Hollywood star Tom Hardy, of Dark Knight franchise fame, is quickly becoming the literal “Bane” of blue belt masters’ divisions on his local competition circuit. On September 17, the actor took home yet another gold medal in the blue belt gi division of Masters 3 at the UMAC Milton Jeynes Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open, per Deadline’s Caroline Frost.
This isn’t Hardy’s first grappling rodeo, either. Back in August, he won another local tournament by armbar, prompting a flurry of social media excitement, including a humorous TikTok video in which Toronto-based comedian Che Durena narrates the entire match from the imagined perspective of Hardy’s unfortunate opponent.
“I’d be so pissed if I was the guy who had to go up against Tom Hardy in jiu-jitsu,” declares Durena in the video, before launching into an imagined internal monologue that includes such gems as “You’ve got millions of dollars, you’re on f**king Peaky Blinders, and now you’ve gotta submit me, a regular Joe! You know I’ve got f**king car payments, man?” and later, a plaintive “Your f**king million-dollar groin is up against my head!”
Humor aside, by all accounts, Tom Hardy is reportedly a pretty chill dude to roll with. According to Deadline, upon discovering how starstruck his UMAC opponent felt, prior to their match, Hardy simply told him, “Forget it’s me and do what you would normally do.”
The event organizers praised Hardy’s humility, telling Deadline reporters, “Everyone recognized him, but he was very humble and was happy to take time out for people to take photographs with him… It was a real pleasure to have him compete at our event.”
In a post published today on the actor’s Instagram account, Hardy explains his reasons for getting involved in the grappling community, writing, “It is an honour to be able to represent the charity and my team REORG and the great work they do supporting the mental health and well-being of veterans of service, military and first responders through the therapeutic benefits of Jiu Jitsu and fitness training.
“Simple training, for me (as a hobby and private love) has been fundamentally key to further develop a deeper sense of inner resilience, calm and well being. I can’t stress the importance it has had and the impact on my life and my fellow team mates.”
With more and more celebrities getting involved in jiu-jitsu, it’s no surprise that we’ve seen calls for a super-fight between Hardy and fellow blue belt celebrity competitor Mario Lopez. Given that both actors have performed quite well in competition against, to borrow Che Durena’s tongue-in-cheek words, “average Joes”, a showdown between the two might not be outside the realm of possibility.
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