It turns out that famous actor Tom Hardy (known for Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Night Rises, Foundation, Peaky Blinders and more) has quite a love and skill for martial arts. Hardy is reportedly a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and has won three tournaments in a month. Here is one of his posts:
Tom Hardy was only casually turning in people at the age of 45 pic.twitter.com/pLpYvH1Rj4
— Out of context MMA (@oocmma) September 21, 2022
Hardy won the REORG Open on August 20 in the 36-year-old and older class in both the gi (the sport’s traditional uniform) and no-gi tournament. He then took part in another tournament sponsored by REORG (which helps British military veterans when they return home) and organized by referee Mohamed Itoumaine a few weeks later and he then won in the 41-year-olds and over category at the Ultimate Martial Arts Championships (UMAC) in Milton Keynes, England where he competed in Gi and subdued all three opponents he faced. ESPN’s Marc Raimondi has more on what organizers and competitors thought of Hardy’s abilities:
“He’s really legit,” said Itoumaine, a second-degree black belt. “A lot of people think, ‘Oh, Tom Hardy – he’s just a superstar.’ No, you put him on the mat and he’ll crush you.”
…” standing in line for them [UMAC] The final was nerve-wracking.” [competitor Andy] Said Lederland. “I didn’t speak to him or he to me, we both just focused on the game. As we stepped forward and faced each other, I realized who I was bumping into, but when the referee started the game, the focus shifted to the moment and Tom just became the guy trying to trip me – and I was thinking how best do you counter him and attack.”
Leatherland said he made a mistake and Hardy jumped on his leg and got a straight leg lock submission.
“It was just another fight but clearly not as Tom is internationally recognized so I will remember this fight for a long time,” Leatherland said. “After that he talked about his nervousness for the day which I as agreed [competing], in general is hard and stressful. He said that considering his life takes place on stage, he’s fine with that, but jiu-jitsu is real and affects him just like everyone else.”
Hardy posted about it on Instagram on Wednesday, sharing his thoughts on jiu-jitsu, REORG, addiction, mental health and more. His original post cannot be embedded, but the REORG shared with his copied text is:
It’s certainly interesting to see how a prominent actor like Hardy not only competes in these tournaments, but wins them as well. And interestingly, he did so under his first name, Edward Hardy (Tom is his middle name):
Most thoughts on “Edward Hardy” probably revolve around clothing and accessories brand Ed Hardy (based on the art of American tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy, not Tom). But maybe that will change if Tom Hardy keeps winning tournaments. And maybe we’ll see him in some special MMA movies or TV series in the future.
[ESPN; top screenshot from Taped Fingers on Instagram]
