Famous 21st Century Martial Artists

A black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and Judo, Chuck Norris is an American martial artist, screenwriter and a popular action film star. He has won many martial arts championships. He later founded his own discipline, Chun Kuk Do. He has also written books on martial arts, philosophy, politics, Christianity, plus Western novels and biography.

Donnie Yen is a Hong Kong martial artist, actor, stuntman, action choreographer, director, and producer. He has won several wushu tournaments and is credited for introducing mixed martial arts to mainstream Asian cinema. He is also credited with introducing UFC champion Zhang Weili to MMA. Donnie Yen has won several awards like Hong Kong Film Awards and Golden Horse Awards.

Scott Adkins is an English actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is a trained gymnast and martial artist and is best known for his action films. He played Casey Bowman in the film Ninja and its sequel Ninja: Shadow of a Tear. He considers Jean-Claude Van Damme to be his idol and has appeared in four films with him.  

Jackie Chan is a martial artist, actor, film director, screenwriter and singer and is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing and innovative stunts in his films, which he performs himself. Rumble in the Bronx, Shanghai Noon and Rush Hour are some of his popular Hollywood films. He has a widespread following in both the Eastern and Western hemispheres.

Randy Couture is a former U.S. Army sergeant and retired mixed martial artist. He currently works as an actor. He began his career as an army man and later turned to mixed martial arts. In this field, he was a three-time UFC Heavyweight Champion. After quitting UFC, he became an actor and starred in the hit film The Hard Way. 

Jet Li is one of the most popular Asian actors to have made it big in the American film industry. A martial artist and former Wushu champion, he won a national championship before retiring from competitive Wushu to focus on his acting career. Also a well-known philanthropist, Jet Li is closely associated with the Red Cross Society of China.

Matt Hughes is a retired mixed martial artist widely considered one of the greatest fighters in the history of MMA. He is a two-time UFC Welterweight Champion. He is also counted among the greatest welterweight fighters of all time. His autobiography, Made in America, is a New York Times bestseller. He hosts the hunting program Trophy Hunters TV. 

Swedish actor, Dolph Lundgre,n is mainly known as an action hero. He gained recognition with the 1985 Hollywood film Rocky IV and then went on to do many action and thriller movies like Joshua Tree, Showdown in Little Tokyo, Bridge of Dragons, Universal Soldier, Diamond Dogs and The Expendables. He has also directed several films like Missionary Man and Icarus.

The quintessential vampire-killer of Hollywood, Wesley Snipes is best known for his action-oriented films, such as the Blade film trilogy and The Expendables 3. Apart from being an actor, Wesley Snipes is also a martial artist, and hence often portray roles that require him to perform stunts. He is a black belt holder in Hapkido and Shotokan Karate.

Daniel Cormier is a retired professional mixed martial artist and amateur wrestler who is a former  King of the Cage Heavyweight Champion. He began wrestling while still in school and attended Colby Community College, where he continued to wrestle. He then turned professional and also ventured into mixed martial arts. He has also made a few media appearances. 

Nate Diaz is an American mixed martial artist with experience of competing in several promotions, such as Strikeforce, World Extreme Cagefighting, and Pancrase. He is currently signed with the UFC and is tied with Joseph Edward Lauzon Jr. for the second-most bonus awards. In 2007, Nate Diaz took part in the fifth season of the reality TV series Ultimate Fighter.

Akshay Kumar is one of the most popular and successful actors of Hindi cinema. He has been honored with several prestigious awards, such as Filmfare Awards, a National Film Award, and Padma Shri. Dubbed Indian Jackie Chan, Akshay Kumar is renowned for performing dangerous stunts in films.

Michael Jai White is an American martial artist and actor. When he portrayed Al Simmons in the film Spawn, White became one of the first black actors to play a major comic book superhero in the history of American film industry. Known for his martial arts skills, White has played leading roles in popular action films like Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Belgian actor,Jean-Claude Van Damme is best known for a string of martial arts films. He started his career as a karate fighter and competed in a number full-contact and semi-contact matches. Later he took up acting and became a star with the 1988 Hollywood film, Bloodsport. Cyborg, Lionheart, Double Impact and Universal Soldier are some of his notable films.

William Zabka is an actor best known for his role as Johnny Lawrence in the film The Karate Kid. He started attending California State University but quit before completing his degree. He began his acting career in the mid-1980s and established himself in Hollywood within a few years. He turned a producer with the short film Most in 2003.  

Chael Sonnen is a retired mixed martial artist. He is also a submission grappling promoter and mixed martial arts (MMA) analyst. He began his mixed martial arts career in 1997 and soon became a top contender in both the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He has also made a few film appearances. 

Brazilian MMA fighter Royce Gracie, part of the renowned Gracie family of mixed martial artists, won the UFC 1, UFC 2, and UFC 4 championships. He made the Brazilian jiu-jitsu, or the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, popular, and holds the 7th degree red/black coral belt in the art.

Quinton Jackson is a mixed martial artist and former professional wrestler turned actor. He is famous for his eccentric personality traits and aggressive style of fighting. He is credited with making MMA a popular sport worldwide. As an actor, he has appeared in a few films, including Miss March and Bad Guys. He is a controversial person. 

Kelvin Gastelum is a professional mixed martial artist who currently competes in the middleweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He began wrestling in high school and turned professional after college. He worked as a bail bondsman for some time while training in mixed martial arts. He received the World MMA Breakthrough Fighter of the Year Award in 2014. 

Chuck Liddell is a retired mixed martial artist. He participated in 23 fights in the UFC and is a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. He is widely credited with bringing MMA into mainstream American entertainment. He was featured on the cover of ESPN The Magazine in 2007. He was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2009. 

Michael Rooker is an American actor. A black belt holder in Kyokushin style of karate, Michael Rooker often uses his martial arts skills to play his characters, such as Yondu Udonta in Guardians of the Galaxy, to perfection. He is also known for his performance in popular TV series like The Walking Dead.

Uriah Hall is a Jamaican-American professional mixed martial artist who emerged as The Ultimate Fighter 17 Knockout of the Season. He currently fights in the middleweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and has previously been associated with Bellator MMA and Ring of Combat. Besides mixed martial arts, he has made a few media appearances. 

Mark Dacascos is an actor, trained martial artist, and TV personality. He is proficient in the Wun Hop Kuen Do style of martial arts and has won several karate and kung fu championships. As an actor, he is best known for his role in the action-horror film Brotherhood of the Wolf. He is married to actress Julie Condra.  

Johnny Yong Bosch is an American musician, singer, actor, and martial artist. He is best known for his appearance in the popular Power Rangers franchise where he has portrayed the first Green Turbo Ranger, the Green Zeo Ranger, and the second Black Power Ranger. Johnny Yong Bosch is also renowned for his voice-over work in films, video games, and anime. 

Carlos Condit is an American retired mixed martial artist. A former Interim UFC Welterweight Champion, Condit has also competed in World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) where he was a Welterweight Champion. While competing in the UFC, Condit won five Fight of the Night awards. After retiring from MMA, Condit went on to establish many business ventures, such as a coffee shop. 

Mixed martial artist Cat Zingano, who currently represents Bellator MMA, is a world champion in the bantamweight and flyweight divisions and had begun training in martial arts at 12. A brown belt and a world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, she also teaches Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Thai, and wrestling.

Michelle Waterson is a mixed martial artist. A former Invicta FC Atomweight Champion, Waterson was the world's best women's atomweight fighter between 2013 and 2014. In 2013, she won the Atomweight of the Year award at the Women's MMA Awards. She competes in the UFC where she is ranked in the top 10 in the list of current UFC fighters.

Dan Henderson is a retired mixed martial artist, who last competed as a middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the Rings: King of Kings 1999 Tournament Champion. He began his mixed martial arts career in 1997. At the time of his retirement in 2016, he was the oldest fighter on the UFC roster. 

Cung Le is a Vietnamese-born American actor, retired kickboxer, Sanshou fighter, and mixed martial artist. He has competed in popular promotions, such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A former International Kickboxing World Champion in the Light Heavyweight division, Cung Le has an impressive record of 17–0 in kickboxing. He is also a former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion.

Sean Patrick Flanery is an American actor, martial artist, and author. His notable films includeThe Boondock Saints, Powder, and Saw: The Final Chapter. He holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and teaches the martial art to many people. Also a race car enthusiast, Flanery won the Toyota Pro-Celebrity Race in 1997.

A former mixed martial artist, Gina Carano went on to become an actress; she uses her martial arts skills to perform stunts in popular action movies. Before becoming an actress, she was quite popular in the MMA scene, being termed the face of women's MMA. In 2008, she was named in a Top 10 Influential Women list.

Sammo Hung is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, and martial artist. He is best known for his work in martial arts films and played an important role in commencing the Hong Kong New Wave movement of the late-1970s and 1980s. He is also credited with helping many of his fellow actors establish themselves in the Hong Kong film industry.

Currently a Russian citizen, Japanese actor and martial artist Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa began his training in martial art while in junior school and acting while studying in Duarte High School, California, making his breakthrough as the Eunuch Chang in The Last Emperor. Thereafter he continued to appear in numerous productions, concurrently developing a new form of martial arts called Chun Shin

Cub Swanson is a professional mixed martial artist, currently affiliated with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he competes in the Featherweight division. He has been awarded "Fight of the Night" honors ten times. Industry experts consider him to be one of the most entertaining MMA fighters of all time. He is married to model and TV host Kenda Perez. 

Will Yun Lee is an actor and martial artist best known for his role in the sci-fi TV series Bionic Woman. He has also appeared in the movie The Wolverine. The son of a Taekwondo grandmaster, he started receiving his training at the age of three. As a young man, he taught martial arts and also began his acting career.  

Josh Barnett is a mixed martial artist, submission grappler, and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Bellator MMA. In the past, he was associated with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. As a wrestler, he made his in-ring debut in 2003. He calls himself a catch wrestler. 

Known for his popular catchphrase “It's time!," Bruce Buffer, the well-known MMA ring announcer, initially worked in the telemarketing industry. He and his half-brother, announcer Michael Buffer, whom Bruce had no clue about till he was an adult, now run The Buffer Partnership, a company to grow their brand value.

Indonesian actor and martial art expert Joe Taslim is best known for his appearances in the films The Raid: Redemption and Fast and Furious 6. He was previously part of the Indonesian national judo team and had won several championships. He has also played Li Yong in the series Warrior.

WEC bantamweight fighter Joseph Benavidez had a 15-year career in combat sports, which included several top bantamweight and flyweight championship wins. Initially a screen printer in Mexico, he began his career with small boxing shows and began wrestling at age 16. He has also battled drug and alcohol abuse.

Former mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner Matt Sera began his career in 1999, successfully competing in several championships before joining Ultimate Fighting Championship, winning a total of 11 bouts till 2010. Currently the co-owner of a Brazilian jiu-jitsu school, he has also appeared in television productions like Chris Weidman: Untitled Documentary and Dana White: Lookin' for a Fight.

Frank Dux is a Canadian martial artist and fight choreographer. He began his training in ninjutsu as a teenager. He claims he served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve for a few years and was awarded the Medal of Honor; however, this claim is disputed. He later founded his own school of ninjutsu called Dux Ryu Ninjutsu.