Plot
Robert James "B.J." Quinn is the current middleweight kickboxing champion of the world ready to face his next opponent, Chad Hunter. Hunter proves to be quite the opponent with his impressive skills but in the second round Quinn accidentally hits Chad with an elbow while going for a spinning back fist, causing the doctor to stop the fight. Quinn retains his title.
At a party celebrating a new sponsor, cocky middleweight contender Jacques Denard hits on Quinn's girlfriend Carol. Quinn confronts him and as the two begin to push each other, party-goer Ken tries to split them up. Quinn punches Ken so hard that he crashes through a table and dies. Quinn is sentenced to twelve months on manslaughter charges and is no longer allowed to compete in professional kickboxing. A year later Quinn is released from prison and is shocked to learn that Denard has become the middleweight champion.
Quinn befriends Chad, who ha attempted to help Quinn in his trial with his testimony. Chad asks BJ to help train him for some upcoming fights, including one with Denard for the title. As they begin to train together, BJ starts to get a little jealous when he learns Chad had known Carol and misinterprets it as a possible affair, which proved to be untrue. As BJ amps up his training with Chad, BJ's jealousy from not being able to fight as a pro anymore gets to him and he takes it out on Chad. After a training session results in their alliance splitting, Chad is decimated by Denard in his title opportunity and ends up in the hospital. Meanwhile, sports reporter Willard, who had taunted Quinn at times during his championship run, begins using the same tactics on Denard, annoying him as frequently as possible.
At another party, Denard once again starts to taunt Quinn and berate him. Having had enough, Quinn beats Denard with a chair, prompting Carol to leave Quinn. Quinn moves out of their house and moves to a small house on the beach. Realizing all the mistakes he has made, Quinn decides to quit drinking and begin training for himself again. Chad sees Quinn at the beach and the two renew their friendship as Chad offers Quinn a job at his martial arts school. Meanwhile, humiliated by what happened at the party, Denard challenges Quinn to fight him for $100,000. When Quinn and Carol, whom he also reconciles with, see the headline on the local paper about the fight, he is angry. However, Carol tells him that he can either be alone and angry, or they can work it out together. With the help of Chad and former trainer Howard, who had left Denard's camp after growing tired of his antics, Quinn prepares for the big fight. During a training session with Chad, Quinn finally lets all of his anger out as he has been holding back. Quinn has felt like a loser since his time in prison and can't shake it off. Chad, however, tells him that it will be okay and they need to focus on Denard.
At the fight, Denard's dirty tactics take their toll on Quinn. When Quinn goes down during one of the later rounds, he gets up at a nine-count. He surprises Denard with a flurry of kicks and ends it with a tornado kick, sending Denard to the ground for the ten-count. Chad, Howard, Carol, and others gather to congratulate Quinn. Meanwhile, Willard gets one last jab at Denard before Denard's trainer knocks him out cold in the ring.
