OPINION | This article contains opinion. This site is licensed to publish this content.
Hollywood actor Tom Hardy is an accomplished Jiu-Jitsu champion. He quietly entered the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship and took home the gold.
Hardy entered the Jiu-Jitsu competition under his real name, Edward, in Milton Keyes, an hour and a half from London.
The martial arts community was surprised and pleased to see him.
“Everyone recognized him, but he was very humble and was happy to take time out for people to take photographs with him,” the spokesperson said. “It was a pleasure to have him compete at our event.”
“I was shell-shocked,” his opponent Danny Appleby said. “[Hardy] said, ‘Just forget it’s me and do what you would normally do.'”
“I’ve done about six tournaments, and I’ve been on the podium in everyone. But he’s probably the toughest competitor I’ve had – he certainly lived up to his Bane character, that’s for sure,” Appleby said.
Hardy played Bane in the film “The Dark Knight Rises.”
More on this story via New York Post:
Last month, Hardy won two medals at a fundraiser jiu-jitsu competition for REORG — an organization that promotes jiu-jitsu as a form of therapy for veterans who are dealing with mental health problems.
Hardy took up a grueling training program with the organization in a bid to prepare for his 2011 film “Warrior.”
