5 MMA-themed movies you need to see

#5 Bloodsport (1988)

Okay, so Bloodsport – a Jean-Claude Van Damme classic from 1988 – pre-dates the generally accepted beginning of MMA by at five years. But try watching it and then denying that it’s essentially an MMA movie – if not one of the inspirations for the premise behind the original UFC tournament. The story follows Frank Dux (Van Damme), and his quest to win an underground tournament known as the Kumite to honour a dying promise to his sensei.

From there, of course, it’s classic MMA fare. The movie gives us basically everything that the original UFC event offered us – fighters from around the globe using different styles and different techniques in a winner-take-all, anything-goes tournament in Hong Kong.

Of course, there’s a healthy dose of Hollywood drama too, centering around the villainous champion Chong Li (Bolo Yeung) and his efforts to stop Dux from claiming his crown – including injuring his best friend and fellow contestant Ray Jackson (Donald Gibb). And a subplot involving Dux’s army superiors trying to track him down for going AWOL is largely pointless.

As for the fights? Sure, it’s not true MMA as we see in Warrior or Here Comes The Boom, but it could be argued that Van Damme’s fare is now more realistic than ever thanks to the efforts of flashy fighters like Edson Barboza and Anthony Pettis bringing in some of the wilder techniques to the Octagon. And the setting is certainly more MMA-based than Redbelt.

To be quite frank, if you’re an MMA fan and you’ve never seen Bloodsport, then you’re missing out on one of the most important martial arts films of all time.

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