[Editor’s note: This article and video contain spoilers for Cobra Kai Season 5.]This has been a hot topic of conversation ever since we first metSean Kanan’s Mike Barnes inThe Karate Kid Part IIIin 1989, but now that Kanan is making his return to the franchise inCobra KaiSeason 5, it’s a priority to discuss this burning question; who would win in a fight, Mike Barnes or Johnny Lawrence?
WithCobra KaiSeason 5 now available to stream on Netflix, I got the chance to catch up withWilliam ZabkaandRalph Macchio, and just had to throw that question Zabka’s way. Is he biased? Perhaps. But the question needed to be asked.
When considering who’d win in a fight back in their All Valley Karate Tournament days, Zabka insisted, “Nothing could have defeated Johnny Lawrence back in the day except a crane kick that was completely illegal.” He also added, “Johnny Lawrence was the king.” However, Zabka was a little more reluctant to specify a potential winner when asked who’d win in a fight between the two today:
“And then today, I mean, listen, I don’t know. I’d like to see that match, too. Sean’s a good martial artist in real life, so it would be a lot of fun to do. I’m gonna leave it for the fans to figure out. I can’t chime in on that. I’m biased to that! Johnny doesn’t lose even if he loses.”
As for the fights that actually do happen inCobra KaiSeason 5, Zabka and Macchio have their hands mighty full yet again. Given the level of difficulty in the choreography and stunt work, one might assume the cast is given a significant amount of time to prepare and nail down all the moves. However, just like in previous seasons, that wasn’t the case with the Season 5 fights. Zabka explained:
“The big fight in Silver’s mansion literally was learning it on the spot, all that stuff, on the spot. I saw it one time in a previz where they shoot it one time, but by the time we got to shoot it, it had completely been redone, so we were learning every move on the go. And sometimes it’s that way. I have a great stunt guy who knows it. He works with the stunt guys, I watch him, we do five or six moves. I watch him, then I do it, and then we dump those five and then we go to the next and we keep going on like that, so it’s really on the fly. I think the most important thing is just to be stretched out. The prep time is great if you can have it, but it’s always gonna change when you get there.”
Macchio often found himself in similar situations when it came to prep time, but there was one Season 5 fight in particular where he was afforded the time needed to get ready to the fullest, and it’s one of the best fight scenes of the entire season. He explained:
“The Terry Silver showdown at the end with me, that was when we were at the double-up day point where we’re shooting two different crews trying to finish out before the deadline. It’s just crazy how we pull it off. But on the flip side of that, the fight in Episode 5 with Thomas [Ian Griffith] and myself, we had the day to do that scene and it shows we had the time.”
Eager to hear more from Zabka and Macchio on their runs in theKarate Kidfranchise and what it was like makingCobra KaiSeason 5? You can catch our full conversation in the video interview at the top of this article!
