Was there really a $20 Million Fight Offer for Van Damme to fight Steven Seagal?

Recently Jean-Claude Van Damme, the Muscles from Brussels talked about his long running feud with Martial Arts Master Steven Seagal.
Van Damme recalled that film producer and executive Peter Gruber once wanted to promote a fight between Van Damme and Seagal, who have publicly feuded with each other dating back to the 1990s.

As far as I know, it all began when Steven Seagal was Promoting Out for Justice in 1991 on the Arsenio Hall Show
Steven Seagal shared his thoughts on what he thought about Van Damme, who had come out with Double Impact that same year and who’s star was rising at the time.

Anyway, in the recent interview, Van Damme said, “They were having an idea to have a fight between me and Steven at The Mirage [in Las Vegas]”. “Twenty million each. He didn’t take the fight."

A representative for Seagal did not immediately respond to PEOPLE Magazine’s request for comment. With Seagal at 71 yrs old and Van Damme at 63 today, a fight between them would certainly be a much different sight than if they'd fought decades ago whether on screen or in the ring.

But, Don “The Dragon” Wilson and Van Damme’s best friend Mohammed Qissi who played Tong Po in Kickboxer are roughly the same age as Van Damme and Seagal and they have every intention of stepping into the ring. That fight’s been in the works for a bit I do believe we have the perfect venue for it next year, which is an event I’ll be fighting in as well; more news to come.

Anyway, Going back to that Arsenio interview, Steven Segal's comments fueled a long-standing feud between both martial artists.
Jean-Claude Van Damme heard about his response and that stirred a lot of things inside and things apparently got heated at a Sylvester Stallone party in Stallone’s house in Miami back in 1997.

This story first became public while Stallone and Van Damme were doing press for The Expendables 2. As the party was going on, Van Damme and Seagal locked eyes and the action star from Belgium told Seagal to meet him outside so Seagal could put his money where his mouth was, however, he did not engage and left Van Damme wanting the fight.
Stallone described the events of his Miami mansion to FHM magazine, claiming: "At a party in my home in Miami in 1997, Van Damme was tired of Seagal claiming he could kick his ass so he offered Seagal outside into my back yard."

Stallone elaborated "Seagal made his excuses and left. But Van Damme, who was berserk, tracked him down at a nightclub and offered him out again." Stallone Added "Van Damme was too strong. Seagal wanted none of it." In 2010, Van Damme spoke about what happened with more detail and said, "No fight was made, just a little pushing. Because it was a beautiful house. Had beautiful furniture. I was pissed a little and said to Steven come outside.
"I waited two hours but he never came. Steven was very disrespectful that night."

Years later, Van Damme was asked about the beef and he spoke about his last encounter with Seagal and said: "Well, he's a good guy, but he's too tense. I saw him in Planet Hollywood and I said, 'Hey, Steven, you speak bad about me on TV. Why?'

Van Damme then said, "Hey, it's okay if he wants to say things. It's not my problem."
Van Damme, who made his breakout with 1988's Bloodsport and most recently appeared as a voice actor in 2022's Minions: Rise of Gru, also gave some props to Seagal, who last made a movie in 2019.

“The first movie I saw of his, I said, ‘This guy’s going to make it, he’s very charismatic.’” he said of Seagal. “Even now, with his overweight years, he’s got this Steven Seagal way of talking.”

Today, Van Damme says, “I have no problem with Steven,” “When you're young you want to be the macho man. If I saw him today, I'd have no problem.”

Van Damme also revealed to The Daily Mail that he’s currently working on his last martial arts movie,” entitled Battleground, which he described as “Bloodsport meets the dark web.” Wouldn’t it be something if he and Seagal got to finally go mano a mano onscreen. Speaking of on-screen, in the 90s they were both in talks to star opposite one another in Demolition Man, but that never happened b/c neither man wanted to lose against the other. Of course Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes would end up taking the roles, and both men did a phenomenal job in it.

AS far as Seagal’s statement he said I can make public, which was shared to me by a mutual friend of ours, Grandmaster Gary Henry Amen, Seagal said,
“Real Warriors Don’t Tell Stories, and they don’t fight in print”.

It should be noted that Van Damme brought this story up while endorsing his new Irish Whiskey Brand, Old Oak. This story has definitely been making the rounds, so the question is, is Van Damme is deceiving people when he talks about the $20 million dollar fight, and only speaking about it in order to promote his new whiskey venture?

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