Well, not really. It’s bound to happen though.
These days, Tinsel Town can’t seem to produce anything in the action genre that’s not computer generated imagery or noisy and fiery and bloody affairs—with broken, gooey body-parts flying everywhere like they were shot out of a giant special effects blender. And that is especially true with fight movies.
There might be exceptions, but where are they? Remember Phil Baroni vs. Ikuhisa “The Punk” Minowa One in Pride FC? Now, that brawl had “Crank out a story about these guys, turn it into a screenplay, and then make a movie!” written all over it.
The real fight was an instant classic. An all-out stand up war it was, (mostly) with non-stop haymakers thrown by both principals down the stretch, their faces not missing many fists.
Even Bas Rutten and Steven Quadros couldn’t contain themselves! Bas made Joe Rogan sound like a butterfly with laryngitis. And when Baroni finally put Minowa down for keeps with a weary left-right combination, he ran around the ring, jumping up and down like a rabid dog.
After receiving his Pride FC trophy, he raised his clenched fists like Rocky after "The Italian Stallion’s" famous Bicentennial sprint up the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I guess “The Bronx Badboy” forgot that he was just a .500 fighter who defeated another .500 fighter.
But that was Pride—what about those great UFC battles? Think Griffin vs. Bonner. Or think of 99 other action-packed fights you’ve seen in the short but storied history of the UFC.
Tonight's UFC card features Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar. Can you think of a story about Randy? I can. And if I can, Hollywood already has. A Randy Couture story already has a built in climax: Randy’s upset of Chuck Liddell in their first fight of the trilogy. But wait! Randy is already making movies.
Okay, how about GSP? I’ll bet that as a kid, GSP was a skinny little stick-boy who took up karate to thwart all those merciless bullies. The pinnacle of his story can be the doom and destruction he brought upon Matt Hughes in their final encounter.
But, can the essence of the UFC be realistically captured on the silver screen? I tend to think not. Why not, you might ask. After all, countless Hollywood boxing movies have been very successful over the years; box office smashes!
Sure, but out of all those boxing films, how many of them featured fight scenes that looked realistic? Well, there was Raging Bull. (Sort of realistic) After Raging Bull, I give up. Even John Garfield couldn’t pull it off in 1947’s Body and Soul. And John Garfield was a boxer before he went to Hollywood!
Former wrestler and all around athlete, Kirk Douglas couldn’t make boxing look real either, in 1949’s Champion. How about that romanticized and slightly Aussie accented Cinderella Man
3 comments Last one added 6 months ago — Leave a Comment
Dorothy Willis 7 months ago
Only Georges could portray Georges.
The story of Sammy Vasques, the first MMA fighter to die from an injury in the octagon would be my choice. His wife and he had discussed organ donation and after he had been in a coma for weeks he died in hospice and his organs were donated. Now that is courageous with a Capital C. Not only was Sammy courageous as a fighter, but his death helped others have quality lives. (See my archives to find this story which was one of my first on B/R.)
Guy Richie would like to do a film on MMA which is one of his current interests.
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Joseph Lupoli 7 months ago
Well, Dorothy,
The Sammy story, though heroic, might bomb for that very reason...unless a bio-book was written (and it made the best seller first). And even then Hollywood, well, Hollywood was built on biographical drama's with happy endings.
I'm thinking maybe something lighter, something a hack screenwriter can tackle. Even independent films sell better if they've got happy endings. (unless they're made in and about the former Block Countries. Did you see Poland's "The Decalogue"?
And besides no Hollywood producer would touch MMA yet. They don't know the reality behind it; just its preconceived notions. MMA's 14-26-year-old bracket alone certainly isn't enough to produce box office receipts...unless it's a gross-out comedy or a mindless formula "action" flick.
But wait! Why am I boring you with all this?
Sorry...
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Darren Michael W 6 months ago
Hollywood stories are all the same. They always will exaggerate and change the original story to make the story more palatable for the public. MMA would be no different.
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