Ever since Cobra Kai first came out on YouTube Red in 2018, fans of the The Karate Kid franchise have once again found themselves caught up in the rivalry between Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka). Now, with Season 4 on the way on Netflix and the two former archenemies fighting side by side, viewers are stoked to see what lies ahead, especially with the long-awaited return of the All Valley Karate Championship. After all, the fights are an integral part of what makes Cobra Kai such a beloved show. Not only are they amazingly choreographed, they are also turning points for the show’s story, packing as many feelings as they do punches.
While we wait for the karate kids and adults of Cobra Kai to fight their dramas in the ring or on the street, here’s a list of the seven most pivotal fighting sequences of Cobra Kai.
7. Johnny vs. the bullies (Season 1, Episode 1: “Ace Degenerate”)
In the first few scenes of Cobra Kai, we find out former bully and local karate star Johnny Lawrence didn’t exactly grow up to have a brilliant future. From waking up with a half-eaten bag of chips by his side to getting fired from his job for using the wrong bathroom, the list of public and private humiliations the former king of the San Fernando Valley goes through would be enough to strike pity in the hearts of even the cruelest human beings if Lawrence wasn’t so quick to show us that he’s still a jerk. He hits on random women on the street and his first words to his new neighbour, Miguel (Xolo Maridueña), are, “Great, more immigrants.” It’s the kind of thing that makes you glad life wasn’t kind to him.
A few scenes later, however, we learn that Lawrence might not be as bad as he seems. After seeing Miguel being harassed by other school kids at a convenience store parking lot, Lawrence channels the karate black belt in him and beats the living daylights out of the bullies. It’s a scene reminiscent of the one in which Mr. Miyagi (Pat Morita) saves Daniel from Johnny’s own gang of bullies in the first Karate Kid movie, and that serves to show that Lawrence has developed a sense of justice over the past few years. Granted, it’s a somewhat crooked sense of justice, considering that he does draw first blood in a fight against teenagers, but still, better a flawed hero than a villain.
6. Miguel vs. the bullies (Season 1, Episode 5: “Counterbalance”)
Cobra Kai’s first student after Lawrence’s makeover, Miguel is what kids typically call a nerd, frequently bullied by the popular crowd in school. Thankfully, though, he has karate on his side. In “Counterbalance”, he uses his newly acquired knowledge of Cobra Kai martial arts to help out Sam (Mary Mouser) after Kyler (Joe Seo) spreads a sexual rumor about her around school, leading to her being publicly shamed in the cafeteria. Cobra Kai-style, Miguel shows no mercy towards Kyler and his minions, jumping over tables and using trays as weapons to render them unconscious. It’s a fighting sequence that serves not only to show Miguel’s physical prowess, but also to throw off the school’s social hierarchy and to get Johnny a bunch of new students, kickstarting the process that leads to the new rule of Cobra Kai and to certified dork Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) becoming one of the most feared kids around the Valley.
5. Daniel vs. Chozen (Season 3, Episode 5: "Miyagi-Do")
LaRusso’s rival from The Karate Kid Part II, Chozen (Yuji Okumoto), makes an appearance on Season 3 of Cobra Kai to show Daniel a different side of Miyagi-Do karate. What begins as an unpleasant chat over drinks turns into a fighting lesson after Chozen takes Daniel to his dojo and refuses to let him peek at his Miyagi-Do scrolls, even if the two of them are, in LaRusso’s words, “karate cousins.” With his usual threatening demeanor, Chozen punches and kicks Daniel into submission, showing off a kind of karate that doesn’t seem to have much to do with self-defense. By the end of the fight, when Daniel is completely immobilized and fearing the worst, Chozen honks his nose and lets him go. It’s a scene that serves to teach Daniel two important lessons. The first one is that people can change, something that he needs to accept in order to put away his differences with Johnny. After all, if Chozen isn’t the same angry kid he was in the 80s, maybe Johnny isn’t as well. The second lesson Daniel has to learn is that, like Chozen says, “Defense takes on many forms.” Blocking blows isn’t the only way a person can protect themselves and, sometimes, it isn’t enough.
4. Combat practice with Sensei Kreese (Season 3, Episode 6: “King Cobra”)
“King Cobra” is a very illuminating episode on The Karate Kid’s and Cobra Kai’s real bad guy: John Kreese (Martin Kove). It offers us a look both at his horrifying past as a soldier and at his present intentions. With Johnny away from the dojo, Kreese invites the school bullies over and has the kids participate in a very special combat practice, in which knocking your opponent to the ground isn’t enough: you must finish them with a near deadly blow. Kreese blatantly ignores the dojo’s rules and orders Kyler to continue hitting Mitch (Aedin Mincks) even after the kid taps the mat, indicating that he’s out. He then kicks Mitch out of the dojo for losing to an inexperienced fighter and not being “Cobra Kai material”. Afterwards, he smiles in delight while allowing Hawk to beat up Brucks (Bo Mitchell) way more than necessary, virtually reducing the boy’s face to a bloody pulp.
This lesson with Sensei Kreese represents a point of no return for Cobra Kai, both the dojo and the show. From now on, there must be no more petty fights between Johnny and Daniel, as they must learn to work together to defeat a greater evil. There’s also no way to rebrand the dojo anymore, no matter how hard Johnny tries. The scene also serves to show us the extent of Hawk’s trauma, that made it so easy for him to turn to the dark side, but also helped him find his way back by the end of the season.
3. Miguel vs. Robby at the All Valley Karate Championship (Season 1, Episode 10: “Mercy - Part I”)
Season 1 of Cobra Kai follows a very similar narrative arc to The Karate Kid’s: an old, seemingly washed up karate master tries to pass his knowledge on to a pupil in need of help while facing the threat of a much more powerful rival, culminating in a showdown between the two dojos’ star students at the All Valley Karate Championship. The only difference is that, this time, the roles are reversed. Despite having entered the tournament unaffiliated, Robby (Tanner Buchanan) walks into the ring for the final fight against Miguel representing Miyagi-Do. But, despite using the same tricks as his sensei did years before, he loses.
It’s a beautifully shot and beautifully choreographed fight sequence that sets the stage for what happens in Season 2 and much of what is still going on in the show. Miguel and Robby aren’t the only ones fighting in that ring. Just like in The Karate Kid, Johnny and Daniel are also facing off against one another, but the prize is no longer material. When Robby leaves the championship defeated, the Cobra Kai kids celebrate winning the trophy. Johnny, however, mourns the loss of his son, realizing that LaRusso is a better father to Robby than he ever was.
2. The school fight (Season 2, Episode 10: “No Mercy”)
By the end of Season 2, the rivalry between Cobra Kai and Miyagi-Do has evolved into a full-on turf war. If the previous season finale took place in an official championship, “No Mercy” has the kids from both dojos throwing punches all over the school in what can only be described as karate battle royale. It all starts with Tory (Peyton List) threatening Sam over the school’s PA system after seeing her and Miguel together at a party. Soon enough, everyone is fighting everyone, and each kid has their own personal beef to pick with someone from the opposing team: Robby and Miguel are fighting over Sam’s love, Demetri (Gianni DeCenzo) finally gets back at Hawk for ruining their friendship, and Stingray (Paul Water Hauser) just can’t wait to show off his karate expertise, even if it means a future restraining order. Fast-paced and incredibly edited, the sequence has some of the show’s funniest moments, like the cutest showdown ever between two tiny, nerdy middle-schoolers.
But things in Cobra Kai are never just laughs and giggles. At the school’s main hall, the fight escalates rapidly, ending with Robby throwing Miguel over the rails and breaking his spine. Robby’s final blow happens after Miguel lets him go, remembering Sensei Lawrence’s lesson about the difference between mercy and honor. It’s a traumatic event that invalidates much of the work Johnny has done on himself and on the dojo, at least in the eyes of his pupils, facilitating Kreese’s takeover in Season 3. It also results in Robby being sent to juvie, further damaging his relationships with his father and with the LaRusso family.
1. Johnny and Daniel vs. Kreese and Robby (Season 3, Episode 10: “December 19”)
From the moment Kreese showed up in Cobra Kai, we all knew he was up to no good. Sure, people can change, but Kreese is a whole other can of worms - or cobras. The only person that fell for his “trying to be better” act was Johnny; after all, Kreese was like a father to him. A problematic father, that’s for sure, but a father nonetheless. Therefore, nothing more fitting for the third season of Cobra Kai than to have a battle of father figures as the climax of its finale. It begins with Johnny arriving at the dojo to find Robby training under Kreese. He’s offered a last chance to return to Cobra Kai, but he declines with his fists, finally turning against his former sensei. Brainwashed by Kreese, Robby tries to take on his father, but Johnny refuses to fight him, blocking his blows Miyagi-Do style. Daniel arrives shortly after and finally puts everything he learned with Chozen into practice. The scene ends with Kreese challenging Daniel and Johnny to the tournament, and Robby definitively aligning himself with his new sensei, who now calls him son. It’s a heartbreaking scene that sees Robby feeling wronged by not only one, but two father figures, and looking for love and acceptance in the wrong place. Which, in turn, only shows how much of a master manipulator Kreese is. It’s clear that he’s just using Robby to get to Johnny. And, if Robby loses the tournament in Season 4, he can expect the same level of abuse his father received. Meanwhile, after having fought side by side, Daniel and Johnny finally understand that they need to work together to reestablish balance in the karate world.
Cobra Kai Season 4 comes out on December 31.