Michael Jai White made a splash on the big screen in the 90’s. If you’re old enough to remember the comic book film Spawn, White was the first African American to have ever portrayed a comic book hero.

This is almost two decades before Chadwick Boseman will be appearing as T’Challa aka Black Panther in Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier this year.

In addition to being the cult hero Spawn, he’s appeared in everything from Universal Soldier with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, Exit Wounds with Steven Seagal and DMX, Tyson a television biopic where White portrayed the great heavyweight boxer himself, Skin Trade with Tony Jaa, and countless other action films.

But prior to being a martial artist on screen, White had been honing in on his skills since he was a child. He had trained in everything from Shotokan Karate, Goju Ryu Karate, Kyokushin Karate, Tang So Do, Tae Kwon Do, Wushu and others. He’s received black belts in these multiple styles as well.

And unlike the many action stars out there who have claimed to be martial artists and the keyboard warriors who also claim the same, White had actually competed.

In the video, we get to see a 19-year-old White compete in a point-sparring tournament. This was almost thirty years ago. He was able to easily break down his opponents by using a quick side kick and lead hook kick. You can see how much faster his reaction time was in comparison to who was in front of him.

Now for all of those pissing on a point-sparring video, let’s not forget the likes of Stephen Wonderboy Thompson a top contender in the UFC’s welterweight division and Raymond The Real Deal Daniels who is a top fighter in GLORY Kickboxing had also come from similar backgrounds. And White was one of those martial artists that had preceded them.

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Clyde Erwin Barretto is an emphatic obsessed fan of mixed martial arts, combat sports and body movement. Follow him on Twitter @ClydeBarretto.