpetual monetary royalties and impressively aging genetics, I’d take what I’d done with my life and run.

There’s no need for this man to jump in the ring and put himself in front of the notion of being brutally beaten to prove any point, other than that he can senselessly spend money and even more senselessly put himself at risk. At 49 years old, Van Damme would be crazy to realistically consider this fight, considering that the press regularly commends athletes like Brett Favre for playing to 40 years old. If there was a time for Van Damme to undertake such an effort, it was when the UFC started, right around the time that his hit movie “Bloodsport” hit screens.

In essence, Van Damme is about 8030 days late, and even given that length of time, still 1 dollar short.