Imagine stepping onto the mat at a Jiu-Jitsu tournament, looking up at your opponent, and seeing an absolutely in-the-zone Tom Hardy. Even in his gi (the traditional martial art uniform), he's instantly recognisable as the tough bloke from Peaky Blinders. He's Bane—the villain who impressively lifted up Batman and broke his back in The Dark Knight Rises—and he's just advanced in the tourney by locking you in an armbar for nearly a minute.
That's just what happened at the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship this past weekend in Milton Keynes. Traveling roughly an hour-and-a-half north of London, the 45-year-old actor secretly planned his entry to the tournament with the organisers a couple of weeks before—and ended up walking away with the gold. "The intensity that he brought to his movie roles, he brought that," his final competitor, Andry Leatherland, told the Daily Mail. "He didn't say a word, he didn't say anything. I made a mistake and he capitalised on that. He absolutely nailed it, and he subbed me, and it was over relatively quickly."
Hardy learned Jiu-Jitsu back in 2011 for his role in Warrior, starring alongside Joel Edgerton as two estranged brothers who bond over mixed-martial arts. He kept up with it, however, eventually earning his blue belt. In August, he also won two golds at a charity tournament in Wolverhampton. Actors sometimes do crazy things for a role, like living as if they're the actual the Joker off-set, or learning a fantasy language like Elvish, but no one ever expects them to take their new-found talents off-screen. Hell, even excelling at them! Though focused on the matches, Hardy took photos with everyone there and was "very humble," tournament organisers said. "The mums were all over him. It didn't bother him." After the match, he even posed with his certificate, giving a little wink to the camera.
"I was shell-shocked. He said ‘just forget it’s me and do what you would normally do,'" a competitor from the Wolverhampton competition told reporters at the time. "He’s a really strong guy… You wouldn’t think it with him being a celebrity.” So, yeah: Tom Hardy, a badass dude who can truly walk the walk.
Josh Rosenberg is an Assistant Editor at Esquire, keeping a steady diet of one movie a day. His past work can be found at Spin, CBR, and on his personal blog at Roseandblog.com.
