A lot of folks play action heroes on screen, but couldn’t win a fight with a teddy bear. Hey, that’s not a knock. Because acting is acting. It is not a requirement that one knows how to do those things in real life. But it is nevertheless impressive when an actor famous for playing characters who are badasses actually is one. Case in point is British actor Tom Hardy. Thanks to The Guardian (via IGN) We learned that the man most famous for playing Venom, Bane, and Mad Max actually secretly entered a martial arts tournament recently….and won.
Hardy, who is now 45 years old, entered the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship on September 17. This was a competition held by Ultimate Martial Arts Championships at Oakgrove School in Milton Keynes. Attendees at the event spotted Tom Hardy there, wearing a blue gi. He subsequently won every one of his matches and was the star of the tournament. And not just because he’s, well, you know, an actual star. In the end, he won the whole thing. When they awarded him his certificate, they used his birth name, Edward Hardy. We’re not sure why he changed it to Tom, but maybe he didn’t want to share fame with a clothing brand.
The funny thing is, this isn’t even the first time Hardy has won a tournament like this. He already won another one this very year. Back in August, the blue belt fighter turned up at the REORG Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Wolverhampton. And he cleaned house there too. So when did all this MMA and Jiu-Jitsu stuff start for Hardy? Over a decade ago, Hardy had extensive training in order to play a mixed martial arts fighter and military veteran on screen, in the 2011 movie Warrior. Honestly, we’re glad that’s the role he took home, and not the one where he’s an international supervillain. With that level of dedication, Hardy might have been able to pull off one of Bane’s evil world domination plans successfully.
