The Iron Circle

Vandenberg, at eighteen, became the youngest man ever to win the champion title at The World Open in Bare Knuckle Karate. An accident caused a leg injury and he endured a painful recovery period. After his leg healed, he went on to fight Kran, the legendary Northern Thai fighter. Vandenberg had become the best. This is his story.

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What does it mean to be a warrior? What does it take to be the best? What must a man do to endure life's injustice, confront his own demons and prevail? Dominiquie Vandenberg could have been one of the highest ranked martial artists in the world. He could have been an Olympic wrestling champion, or earned a small fortune promoting his own line of sports merchandise. But all Vandenberg cared about was fighting all out with no holds barred, and when at sixteen years old he discovered Kunto, a Japanese all-out fighting style, Vandenberg left his home and family for training on Okinawa. Vandenberg, at eighteen, became the youngest man ever to win such the champion title in The World Open in Bare Knuckle Karate. But while on a break in his native Belgium he was hit by a runaway car a week before he was scheduled to leave for his next adventure. After a painful recovery, Vandenberg did what dead-ended men from around the world for a hundred years have done. He joined the French Foreign Legion. Vandenberg saw action in central Africa. But when his leg healed enough to allow him to fight again, he went AWOL, flew to Thailand and fought and won his first fighting match in years.
After a brief return to the Legion to fulfil his contract, Vandenberg returned to Thailand to find his fiancee, whom he'd met while volunteering with the Karen insurgency against the Burmese National Army, murdered by Thai river pirates. The loss sent Vandenberg into a spiral of despair. After completing the rest of his Legion contract, he went back to Thailand for his final fight. Vandenberg fought and beat Kran, the legendary Northern Thai fighter. In a country where fighting is the national sport, Vandenberg had become the best. There was no man more deadly or dangerous in or out of the ring.