Quote from Ricter:
He may have had other reasons for letting it go, like a budding film career, or the extra liability known martial artists receive for getting in informal fights. Maybe he knew he was wrong to hit on the other guy's girl in the first place. My point is you weren't wrong, Van Damme was a good fighter. His movies, yeah, heavy and unrealistic choreography, but he's not the first and he won't be the last to be guilty of that. And, everyone loves that clean, strong, controlled, high sidekick he can (could) throw.
His film career was over and he was addicted to coke at the time. He did end up turning his life around. So I'm happy to see that.