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Earlier this year, in an effort to keep subscribers entertained through the pandemic and lockdown, Netflix added several old shows to their ever-increasing library. Among them was MMA-based drama television series, Kingdom.
The show, which originally aired on AT&T's Audience Network from 2014 to 2017, stars Frank Grillo in the lead role, alongside a strong supporting cast of Kiele Sanchez, Jonathan Tucker, Nick Jonas, Matt Lauria, Natalie Martinez, and Joanna Going.
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When the show first premiered in October, 2014, the world of MMA and UFC was a lot different than it is today. Far fewer people were watching it than now, and even fewer knew about the world beyond the Octagon. One of the show's main stars, Jonathan Tucker, was one of them. But his perceptions about MMA and UFC changed while doing research for his role on the show.
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Kingdom was discontinued after its third season in 2017. But with Netflix now picking it up, a few glaring questions that a lot of fans had back then as well, has come back now.
Let's delve into it right away.
#1 Are there real UFC fighters in Kingdom?
A lot of people watching the show Kingdom are UFC fans or MMA followers in general, but not everyone. And those who are not are often interested to find out whether the fighters on the show are professional UFC fighters in real life.
The answer is yes, and no.
The main cast of Kingdom are professional actors, and not fighters. But they have trained extensively under former UFC fighter Joe Stevenson. The fights on the show were choreographed with notes from veteran MMA trainer Greg Jackson.
But the show does star MMA personalities and UFC stars in guest roles as well as playing recurring support characters.
Stevenson himself has a recurring role in the show of coach 'Daddy' in all three seasons and is part of the crew as a technician as well. Jackson also appears in one episode of season two as himself. Other than that, several top-notch UFC fighters appear in the show as fighting opponents of the show's characters, some of whom are also fighters.
The lead actor, Frank Grillo, does have a background in combat sports. He didn't compete professionally, but the Captain America: The Winter Soldier star has been training for over 35 years now. He started out with wrestling as a kid, then switched to boxing when he was 18 and he has never looked back.
"Ever since I was a young boy, I was a wrestler, and then I started boxing when I was 18. When I was done with my wrestling career, I discovered Rickson Gracie while I was living in L.A. I trained with Rickson for many years and continued to box. I travelled around a little bit and did some competitions with the Gracie team. I came back to New York and trained with the Machado brothers. I’ve been training for the better part of 35 years. I actually just got back from training boxing and did about 15 rounds today. It’s a big part of my life." (Via: MMA Weekly)
Is Matt Lauria a real MMA or UFC fighter?
In Kingdom, Matt Lauria plays the character of an MMA champion-turned-felon named Ryan Wheeler. His character is a complex one, both in terms of Wheeler's own personality and his relationship with other characters.
Wheeler is the ex-boyfriend of Kiele Sanchez's character Lisa Prince, who is now with Frank Grillo's Alvey Kulina.
"It’s a highly complicated and psychological character, who’s multidimensional. There are so many conflicting aspects of what composes this guy. You hear it throughout the pilot, these stories of glory of this monster of a man. In this world of MMA, I think those who can be professional are exceptional; those who now have a winning record and can be professional are a notch above that; and then there are very few who are the type of champion who Ryan was." (Via: Variety)
As mentioned before, none of the show's main cast were MMA or UFC fighters, including Lauria. In fact, he revealed in interviews related to the show that he was not a fan of UFC or MMA in general before he played this character. But he became an "obsessed fan" afterwards.
Lauria said that he based his character on UFC Champion Georges St-Pierre and Rory MacDonald, and that Matt Hughes, Johny Hendricks, and Chad Mendes were the inspiration for his wrestling skills.
Lauria trained with Bellator Bantamweight Champion Juan Archuleta for the second season (Via Men's Journal).
"Not much (a fan of MMA or UFC before the show) at all, but now I’m an obsessed fan. I’m lucky that I get to call watching fight clips research. Sometimes when I’m completely spent after a workout, and have nothing left to give, I can throw highlights on the screen, make a protein shake, and feel good that I am still technically “working.” Every season I learn more. During the second one I did my fighter training with Juan Archuleta, who’s on the show but a true fighter and prolific underground fighter. Training in a garage, just wrestling and grinding it out. That was amazing."
Matt Lauria previously played the role of an athlete on Friday Nights Lights, but it was nothing compared to the kind of training he had to go through to get into the physique of a former MMA Champion.
A year before getting on board for this role, Lauria had also turned vegan, and had to find trainers who worked with vegan diets. For the first season, he found Chad Byers, and for the second, Jen Widerstrom.
Byron Balasco put a lot of thought into each of the actor's tattoos as well, since tattoos are often a big part of an UFC fighter's personality.
Lauria's character Ryan Wheeler had quite a few tattoos, including one that said 'Destroyer' across his chest similar to how former UFC two-division Champ Conor McGregor has his last name written across his abs. Wheeler also had a downward facing sword on his back, which was influenced by "an MMA fighter who had a sword on his chest pointing up", per Entertainment.
It is likely that former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and the sword tattoo on his chest was the inspiration here.
Which UFC fighters appeared on the show?
Producer Byron Balasco got into MMA when he was young and has been intrigued by it ever since. He wanted to bring the world of this sport alive on the television screen and make it look as close to the real thing as possible.
It was a priority for Balasco for the fights to look real and not choreographed, which is why he cast real UFC fighters in the show as opponents for his main characters.
"We hire real MMA fighters to fight with them so we don’t have to use a lot of stunt doubles. It feels real, and it feels more emotional." (Via: Deadline)
Other than Joe Stevenson, who had a recurring role on the show, several other UFC fighters made guest appearances in Kingdom.
Cub Swanson appeared as the opponent for Nick Jonas' character Nate Kulina in season one.
Joseph Benavidez showed up in one episode of season two and Diego Sanchez was yet another opponent of Nate's in season three.
Former UFC fighter, who is currently in Invicta Fighting Championships, Pearl Gonazalez also appeared in one of the fight episodes of season two.
Greg Jackson's appearance came in season two.
Two UFC personalities had more than one appearance - Hall of Famer Matt Hughes for two episodes in season three and fighter-turned-color commentator Kenny Florian in four different episodes across the three seasons.
