Jean-Claude Van Damme concentrating on fighting

Jean-Claude Van Damme has decided to fight rather than reignite his film career. The Belgian actor – popularly known as The Muscles from Brussels – says although he is starting to get movie offers after being on the Hollywood “blacklist” for a long time he is concentrating on training for his first fight in 29 years against Thai boxer Somluck Kamsing.

He explained on his new TV show ‘Jean-Claude Van Damme: Behind Closed Doors’: “Slowly they want me back for making those theatrical movies but now I have decided to fight.

“If I win that fight, which will be exceptional, it will bring me another ten years of health. It’s like a repair. So I’m very happy today where I am.”

The 50-year-old action star also confessed to how he came to be snubbed by film bosses in the first place, saying he stopped getting offers after he demanded he got paid as much as top-earner Jim Carrey in an alcoholic haze.

He explained: “After the movie ‘Timecop’ I received a hug offer for a three-picture deal and it was £7 million per picture. That’s £21 million.

“I was wasted. I said, ‘I want £12 million like Jim Carrey’ and they hung up on me. I was not myself. I was completely f***ed up and I made a bad mistake and I was on the blacklist in Hollywood for years.”