Ray Daniels scores to the midsection with his patented jump kick. Chuck Norris with World Combat League Comissioner Cory Schafer. Chuck explains the WCL concept to a group of visiting media. Chuck Norris and wife Gina enjoy the show. The bout between Angela Hayes (left) and Marilyn Martin scored big with the sellout crowd. Old-time karate greats Bill Clark and Mike Dillard. Screen star Richard Norton (right) interviews Los Angeles Stars' fighter Ray Daniels. The WCL ring, with three colored fighting areas but no ropes or cages.

LAS VEGAS-Few martial artists command the universal respect, admiration and adulation of Chuck Norris. Forty years removed from winning six world karate championships; 29 years removed from making "Good Guys Wear Black"; 13 years removed from the hit television series, "Walker, Texas Ranger," he remains the quintessential everyman with a heart of gold-loved by millions and revered by a community that routinely destroys the very hand that feeds it.

He tried to retire, but his conscience wouldn't let him. He tried to fade into black, but the public wouldn't hear of it. Today, Chuck Norris has come full circle. His World Combat League is the hottest thing to hit martial arts since Royce Gracie. Rather than rest on his accomplishments and enjoy the fruits of his glorious career, Norris has put his reputation-and considerable bank account-behind an idea that he admits has been four decades in the making. Without Chuck, the league would not have a chance; with Chuck, anything is possible.

INSIDE KUNG-FU: The last time we spoke, "Walker" had just finished, you had twins on the way and you said you were going to take it easy. Now you're knee-deep in promoting the World Combat League [WCL]. What changed?

CHUCK NORRIS: [Retiring] was kind of my thought. I considered taking it easy, but that's kind of hard to do when you've worked hard all your life to reach whatever levels of successes you could. I just felt it wasn't time for me to retire. But the thing is, we formed a kickboxing league 30 years ago and we had formed a five-person team in Los Angeles. On the team were [guys like] Benny Urquidez and Blink Rodriguez, and all of them were on a team called the LA Stars. And we're taking them down to cities throughout the country and having kickboxing matches.

IKF: Were the matches popular?
CN: They were doing really well. In Dallas we drew about 6,000 people; in Detroit we drew 8,000. I knew we were onto something here. Then my film career kicked in when I got offered "Good Guys Wear Black." I had to make a decision there and my decision was to pursue a film career. But the concept has always been in the back of my mind and as soon as I wrapped "Walker, Texas Ranger" after eight seasons and 203 episodes I started rethinking the league concept.

IKF: How much did your "Kick Start" foundation influence your decision to form the WCL?
CN: My "Kick Start" program has been around for 12 years and we've graduated 40,000 kids. Most of these kids are at-risk kids who live with grandparents, aunts or uncles or have gang affiliation, and most of these kids who've been in the program have gone on to college and have become successful in their own right. We currently have 5,000 kids in our program. But that runs me about 2.5 million a year to keep this program going and I want to expand it; I want 500,000 kids. When you start adding that up in dollars and cents that's a lot of money. Well I thought, how can I raise the funds to expand the "Kick Start" program nationally?

IKF: Is that when you brought back the idea of a league?
CN: I thought if we could form an official league, then "Kick Start" could be the official charity and the proceeds from the league can go into expanding "Kick Start" nationwide. That was my strong motivation for getting the World Combat League kicked into gear.

IKF: How did you come up with the concept?
CN: Thirty years ago we had five-man teams, and it's a six-person team now. And it was going to be an all-male team. On my Web site, the WCL sent a notice saying it was looking for fighters. We were getting 50 e-mails a day from fighters wanting to join the league. Then all of a sudden I started getting e-mails from girls saying, "Hey, if you're going to start a league we want to fight." So in Dallas, we figured we'd put a girl on each team and see how it works out. We formed teams from different cities and the most exciting part of the night was the girls fighting. I mean, the crowd got into it.

IKF: What makes the format so appealing to fans?
CN: What's so exciting about the league is the team concept and that they only fight one three-minute round. They have to go hard; they have to go full-throttle; there's no boring pace. You have one pace and that's extremely fast. And if a fighter tries to slow the pace of the fight down, the referee will yell passivity and give a point to the other fighter. It's a cumulative point system and the point would be added to the opposite team's score.

IKF: Dallas was considered a trial run. We're you pleased with the results?
CN: We had Dallas fighting Oklahoma City and Houston fighting Los Angeles and it was extremely exciting. I said, I think this concept is going to work.

IKF: Were you surprised it worked as well as it did?
CN: Truthfully, I didn't know if it was going to or not. I was happy that it had everything to make it work. We tried it again at Mohegun Sun [Conn.] and we had East Coast teams-the New York Clash fighting the Miami Force and the New England Strikers fighting the Philadelphia Fire. So we actually have eight teams in our league. We have added the Denver Destroyers and the Las Vegas Skaters.

IKF: What did you learn from the two shows that's helping you make this a better event?
CN: Trying to make it a smooth-running live event. It's a major production and in the first event we were learning as we were going that night.

IKF: What are your plans for future shows?
CN: We would like to have an event every month or two for this whole year, and then in October or November we'll have the playoffs. The top West Coast team and the top East Coast team will end up fighting for the championship. Then next year we will expand to 12 teams by adding a Central Region. The season will go four months-February-May.

IKF: Can the WCL become a major player in American sport fighting?
CN: I am being extremely optimistic, but I believe the World Combat League could be the fourth-biggest league in America. I think the excitement of it, the fast-paced action, keeps everyone riveted in their seats. My goal is to expand it to 24 city teams in the United States and in that process I want to expand to Europe. I want to have 24 teams in Europe and 24 teams in Asia. And I'm getting calls from South America wanting to put together teams.

IKF: Where did the design for the ring originate?
CN: I wanted a ring where everyone can see the action. Boxing matches have the post and ropes and you're always looking under the ropes. And the UFC has the cages, but it's still difficult to see. How about no ropes or wires or anything? But make the ring in a circle, which is 27 feet in diameter, of which 24 feet is colored blue. And then 3 more feet is yellow, which is the caution area. So when the fighter gets to the yellow area, he knows he's getting close to stepping out-of-bounds. Then you have the red zone, which features a 30-degree angle. So when he steps on the red area he's stepping up slightly so he knows he's out-of-bounds. He has to fight his way back into the fighting area; if he stays in the red zone, the referee will call passivity and he'll lose a point.

IKF: There was a rumor that before the fight in Dallas you had problems with the athletic commission. But you took care of it with one call to the governor.
CN: Each state has its rules, but I never called the governor. I know the governor, but the boxing commission in Texas was very receptive and the rumor was that Chuck knows the governor so if anything goes wrong he can just call him. I would never do that.

IKF: Would this league generate this much attention without your name behind it?
CN: Yeah, the thing is I'm the one who has the most passion about it right now because I see the success that it can be. Again, one of my strong motivations is to give these martial arts fighters a chance to make a living at something they really enjoy doing. All these years we had kickboxing but no kickboxers ever made a living as a kickboxer. I would like to see these fighters make a salary comparable to a lot of other professional leagues. That's why we have a lot of world champions fighting on our teams. They see the direction that I want to go with the World Combat League.

IKF: Starting up a league isn't cheap.
CN: I have put my money where my mouth is. I've put a lot of money into this league, but I believe in it.

IKF: How much have you put in?
CN: $2 million-so far.

IKF: If this goes according to plan, would you ever consider a senior league?
CN: No, but what I would like to do is have a military league. But my goal, and I think this can happen, is eventually having it in the Olympics, because now we have standardized rules and there's no particular styles involved. We have a lot of tae kwon do fighters fighting; we have other styles, too. The rules are strict enough that it could become an Olympic sport somewhere down the road.

IKF: I sure people said, "Chuck, this is a great idea, but you don't need the headache. You have everything you ever wanted. What's in it for you?"
CN: I started off as a martial artist and I moved into a film career, but my heart still belongs to martial arts. And now I'm back in the martial arts world again, which has given me a new, energized feeling because I'm doing something I really enjoy doing: the martial arts. It's really great being back and being associated with the martial arts world again.

IKF: Martial arts "stars" come and go. But you never forgot your roots. Can you explain that?
CN: It was because of what martial arts did for me as an individual. When I became involved in martial arts I was a very insecure kid. I grew up with a single parent-my mom-and my dad was an alcoholic, a philanderer, so I never saw him. I grew up with a lot of insecurities in my life-physical and mental-and when I became involved with the martial arts in Korea and attained my black belt, it really pulled me out of that insecure state that I was in and I was able to grow up beyond that. I credit martial arts for the success I've had in my life. I never envisioned in my wildest dreams it would lead to this. More important than that, it's made me a stronger individual.

IKF: With "Walker" reruns and your appearance on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," a new generation of fans is discovering you. Now there's even a Web site with Chuck Norris "Facts."
CN: That's a hard question to answer because I don't know how the Chuck Norris "Facts" thing materialized. Eighty million hits so far-it's mind-boggling. A boy named Ian Specter, a freshman at Brown University, is the one who kicked this into gear. I met him and his dad. He said he never expected it to turn out the way it did. My wife, Gina, will pull them off the computer. Some are a little bit out there and some are really, really funny. I think it's very complimentary that these college kids would be interested.

IKF: When you see these young kids fighting, do you long to get back into the ring?
CN: Oh yeah, of course. But been there and done that. But I have been happy with the success that's come my way. I'm happy with the success I've had in my martial arts career. I'm happy with the success I've had in my film career. And now I hope the World Combat League will last 100 years and the "Kick Start" foundation will expand not only nationally, but internationally. There are problems all over the world with at-risk kids. I get calls all the time from people from Europe asking for me to start a "Kick Start" program there. I just hope the martial arts world will embrace this, because this is a traditional form of fighting. My goal is to start a national search for these fighters, going from city to city, kind of like an "American Idol"-type search. I want to find these fighters and actually put them on salary. I'm hoping to do that this year if I can get the funds to get it started.

IKF: Does it bother you that there are no magazines in America devoted strictly to the "gi" arts?
CN: I'd like to see a resurgence. It was great back in the '60s. The major magazines were the ones that made the stars. Without your magazine I would have never been a star. I was on the cover many times and my fights were covered; that's what made my reputation in the martial arts world. I'd love to see a resurgence [of karate] in martial arts magazines and maybe the league is the way.

Chuck's 20 Favorite Legends

1. When the Boogeyman goes to sleep at night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
2. Chuck Norris doesn't read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
3. There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.
4. Outer space exists because it's afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris.
5. Chuck Norris doesn't sleep. He waits.
6. They wanted to put Chuck's face on Mount Rushmore, but the granite wasn't tough enough to handle his beard.
7. Chuck Norris is the reason Waldo is hiding.
8. Chuck Norris counted to infinity-twice.
9. When Chuck Norris does a push-up, he isn't lifting himself up. He's pushing the Earth down.
10. Chuck Norris is so fast, he can run around the world and punch himself in the back of the head.
11. Chuck Norris' hand is the only hand that can beat a royal flush.
12. There is no such thing as global warming. Chuck Norris was cold, so he turned the sun up.
13. Chuck Norris doesn't need a watch. HE decides what time it is.
14. Chuck Norris gave Mona Lisa that smile.
15. Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.
16. Chuck Norris doesn't get frostbite. He bites frost.
17. There is no chin behind Chuck Norris' beard. There is only another fist.
18. Remember the Soviet Union? They decided to quit after watching a "DeltaForce" marathon on satellite TV.
19. Contrary to popular belief, America is not a democracy. It's a Chucktatorship.
20. Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make him drink.