Sometimes life imitates art. Other times, life imitates video game plots. (Yes, those are the only two scenarios, so just accept it and move on) Anyone who had a Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis in the 1990’s is no doubt familiar with the Mortal Kombat franchise and its role in popular culture. The “Bloody Flagship” of violent video games, MK was essentially a trans-dimensional tournament in which the best fighters from various “realms” were selected to do battle. It featured robotic ninjas, skeleton-faced assassins, lizard people, evil centaurs, evil-er cyborg chicks, Chinese Thunder Gods in coolie hats, and even some regular fighters from Earth. One of the original “regular” fighters was a hot shot named: Johnny Cage.

Even though he was the star of such commercial hits as Ninja Mime and The Gist of My Fist, (sigh…those are actual film credits on his resume) Cage was often maligned by critics as being a mere “stuntman” who relied on wires and trick photography rather than his years of martial art study. His sole reason for participating in MK was to prove his critics wrong, which was no easy task considering that it was a SECRET tournament that 99.9% of the world had never heard of. Liu Kang was there to avenge his sensei’s murder. Sonya Blade was there to track down a dangerous criminal. Shang Tsung was there to steal souls. Rayden was there to save earth from destruction. Johnny Cage was there to get his long overdue “props.”  Makes sense…..

Flash forward to present day- actor/martial artist Jason Frank recently signed with an MMA fighting organization. What makes this story particularly interesting is that Frank is best know for playing ‘Tommy- The Green Ranger’ from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!!” While I don’t think that Jason Frank has the ego of a Johnny Cage, one can’t help but marvel at the pure balls this guy has to wanna step into the octagon with a bunch of guys just D-Y-I-N-G to kick his ass. Apparently he’s got the credentials (6^th Degree Blackbelt, Founder of four karate schools, Gold Medalist in 2006 Muy Thai tournament, etc), but will that be enough to take on some of these fighters? Will someone finally be able to answer the age-old question, “Can an action star hold his own in a real fight?” and its follow-up, “How many robotic ninjas and lizard people does a man have to decapitate before the world takes him seriously?”  The answer, Johnny Cage…..is blowin’ in the wind.