Commentary: Former green ranger plans to join UFC
One of the greatest shows of the ’90s, hands down, is Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers. This action-packed show featured righteous justice and bad guy smashing, not to mention giant robots that fought giant monsters.
But where are the action stars now? Blurbs of information have been appearing on newscasts and websites off and on for a couple years, the most interesting of which involves Jason David Frank, otherwise known as Tommy Oliver, the Green (or White) ranger.
Apart from his famous role as the Green and White Rangers, he has also had many guest appearances on other versions of Power Rangers such as Power Rangers Zeo (appearing as the Red Zeo Ranger), Power Rangers Turbo (appearing as the Red Turbo Ranger), Power Rangers Wild Force (appearing as the Red Zeo Ranger), and Power Rangers Dino Thunder (appearing as the Black Dino Ranger), all as the character Tommy Oliver. He is Dr. Tommy Oliver in Dino Thunder.
The former ranger, now 35 with a less-than-desirable career, with his last job being a straight-to-video film “The Junior Defenders,” seeks to use his super powers in Mixed Martial Arts cage fighting. Some people see this as proof that Mixed Martial Arts, or MMA, is now a fad, a stepping stone for a failing career. However, the beauty of cage matches is that there is nowhere to hide. Whether or not he is using this as a publicity stunt, he is going to have to fight. Even though his career is now a flop, he was once one of the strongest Rangers on the show, and every fighter is going to want to fight the mighty Green Ranger. Unfortunately, Morphers aren’t welcome into the cage, so he is training with UFC fighter Melvin Guillard, an experienced lightweight fighter.
Regardless of the MMA politics, the fight should be interesting. The Green Ranger was a hero to millions of kids around the country and quite possibly the world. It will be interesting to see him fight in a real match. Frank plans to train until he is ready, so a date has not yet been scheduled. He was supposed to start in a match against Ron ‘The Badger’ McMasters on June 23, 2007, until an injury prevented him from attending. He is currently a sixth-degree black belt, owns four karate schools under Rising Sun Karate, and is the founder of Toso Kune Do, which is a new form of martial art. He has also won many karate related awards, including one from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Be on the lookout for the upcoming Green Ranger’s cage match, it will be something worth seeing.