With the surging popularity of MMA, it should come as no surprise that some familiar faces would start appearing in a range of films and television shows, so here are five of the most noteworthy appearances.
5) Keith Jardine in Breaking Bad
Between his stints in the UFC and Strikeforce and running his own MMA Gym, ‘The Dean of Mean’ also found time to take up acting and stunt gigs making appearances in Crank: High Voltage, John Wick, Hawaii Five-0 and Jurassic World (stuntman).
But one of his most memorable performances would come in 2010 in AMC’s hit series Breaking Bad where he played a goon that fought Hank Schrader in the third episode of Season 3.
Not to shy away from displaying his toughness, Jardine recalled one stunt in the fight which called for the smashing a mirror with his head which proved easier said than done.
It doesn’t break and I feel like a real dummy and I’m trying to prove myself as a stunt guy and not just a dumb fighter.
Despite the numerous attempts with Jardines head they ended up having to smash it with a hammer twice to get the desired result.
4) Rampage Jackson – The A-Team Movie
When word got out that there would be a feature film remake of the 80’s hit series ‘The A-Team’ the question on fans minds was who would be able to fill in the shoes of the infamous Mr T who played BA ‘Bad Attitude’ Baracus, the former US Army Sergeant turned vigilante and mechanic for the A-Team.
The answer would be ‘Rampage’ Jackson, who had just finished filming season 10 of the Ultimate Fighter and decided to take a respite from his fight career to explore other options which resulted in a film deal. Starring alongside the likes of Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Coley and Jessica Biel it would be the biggest movie role an MMA fighter would take at the time.
Despite praise for his role as BA, the film unperformed at the box office and any talks of a sequel were nixed according to the director Joe Canarham, Rampage would then resume his fighting and would lose to arch rival Rashad Evans, to which he even expressed regret filming the movie.
I focused really hard and I trained really hard on this fight, but me having this damn movie and everything — I kind of almost regret doing the damn movie now, Jackson said post fight.
3) Georges St-Pierre in Captain America: Winter Solider
Fresh off his win over Nick Diaz, St Pierre would take a break from his fighting schedule and spent his summer filming scenes for Marvels Captain America Winter Solider. Released in 2014 after his last in cage appearance and title defence against Johnny Hendricks he played the role of Baltroc the Leaper; a French mercenary and Savate master who squares off against Captain America during a raid in the opening stanza.
He’s a French mercenary, and I speak French in it; he’s a martial expert and a bad guy in the movie, which is different to me in real life as every day I try and be a good guy. My role is a small one but I have a big fight scene with a lot of martial arts, so it was perfectly suited for me. St Pierre telling UFC.com
In a thrilling back and forth he would suffer a defeat at the hands of the Avenger succumbing to a rolling kick and ground and pound.
2) Ronda Rousey in the Expendables III
With multiple title defenses, unrivaled charisma Ronda Rousey took the MMA world by storm and it was no surprise Hollywood would start clamoring for her services on the big screen, making her motion picture debut in Stallone’s action fueled ‘The Expendables 3’ which was released in 2014.
Playing the role of Luna, an athletic nightclub bouncer she auditions to join the crew featuring the likes of Sly Stallone, Wesley Snipes and Jason Statham, adding to the theme of ‘Younger Expendables vs Older Expendables’ in the film.
Not one to lose focus on the task ahead, Ronda even shifted her training camp for her rematch with Miesha Tate to accommodate filming.
“They’ve been extremely accommodating. I’m going to be able to move people from my camp over where I want to be at filming. It’s going to be me training all the way through this. If I was going to have three jobs and train at the same time, then I can have one other job and train at the same time.
1) Gina Carano in Deadpool
Before Ronda Rousey was the face of women’s MMA, Gina Carano (7-1) was the vaunted superstar bringing MMA to the masses. But after a devastating loss to Cris Cyborg in the Strikeforce cage in 2009 she swapped her MMA gloves for her acting hat landing roles in movies such as Haywire, Heist and Fast and the Furious 6.
But her most noteworthy role to date is her appearance in Fox/Marvels critically acclaimed Deadpool which has raked in 619.3 million worldwide.
Playing the role of Angel Dust, a genetically altered mutant with superhuman abilities, her time on screen features a super fight against X Men’s Colossus that showcases her jujitsu against the metallic mutant and a slight wardrobe malfunction.
It’s a lot different than most of the fight scenes and the physicality that I’ve had before. I’ve never done anything with CGI, let alone done anything with a 6’8 man as far as physicality goes. Carano told Screerant.
