DANIEL CORMIER IS DISGUSTED. He’s sitting at a table in a high-back chair, and he begins to aggressively slide his chair around so he can really get up close and personal about the disdain he’s feeling right now.
“That’s my boy,” Cormier says as his chair grates against the cement. “Don’t you talk s— about Steven Seagal. Don’t you do it.”
Cormier is breathing fire outside the Kaseya Center in Miami, where he will do commentary for UFC 314 back in April. But at this moment, he is one of 18 MMA experts that we tasked with a seemingly simple question: Which Hollywood star who has portrayed a fighter would win a UFC-style MMA tournament? (Spoiler alert: Seagal did not fare well.)
ESPN created two brackets of fighters — 18 men, 10 women — and presented matchups to our experts to generate rankings and scouting reports for everybody from Linda Hamilton and Scarlett Johansson to The Rock and Jackie Chan. Our panelists were given several weeks to review footage and rank the actors, not their characters, at their absolute athletic peak. For example: They were asked to assess Ralph Macchio circa 1986’s “Karate Kid II” rather than 2025’s “Karate Kid: Legends.”
Cormier hates what he is hearing other experts say about Seagal. He takes out his phone and pulls up two videos from 2015, right before Cormier fought Jon Jones for the first time. It’s incredible how much Seagal (6-foot-4, around 300 pounds) towers over Cormier, who was 5-11, 210 back then.
In the first video, Seagal tells Cormier in a hushed tone that he has a move to show him. This move, he says, is so dangerous, so secretive, that only Cormier can see it.
“Thin out the gym, Daniel,” he says.
So he does. Off camera, he shows Cormier the move. It’s a right-hand aikido strike to the throat that no one has ever hit in an actual UFC fight, and that includes Cormier. He says he tried it three times against Jones and was easily swatted away each time.
Now, Cormier pulls up the second video and starts laughing. Seagal’s hair is an impossible shade of black, and he is wearing one of his bizarre late-stage Seagal muumuus. Seagal has a blanket wrapped around his shoulders as he sits at the side of a cage. He looks like a toddler getting ready for story time, and Cormier begins to break character. He genuinely loves Seagal, but the whole scene is hilarious.
“Dude, look at him,” Cormier says, unable to hide his laughter. “He’s massive. Humongous. If I had hit that one move, I would have won the belt.”
Even with Cormier’s positivity factored in, Seagal lands in a surprising place: 18 of 18, behind Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze and Jake Gyllenhaal.
For the rest of the results, sit back, put your feet up and grab your coziest blankie.
The expert panel
Ben Askren, Julia Avila, Mike Brown, Bob Cook, Daniel Cormier, Randy Couture, Mac Danzig, Alexis Davis, Merab Dvalishvili, Clay Guida, Kayla Harrison, Holly Holm, Marcus Kowal, John McCarthy, Sean O’Malley, Juliana Pena, Chael Sonnen, Din Thomas
Let’s start with the two nicest things that our experts had to say about Seagal. First, in his prime, he stood 6-4 and weighed 200 pounds. Secondly, he’s a legit black belt in aikido, a modern Japanese martial art focusing on energy redirection and self-defense. After those positives, though, things turned ugly for Seagal. Cormier was Seagal’s staunchest defender, putting him in the middle of the pack. But almost every other voter had Seagal in their bottom five.
“Jason Statham would fold up Seagal and clean the floor with him.” — Marcus Kowal, former Strikeforce fighter with black belts in kickboxing and Krav Maga
“Steven Seagal is bulls—. A little kid could beat him up.” — Merab Dvalishvili, current UFC bantamweight champion
“I think Seagal is trash. There are elements of aikido that are helpful, like feeling people’s balance and understanding leverage. But in terms of fighting, his skill set isn’t practical enough to be worth much.” — Din Thomas, former UFC featherweight (26-9 career record)
Gyllenhaal played a boxer in the 2015 movie “Southpaw,” then was Dalton in last year’s “Roadhouse” remake. He even shot a scene in the Octagon during UFC 285. At the time, he was 6-foot, 184 pounds with 5% body fat and did a decent job as a former UFC fighter. But our panel said he has no business in a real MMA fight.
“I love Jake Gyllenhaal. But come on, he was ‘Bubble Boy.’ How does he win in the Octagon?” — Julia Avila, former UFC fighter (9-4 record) and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt
“Gyllenhaal isn’t big enough to hang with most of these guys. He would get squashed.” — Holly Holm, former boxing and UFC world champion
“He is in great shape. But I think he just picks movies that make him look like he can fight.” — Daniel Cormier, former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion
Several experts gave Macchio a thumbs-up for his karate in the original Karate Kid trilogy (1984-89), and even a few thought the crane kick was a solid technique. But the majority laughed about the technique and said there is a reason why nobody tries it — or much of anything else Macchio has done in the Karate Kid universe — in the Octagon.
“I don’t think Ralph Macchio really knows karate. And if he does, it’s an American, watered-down version that little kids do. That’s completely different than real karate.” — Mike Brown, former UFC featherweight, BJJ black belt, and now a renowned MMA coach
“Oh my god, Ralph Macchio would do about as well in an MMA fight as Danny DeVito. The whole ‘Karate Kid’ premise is great to watch. But the crane doesn’t work. There’s no defense for the crane? No, there’s no offense from it.” — John McCarthy, legendary MMA referee and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt
“I’m not a huge fan of karate, so even if Ralph Macchio’s karate was really good, I’m not sure how much of it would work. I think it’d be pretty unrealistic to think he could beat very many of these guys. His karate didn’t seem like it had much power.” — Alexis Davis, former UFC vet and black belt in two different forms of jiu-jitsu
Neeson certainly has a particular set of skills, but our voters didn’t think those skills would translate into MMA success. He also had a movie fighting peak much later than most of our Hollywood candidates (“Taken” came out in 2008, when the 6-foot-4 star was 55). More than one voter also pointed out that Neeson has been quoted as saying he hates the UFC and likened MMA to bar fights. He didn’t crack the top five on anybody’s ballot, but he also didn’t finish in the bottom three with any experts.
“I doubt Liam Neeson beats anybody on this list. Maybe Tom Cruise, because he’d have a size advantage. But I don’t think his actual technical skills are very good.” — Sam Alvey, eight-year UFC vet with a BJJ black belt
“Liam Neeson is a tough, big guy with a great voice. But come on.” — Daniel Cormier
“He plays a tough guy in movies, but I don’t actually think he could take a punch. I don’t think he has the fight mentality in him.” — Din Thomas
Cruise’s size (5-7, 170) cost him with our voters, and several said his movie fight skills seem to mostly be Hollywood magic, using jump cuts and wiggly cameras. But a vocal minority were believers, giving him credit for being a high school wrestler. More than a few cited his infamous intensity as a big positive if he had a real three-month MMA training camp.
“There’s something about Cruise. He does all of his stunts, and that takes a certain amount of grit that you cannot teach. He kind of faces death for fun. So I think he would beat some good people on this list, including Jet Li and Sylvester Stallone. Cruise is the kind of guy who would start studying jiu-jitsu and be so relentless that he gets his black belt in three months.” — Julia Avila
“You know Tom Cruise is a vicious little guy. I don’t know what he could pull off physically, but he’d be a scary opponent. If it’s UFC 1 rules, that means you can headbutt, pull hair, and punch the groin, and I could see Cruise being a mean little chihuahua with all of that no-holds-barred stuff. I think he’d have a really good chance against Steven Seagal.” — Mac Danzig, a six-year UFC vet and BJJ black belt
“Tom Cruise is weird and small. He’s not beating anybody.” — Julianna Peña, current UFC bantamweight champion
As a young man, Li was a champion practitioner of Wushu, a Chinese mashup of martial arts highlighted by elements of tai chi and kung fu, a skill that our experts mostly said was overrated. He received widespread admiration from our voters for his martial arts in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and a slew of films from his breakout run in the mid-1990s. But our panel dinged him for his size (5-6 and about 150 pounds) as well as questions about whether his high-flying style would be flimsy in real-life fighting.
“I love the beauty and athleticism of Jet Li’s kung fu. But I don’t think much of any of it would be efficient in an actual fight. He’s a perfect example of someone whose martial arts are fantastic on screen but not great for real fighting.” — Marcus Kowal
“I think Jet Li would be too fast for most of these people. He’d be able to keep people at kicking range and avoid anybody getting ahold of him.” — Holly Holm
“Jet’s a great, gregarious guy with very good martial arts skills. With three months to train, maybe he does well. But I think he’d be the first to tell you that he’s not a fighter.” — Randy Couture, six-time UFC champion who starred with Li, Norris, Schwarzenegger, Snipes, Stallone, Statham and Van Damme in “The Expendables” series
More than any other actor/fighter, Reeves presented a tricky case of when his peak actually was. Some experts went with him as Neo in “The Matrix,” when he was heavily showing off kung fu. But that was 15 years before the more varied martial arts he showed in “John Wick.”
Either way, Reeves was applauded for his background of heavy jiu-jitsu, judo and karate training he began in the late 1990s and kept doing up through the Wick movies.
“Keanu Reeves would beat up pretty much anybody in Hollywood. I also think he would break people with his tenaciousness — and I wouldn’t mess with his dog.” — Julia Avila
“Keanu has a lot of heart. But the thing to remember is if it’s ‘The Matrix’ era, then he didn’t have the same skills he’s learned down the road in this ‘John Wick’ era. So, I think Keanu in the Neo era is closer to the ‘Bill and Ted’s’ character than ‘John Wick.'” — Mac Danzig
“Fights always end up on the ground, and I think Keanu has a good ground game. I think he could choke out most of these guys, and I don’t think he would be afraid to get down and dirty.” — Alexis Davis
On the positive side, several voters said Van Damme’s stock as a martial artist has become so picked on that he may actually be underrated now. Van Damme indeed had a legitimate kickboxing background, with sound technique on display in his late 1980s heyday in “Bloodsport” and “Kickboxer,” among other movies. On the negative side, the majority of evaluators had a grand old time unmercifully goofing on Van Damme for his splits, improbable high kicks and meme-able dancing.
“Jean-Claude has pretty kicks. They look good on camera, and I think he could land some of those against these people. He’s got decent size and speed, so I think he would be tough.” — Holly Holm
“When we were filming ‘Expendables 3,’ Jean Claude was talking about getting a real fight with a Muay Thai champion, and I thought that was a horrible idea. For his first real fight? That would have been a bad, bad idea. He was asking me if I would train him, and I tried to tactfully tell him it was a horrible idea and that real fighting is a whole different animal.” — Randy Couture
“Van Damme is better than people realize. He gets teased a lot. But you don’t get that build without working hard, and I think his kickboxing was good. I would take him over a lot of these guys.” — Chael Sonnen, longtime main event fighter in three weight classes and four different fighting organizations
Several experts thought Swayze ranked near the bottom of this 18-person list. But the majority had warm feelings about how he would fare in the cage, citing two movies as evidence: “Roadhouse,” of course, but also “Dirty Dancing.” Swayze’s athleticism and footwork as a dancer, they said, would go a long way toward helping him learn how to get in and out of exchanges.
“Patrick Swayze is in my top three, and the reason is that he can dance. That means he has good body control and can move, which typically makes for a good fighter. I think he beats almost everybody.” — Din Thomas
“I used to roll my eyes about Patrick Swayze. But the older I get, the more I realize how athletic he was. When I watch ‘Roadhouse’ and ‘Point Break,’ I ended up feeling like the guy must be a total badass.” — Mac Danzig
“Ain’t nobody beating Dalton (his ‘Roadhouse’ character). Not much of what he did in that movie would translate to a UFC fight. But he is an athlete and has a great physique. You’d have to really dig into training to get him well-rounded, though I do think he’d be OK in a brawl.” — Clay Guida
Stallone got all sorts of love from our voters, but he was remarkably middling on every ballot. Nobody had him in their top five or bottom five. He received high marks for his solid boxing, pure power and perceived toughness. But many voters expressed concern about what kind of defense he would have against wrestling or jiu-jitsu, and several just couldn’t see Stallone being able to overcome his size disadvantages (5-9, 200 pounds during his peak “Rocky” days).
“Rocky was choreographed fighting. But he took some punches shooting that, so he’s tough physically. And he has the fitness and mental toughness to be a good fighter, too. Everything points to him being not bad as a fighter. Stallone would beat Jean-Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal, for example.” — John McCarthy
“Stallone is a mini Arnold Schwarzenegger. Very strong. Lots of power. I could see him struggling to win a lot of these fights, but always being one big punch away from a knockout. He might not win decisions on the judges’ scorecards, but always be dangerous for an upset KO.” — Alexis Davis
“Stallone is a pretty short guy, so he’d have a hard time against some of these big, strong guys. There’s a limit to how much he could do against a massive athlete like Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Rock or Dave Bautista.” — Bob Cook, a former UFC fighter who is now one of the most sought-after coaches in MMA
Snipes finished in the middle pack with almost every expert scout, with “Blade”-era Snipes (1998) as the peak version of the actor. He received credit for having been a lifelong martial arts practitioner (black belts in Shotokan karate and Hapkido) and being an incredible athlete. But he got flagged for both his height (5-9) and allegedly ducking out of a possible UFC fight 20 years ago against Joe Rogan. “I think he knew I was going to kill him,” Rogan said on a recent podcast.
“I think Snipes has very good striking skills and he was very athletic in his prime. But I don’t think he has the size to deal with some of these guys. A guy like Dave Bautista definitely beats Snipes.” — Din Thomas
“Wesley Snipes was in incredible shape and had good martial arts experience. So I think he’d be pretty high on this list. He could fight.” — Holly Holm
“I think Wesley Snipes is a coward for not fighting Joe Rogan. You can tell the frauds because when some of these guys got a chance to maybe test their skills, they didn’t even try.” — Ben Askren, a two-time NCAA champion who went 19-2 in Bellator, one championship, and the UFC
The consensus for when Arnold was in his prime? Some time around “The Terminator/Predator” stage (1984-87) of his life, when the seven-time Mr. Olympia was 6-2, 260 pounds. Our panel thought he’d be the most physically strong person on this list (and maybe the planet), but wondered about how skilled he is with his hands and feet. But most experts said there’s only so much you can do against a giant, muscular athlete with a significant size edge.
“If Arnold got a hold of anybody, he’d crush them. He was so powerful that I don’t think some of the kickers on this list could keep him at distance. He could just power through that distance.” — Alexis Davis
“No way Arnold could fight. With all that muscle, he’d gas out so quickly that he wouldn’t make it a minute in a fight.” — Ben Askren
“Arnold is so big and strong that he’d be tough for a lot of these guys to handle. Plus, his accent is great. I’ll pick him just because of that.” — Sean O’Malley, former UFC bantamweight champ and current No. 13 MMA pound-for-pound fighter
Chan is a Hapkido black belt with experience in boxing, taekwondo, karate and judo, too. Most experts also liked that he’s done almost all of his stunts during his lengthy film career, which indicated toughness and grit to our evaluators. The most common knock on Chan was his size (5-8 and about 160 pounds) and that his movie martial arts often looked flashy but a bit silly.
“I know Jackie Chan is tough. I think he wouldn’t be great offensively, but I think he could eat punches and keep moving forward. He’d wear people out and beat them.” — Din Thomas
“Jackie Chan is tougher and bigger than people think. He has underrated athleticism, too, so his fighting skills are amplified against people like this. He probably has better body control than I do, and so much of fighting comes down to being able to control your violence.” — Sam Alvey
“Jackie Chan had a great martial arts background, and I think his stunt-style movies actually helped him quite a bit. Yes, they put on a show for the cameras, but he was almost like a gymnast who could fight.” — Duke Roufus, a former pro kickboxer and one of the best striking coaches in the world
The Rock is 52 and has been training hard to portray Mark Kerr in “The Smashing Machine.” But our evaluators mostly considered his peak to be his late WWE/early movie days (think “The Scorpion King” in 2002), when he had combined his football background (he was a 6-5, 260-pound defensive tackle on Miami’s 1991 national title team) with his family’s wrestling heritage.
An interesting note about Johnson and the WWE stars on this list: Several experts, including Cormier, said fake fighting isn’t nothing — that the sport requires the kind of showmanship, athleticism, aggression and conditioning that would provide a nice foundation for an actual fighting career.
“The Rock is too big for most of these guys. With somebody like Ralph Macchio, I think he eats the crane kick and then drops a People’s Elbow on him.” — Duke Roufus
“I think The Rock will be able to grab a hold of most of these guys and get them to the ground, then smother them there. And I don’t think many of these guys will know how to fight off their back.” — Din Thomas
“The Rock could get people down and lay on top of them. With people like The Rock, he’s so big and strong that it can be very hard to get him off you. He’s strong enough and fast enough to be able to control where the fight goes.” — Holly Holm
See No. 5 on this list. Our experts thought Bautista’s frame (6-4, 250) and sheer athleticism would make him a handful with no training. But Bautista has training: He’s a jiu-jitsu brown belt and fought and won an MMA fight in 2011, which most of the evaluators gave him major props for while also not exactly raving about his performance.
“Dave Bautista actually fought. Did he gas out? Yes. Bad. He was exhausted. But he’s big and knows how to fight.” — Daniel Cormier
“Bautista is very pretty. I like to look at him, and he probably wins when he goes to the beach. But he is built for show, not for go.” — Julia Avila
“I know Bautista won his one fight, and he’d do OK against other actors. But if I were him, I would devote my life to getting that off the internet. He did every single thing you could do wrong, from sloppy footwork to gassing himself out too early. Even his breathing looked terrible.” — Sam Alvey
This will be a controversial landing spot for Lee, who might be the most significant martial artist ever. He was a kung fu and Wing Chun expert who founded Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid of martial arts philosophies and techniques, and was instrumental in popularizing martial arts in America with “Enter the Dragon” (1973).
Lee was also Hong Kong’s 1958 Cha-Cha dance champion, which showed up in his elegant, explosive brand of movie martial arts. But our panel had two major hangups with Lee: That he was 5-8 and weighed less than 150 pounds, and that many of his techniques have never had significant success in MMA.
“Bruce Lee is a legend. But kung fu doesn’t work. It’s hard to know if he had the wrestling or the cardio for MMA.” — Merab Dvalishvili
“Bruce Lee is so quick. He’s so skilled and fast that he could hit and not get hit. I don’t know if he has knockout power, and I think he’d struggle with some of the bigger guys if they could get their hands on him. But I think most of the time, he’d be able to stay outside and outpoint people with the judges. I think he would be too smart and too clean for almost everybody.” — Holly Holm
“Bruce Lee might have beaten everybody. He was very small, but fast and powerful. His skills were so good, and he was way, way ahead of his time in martial arts. He was studying jiujitsu and other forms of martial arts years ahead of everybody else.” — Din Thomas
Statham ended up being one of the most surprising picks in the entire pretend bracket. He was praised for his martial arts arsenal, which includes training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, kickboxing and kung fu. A few thought Statham’s size (5-10, 170) would hurt him against some of the larger men on this list. But multiple evaluators mentioned his toughness and athleticism — Statham was a member of the British national diving team in the late 1980s and early 1990s — as reasons they think he’d be a difficult opponent.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years, and sometimes people have it in them and sometimes they don’t. I think Statham has it in him — I think he’s mean. I feel like he would get punched and only have more eye of the tiger in there.” — Mac Danzig
“Statham plays a good tough guy. But the chances of him beating a lot of these bigger guys aren’t good. Even if he is a more skilled guy than them, Statham’s size would be a problem.” — Sam Alvey
“Statham seems gritty to me. You need that in MMA. I think he does most of his own stuntwork, and that matters. He’s got some dog in him, and I think he’d be able to gas out some bigger guys.” — Holly Holm
Chuck Norris once killed two stones with one bird, and he can play the guitar with a piano, and since he was born in 1940, roundhouse kick deaths have risen 128,000 percent worldwide… OK, all jokes aside, Norris was the runaway winner with our experts. He’s best known for an incredible 40-year film and TV career, but Norris has accumulated four black belts (taekwondo, judo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Tang Soo Do, an offshoot of traditional karate) in a wide range of martial arts.
He played the villain in 1972’s “The Way of the Dragon” opposite Bruce Lee and the two sparred on and off camera quite a bit, becoming friends along the way. Norris reportedly would win those scraps, which multiple panelists pointed out during this project. And yes, our evaluators were all aware that Norris, in his prime, stood only 5-9, 160 pounds. They just felt like even bigger people wouldn’t be able to handle a man whose belly button can charge an iPad.
“I actually think Chuck Norris might have finished second at UFC 1. He might not have beaten Royce Gracie, but he probably would have beaten everybody else. So against these actors, forget it, he’s winning.” — Sam Alvey
“Chuck Norris knew how to kick, and it’s a whole new ballgame for even tough guys when they have to deal with a strong kicker. He would kick the life out of some of these guys.” — Duke Roufus
“Chuck Norris is a legend. If he was going to fight God, I would have a hard time picking who would win. I think five Jake Gyllenhaals wouldn’t beat Chuck Norris.” — Julia Avila
Our experts said Ferguson had a few things going for her. She has an extensive background in dancing and trained hard in martial arts and firearms for her role in the “Mission: Impossible” franchise. But our panel thought she was too small (5-5) and an unknown when it comes to getting smashed in the face and battling back. Without her “Dune” witching powers, the panel ranked her last.
“I like Rebecca Ferguson. I think she would be a big underdog but be able to surprise people with her speed.” — Chael Sonnen
“Rebecca Ferguson doesn’t do very well against this group. She plays tough characters, but I don’t see her being willing to get into an MMA dogfight.” — Sam Alvey
“I’d be tempted to have a decent scouting report on her because I do think she is athletic and tough. But in every matchup, I feel like her opponent would be favored.” — Alexis Davis
Our evaluators had a hard time making sense of Blunt’s badass-ery through her filmography. She’s been in “Into the Woods” and “Mary Poppins Returns,” but also been a lethal fighting force in “Edge of Tomorrow” and both “A Quiet Place” movies. For “Edge of Tomorrow” with Cruise, she did gymnastics, yoga, weight training and a crash course in Krav Maga to play Rita Vrataski, “The Angel of Verdun.” But our group saw more Poppins than Vrataski.
“Emily Blunt is just so unassuming. I don’t think she could win a fight.” — Julianna Peña
“I just don’t think Emily Blunt is a fighter in life. I don’t think she would want to be in there.” — Kayla Harrison, Olympic judo champion and UFC title contender
“Emily Blunt doesn’t scream real, true toughness. But she comes across as someone who would be studious about it and learn to fight smart. I don’t think she would be gritty. But she could be a very good clean fighter who stays at distance and wins decisions.” — Holly Holm
Perhaps no imaginary fighter was more divisive than Theron. A surprising number of voters said they loved her size (5-10) and strength from “Atomic Blonde” and “Mad Max: Fury Road.” She has been exposed to various martial arts, including a very Paul Bunyan-esque IMDb note that she hired eight personal trainers — yes, eight! — to get ready for “Atomic Blonde.” But the majority felt like Theron’s ability to play-fight on screen far exceeded what she would be able to do in an Octagon.
“I think Charlize is underrated as a tough person. Anybody who can turn into the lady in ‘Monster’ can fight.” — Kayla Harrison
“Charlize has very good form. Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether there is good power behind good form. But I think she would be pretty good. I think she is the No. 1 fighter on this list.” — Julia Avila
“Charlize is tall with a frame that’s good for fighting. I think she seems like more of a pacifist in real life, though, and at a certain point, you have to want to fight to be a good fighter.” — John McCarthy
Most voters considered Moss during her Matrix days as Trinity, rather than as a Jedi master who used “Force Fu” in the TV series “The Acolyte.” Moss credits her background in Scottish dancing as a key reason why she was able to absorb so much when she worked with legendary fight coordinator Yuen Woo-ping for “The Matrix.” The general consensus with our evaluators, though, was that Moss belonged in the second tier of actresses/fighters.
“She did some very cool stunts in ‘The Matrix,’ and I have a lot of respect for people who can do those killer movie stunts. There’s really impressive technique and toughness involved in that.” — Duke Roufus
“She didn’t look like she actually could fight. Her size and athleticism is impressive on film. I just don’t know that the kung fu skills she showed would ever translate into sustained attacks in the Octagon.” — Sam Alvey
“What Carrie-Ann Moss did in that film required tremendous training and athleticism. She can rip off incredible kicks. I think if she immersed herself in MMA, she would do very well.” — Randy Couture
Yeoh got oohs and aahs from our panel for her remarkable martial arts and athleticism shown in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” And a few people said they were impressed by Yeoh’s action skills in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” But there were enough concerns about her predominant style — kung fu — and 5-4 height that she finished middle of the pack.
“I think Michelle Yeoh has really pretty martial arts skills. It’s a very aerial, showboaty kind of technique. I’d have to see her get into a tough fight to see how she responds.” — Julia Avila
“Michelle Yeoh is a total badass. I know they used some movie magic in ‘Crouching Tiger.’ But there’s only so much you can do if somebody isn’t actually athletic. She is athletic, and I also think she would be able stay on the outside with some of the kung fu skills that she has.” — Alexis Davis
“Michelle Yeoh has good kickboxing. But I also think she would have good submissions. She would take people’s backs and choke them out.” — Chael Sonnen
If there is a similar Hollywood fighting bracket down the road, don’t be surprised if Saldana rises closer to the top. A few voters knew her from “Guardians of the Galaxy” and said she clearly has done some martial arts (she’s trained Krav Maga). Those who’ve seen her in “Special Ops: Lioness” thought even more highly of her, helping the 5-foot-7 Saldana inch into the top 5.
“I think Zoe Saldana would be a Carla Esparza kind of fighter, where she would constantly take people down and pound on them. I don’t know if Zoe could generate much damage with her strikes. But she would be hard to deal with.” — Julia Avila
“Zoe seems tough, but pretty little. She would have to have a big mean streak to beat some of these women. With her, my guess is, she has it.” — Mac Danzig
“Zoe could definitely fight. I think she is one of those people who would raise her hand to get into a fight.” — John McCarthy
Thurman drew almost universal praise for her buttkickery in the “Kill Bill” trilogy, and multiple evaluators noted that her height (5-11) and athleticism would make her a handful with some hardcore MMA training. The one persistent question mark about her was that most of Thurman’s skills seem to be centered around kung fu, which was consistently knocked by our panel as a martial art that doesn’t translate well into modern fighting.
“Uma is a streetfighter type. So if she doesn’t get disqualified in a cage, she’d be hard to beat.” — Kayla Harrison
“Uma Thurman is so long. I feel like she would be a Holly Holm-style fighter and use her length and kicks to keep people at distance. She’d be hard to beat.” — Julia Avila
“I loved ‘Kill Bill,’ but Uma couldn’t bring weapons into the cage. I think her kickboxing skills looked pretty good to me. But I don’t think she is super strong. So she’d have a hard time with the more powerful women on this list.” — Alexis Davis
The older the voter, the higher they had Hamilton, John Connor’s unstoppable mom in “Terminator” and “Terminator 2.” She has said her fighting skills come from sessions with Israeli special forces soldiers, and our voters like what they saw on screen. Though Hamilton stands just 5-5, multiple voters said they thought she could bench press twice her bodyweight, along with better mental toughness than most of her imaginary opponents on this list.
“I don’t know if Linda Hamilton would be flashy at all with her fighting style. But I think she would be really down and dirty. She’d go for the eyeballs or anything else to win. I think she would beat most of the people on this list just because she wouldn’t be afraid to eat two punches to land one.” — Alexis Davis
“Linda Hamilton strikes me as one of those soccer moms who you don’t want to mess with. I think she’s a wild card. She’d be hard to deal with in a cagefight.” — Holly Holm
“Linda Hamilton is a badass. But I think she might be too small to hang with some of the taller women. I bet she holds her own against anybody on this list, but I doubt she can beat Charlize Theron or Gal Gadot.” — Mac Danzig
ScarJo elicited wildly different takes. A vocal minority didn’t love how her height (5-3) would match up with taller fighters, and several wondered whether she would be able to walk through punches for a three- or five-round cagefight. But the vast majority thought she had the best submissions (she’s a Brazilian jiu-jitsu brown belt) by a wide margin and predicted she’d eventually be able to get the fight to the ground.
“Scarlett Johansson has thick legs and lower half. She’s strong. She’s kicking everybody’s asses. Black Widow beats them all.” — Daniel Cormier
“I don’t see Scarlet Johansson being able to get into a really nasty fight. Her martial arts look terrific on film. But in almost any fight, you have to be able to eat a few punches and not say, ‘Nah, this isn’t for me.'” — Din Thomas
“Everything that Scarlett does in action movies tells you she puts in lots of work. With her jiu-jitsu, yes, I think she could fight. With a brown belt level, almost anybody on earth is in trouble. She can create problems that normal people wouldn’t see coming. She could probably handle 99 percent of the people on earth.” — John McCarthy
Gadot was the consensus No. 1, even with our experts being advised she would not have Wonder Woman’s power rings or lasso. She trained in jiu-jitsu, kung fu and kickboxing as she prepped for “Wonder Woman,” and Gadot served two years of in the Israeli Defense Force. With that well-rounded skillset, the 5-10 Gadot was both the No. 1 fighter on the most ballots and the only woman who was top-5 across the board.
“The Israeli military teaches a very aggressive form of Krav Maga, so Gal Gadot would be a tough matchup. A lot of that stuff would work in the Octagon.” — Duke Roufus
“Gal Gadot is definitely behind Scarlett Johansson. Her techniques were fun and looked cool in ‘Wonder Woman.’ But her hands were always down, and her chin was exposed, so I don’t know about her getting punched. I’m not sure she would be able to eat very much damage.” — Sam Alvey
“Gal Gadot has a big frame and the muscle mass to be tough. I don’t see how she isn’t in the top 2-3 on anybody’s list. From what I have seen, her technical skills aren’t perfect. But she has power and if she gets ahold of you, you’re done.” — Alexis Davis