The world of contact sports has a strange variety of public images. Boxing has an air of class and technique, pro wrestling is all about pageantry and dynamism, and traditional martial arts are portrayed as reverent and mystical. Ultimate Fighting sells itself with an almost comical level of extreme buzzwords. The intensity of UFC can only be matched by a sufficiently radical big-screen project.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship began life 30 years ago as a Street Fighter-esque experiment to determine the single most effective martial art. Over the years, styles merged to form a new discipline called mixed martial arts. Today, the company stands above every other MMA promoter in success and fanbase.
Redbelt
Leave it up to Glengarry Glen Ross playwright to make the most intellectual film about mixed martial arts of all time. It's a bizarre pitch, combining noir filmmaking techniques with the structure of a classic Kurosawa samurai drama. The story follows Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mike Terry, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu instructor who faces a difficult choice. Terry believes competing for money spoils the sport, but he also needs to earn a large sum to save his business. When his wife winds up on the hook for tens of thousands of dollars, he's forced to put his morals aside and fight for his future. It's a fascinating and layered film, made more compelling by Ejiofor's excellent performance in the leading role. UFC fans who want something a bit more cerebral in their entertainment without sacrificing the combat scenes, look no further than this introspective glimpse into the world of fighting for cash.
Here Comes the Boom
From perhaps the most artful depiction of mixed martial arts to the least. Kevin James gets a lot of criticism for his utterly insufferable "fat guy fall down" style of comedy, and he deserves every bit of it. However, James is reportedly a sincere fan of MMA as a sport, leading to a film that's easily his best. That's a low bar, but it clears it with style. James stars as Scott Voss, a teacher at a rapidly failing high school. Voss discovers that the school's beloved music teacher, portrayed by the brilliant Henry Winkler, will soon be let go and decides he's the only one who can save the program. Voss has a background in wrestling, and his side job as a citizenship class instructor puts him in contact with a former MMA fighter, leading him to enter the sport in an attempt to make some cash. It's silly to depict the 47-year-old Kevin James actually defeating real UFC fighter Krzysztof Soszyński, feeding into the weirdly common thread of the actor's hidden capacity for violence. The film's heart is a weirdly genuine message about school funding, making it a solid and enjoyable film.
Never Surrender
A lot of movies about MMA or Ultimate Fighting feature a couple of former or current athletes in the cast. Never Surrender prides itself on going above and beyond on that front. Most of the cast of this film have direct experience in the world of MMA. Georges "Rush" St. Pierre, Anderson "The Spider" Silva, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, B. J. "The Prodigy" Penn, Heath "The Texas Crazy Horse" Herring, and more UFC alumni make appearances. This film is entirely made for UFC fans, as newcomers to the sport would be left wondering why the acting is so terrible. This is a showcase for famous athletes before it is a feature film, but fans of those fighters will have a great time with this 90-minute advertisement.
Fighting
For every movie about NASCAR, there are a dozen movies about illegal street racing. By the same token, there is no shortage of movies about the underground answer to UFC. Fighting came out in 2009, making it one of the first big action roles for its star Channing Tatum. Tatum plays a naive street hustler who is brought into the dark world of punching people for money by Terrence Howard's soft-spoken promoter. Both men are great in their roles, but Howard elevates the script with his easy charisma. At this point, Tatum has proven himself as a stellar action performer, but this early example demonstrates his mastery of his physicality and excellent screen presence.
Warrior
UFC movies are judged on a curve, but Warrior is a genuinely good film that happens to be about MMA. In the tradition of films like The Fighter, Warrior is a family drama and a sports-action film simultaneously. The film follows Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as a pair of estranged brothers who find themselves reunited by the world of MMA. There's no secret weapon here, the film employs tons of the clichés of the genre. It's well-acted, well-written, well-directed, well-shot, and deeply emotionally effecting. Every sport has one or two masterpiece films that capture all the catharsis fans love. Warrior is the perfect example. This is one of the best films anyone has ever made out of Ultimate Fighting.