Jason David Frank had a run-in with one of his idols over the weekend, but it did not go like he hoped, and resulted in an impromptu fight. Now he’s setting the record straight on what happened.
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Frank was appearing at a comic con event in Mexico, an event that Jean Claude Van Damme was also appearing at. The two weren’t best of friends before, and as Frank details what happened in their crazy altercation, the two won’t be hanging out anytime soon.
“The promoter contacted me and asked if Jean Claude Van Damme could borrow my green room and share the room,” Frank told FloCombat. “The first thing in my head was yeah, he’s a big star, he doesn’t need to ask. I don’t hold a grudge. So I said yeah, I’ll share it no big deal.”
Frank actually challenged Van Damme to a fight years ago, but Van Damme never responded. “I never expected us to talk about old times or anything because it was so long ago and there was no response [about the fight],” Frank said. “I didn’t even think he knew about it. So they asked me to use the room and no big deal.”
Those old issues though would resurface after Frank returned from his Comic Con duties. After spending several hours sighing autographs and taking pictures, he returned to his room to find it blocked off completely, despite it being his room. The promoter for the event got Frank a different room until Van Damme and his entourage left, but right after things went downhill.
Someone from Van Damme’s group asked if Frank could come and take a picture with him before they left. Frank had no issue with doing so, but once he got in the room things changed.
“All of his crew comes out and everybody has their cameras out and he has this professional camera, I’m not sure if he’s shooting a reality show or what, but all the cameras are on and he comes out of the room and straight up to me and he goes ‘hey you like writing articles about people, you want to beat my ass?” Frank said recounting the altercation. “You gonna apologize for that?’ and I said nope. He goes ‘you think you can still beat my ass?’ and I said yeah.”
Hit the next slide to see what happened next!
The Fight
According to Frank, Van Dammeย pushed for a fight. “He said ‘OK let’s do it right now’. I mean I thought it was all a joke but his security was all filming this and I heard them talking in the back and it was clear that he was trying to punk me. Either make me look bad or throw a punch first,” Frank said.
Frank obliged and clinched him up. “I clinched him up and pushed him back, not in a violent way, in a respectful way that if you want to do this, let’s do this,” Frank said. “The whole time everybody is filming me and no security people are coming but everybody in his entourage is filming. So I clinched up with him and put him against the wall and he’s talking and he froze up and I raised my knee and said ‘do you want to this?’ and he doesn’t do anything so I let go.”
That did not deter Van Dammeย from still talking.ย “I backed away and he starts saying ‘well be careful what you say, you never know what I’m gonna do’. So that’s when it escalated and his security guy came in and broke it up,” Frank said.
Frank is positive that the whole ordeal was staged to make him look bad, and according to Frank Van Dammeย got aggressive again after security got in the room.
“Security came and broke it up and that’s when he starts saying ‘f*** you’ and I told him come on. Why don’t you come in the cage or the ring? Why are you doing this at Comic Con?” Frank said. “And then his security is trying to get my phone to take away the footage.”
There were plenty of cameras around, so there is footage of the altercation. “My point is if he has all the footage and it’s gonna make him look really bad. It doesn’t belong at Comic Con,” Frank said. “It belongs in a ring or a cage. I’m not bitter but he’s acting childish.”
Hit the next slide for more details!
The Aftermath
Frank was not looking for a fight that day, but he also is not about to back down from one.
“I was on edge thinking he’s going to fight right now. He was trying to punk me so I got ready,” Frank said. “I wasn’t the aggressor but he showed no response. If somebody grabbed me behind the neck, I’d knock them out. I did that and he didn’t do anything. Security didn’t break it up. He’s got his whole entourage around us and they looked hungry. But when I threw that knee that didn’t even touch him and he cowered up.”
Frank says the setup was to bully him, and that isn’t something he will let happen. “When I let him go, he starts popping off and then when security got all around him he starts popping off even more,” Frank said. “I just told him don’t punk me. He was trying to punk me and bully me and I don’t do that. I’m not going to get punked like that and I think he was shocked that I stood up to him,” Frank said. “I was never bitter and I’m still not bitter but I’m a fighter.”
Who knows, maybe this will lead to an actual Jason David Frank vs Jean Claude Van Dammeย MMAย match down the line.
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