Cobra Kai Season 6 Confirms The Strongest Karate Kid Villain
Contains spoilers for "Cobra Kai" Season 6, Episode 4 — "Underdogs"
"Cobra Kai" Season 6, Part 1 nears its end with "Underdogs," which features the return of an important Season 5 character. After Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) fail to reach an agreement about Miyagi-Do's Sekai Taikai team members, they invite Mike Barnes (Sean Kanan) to handle the selection process. Kanan's "The Karate Kid Part III" villain might be reformed, but the sensei gig soon goes to his head. Mike starts slipping back toward his old ruthlessness, which prompts Johnny to confront him. Their animosity leads to a brawl in Mike's woodshop. Johnny ends up winning the battle between the two former franchise villains, quite literally beating the sense back into Mike — and establishing himself as the strongest member of the show's trifecta of Daniel's "The Karate Kid"-era opponents in the process.
Granted, Johnny hasn't had a serious face-off with Chozen Toguchi (Yuji Okumoto) yet, but "Cobra Kai" Season 6 also references their current power ranking. When the pair discusses their feats in the season opener, Chozen brings up his sai-on-sword fight against Terry Silver (Thomas Ian Griffith) near the end of "Cobra Kai" Season 5. However, he has no answer when Johnny points out that while Chozen was having his duel, Johnny himself fought four "Cobra Kai" senseis, one of whom also had a sword.
While both men almost die during their respective Season 5 fights, the unarmed Johnny fights several expert karate masters in their physical prime, taking a huge beating before gaining a second wind that turns the tide. As such, his feat does seem more impressive, even if Mike helps him at the very end.
Was Mike ever better than Johnny?
Instead of just being the most proficient karate villain in the original movies, Johnny might actually be the best fighter in "Cobra Kai," according to real-life karate sensei and YouTuber Sensei Seth. In his view, "The Karate Kid"-era Johnny would emerge at the top in a tournament between young versions of all major "Cobra Kai" characters, defeating Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) in the finals. However, it's worth noting that his brackets don't include young Mike Barnes, who hadn't appeared on the show at that point.
When comparing young Johnny and young Mike, it's worth noting that the "Cobra Kai"-era John Kreese still considers Johnny to be the best Cobra Kai student ever despite no doubt being aware that Mike was part of the dojo during Terry Silver's (Thomas Ian Griffith) 1985 reign. Granted, this may have something to do with the fact that Mike isn't as much a Cobra Kai original as he is a hired hand. Having dominated at the national level in his youth, Mike is also a far more decorated athlete than Johnny. Still, the fact that Kreese barely acknowledges Mike's existence while constantly praising Johnny speaks volumes — and while the old villain might be vile, he has a good eye for top fighters.
As for the adult versions of the characters, Mike may be a little rustier than Johnny due to his years away from karate. Still, as Daniel LaRusso has demonstrated over and over again, training is everything in the "Cobra Kai" universe. Even though Mike has more formal accolades and possibly more natural combat aptitude than Johnny, the latter has put in the work, which earns him the victory and the place at the top ... at least until he and Chozen finally have that decisive match.