5 MMA-themed movies you need to see

#3 Warrior (2011)

Undoubtedly the best of all of the MMA-themed movies released thus far, 2011’s Warrior received rave reviews from the critics and even saw Nick Nolte nominated for Best Supporting Actor at 2012’s Academy Awards for his portrayal of recovering alcoholic Paddy Conlon.

Perhaps the best thing about Warrior is the fact that while it’s a movie centred around MMA, the story it tells is one so much deeper, about the importance of family, forgiveness and the depth that some scars can run.

The movie tells the story of estranged brothers Brendan (Joel Egerton) and Tommy (Tom Hardy), their relationship fractured due to Tommy choosing to leave town with his mother rather than stay with their abusive alcoholic father Paddy (Nolte).

By the time the movie begins, Brendan is a high school physics teacher while Tommy is part of the US Marine Corps, but both men find themselves thrown into a winner-take-all, multi-million dollar MMA tournament.

And both men need to win, too – Brendan to provide the money needed to save his family’s home, Tommy to provide money for the widow of his dead Marine Corps friend.

Perhaps the one point of contention with the movie is that it’s a cliche for the tournament to come down to brother vs. brother, but then it’s the only logical way to conclude the story.

The fight scenes in the movie are fantastic, as real-life UFC stars like Nate Marquardt, Anthony Johnson and Roan Carneiro – as well as legit referee Josh Rosenthal – are all involved, meaning the fights come off as hard-hitting, and realistic too.

One pivotal match between Brendan and Russian champion Koba (Kurt Angle) in particular is phenomenal.

Essentially, Warrior is a must-see movie for any MMA fan, and even doubters of the sport would probably enjoy it. The movie was so good that 2015 saw it re-made in Bollywood, titled Brothers and basically following the same plot as the original. And unsurprisingly, it was a hit there too.