Actor Tom Hardy won gold at a jiu-jitsu tournament in the United Kingdom this week. Not just once, either, but twice in the same day.
Hardy, who holds a blue belt, won both his division’s gi and no-gi tournaments. One difference between the two is that gi training is more defensive, while no-gi allows more offense. Footage shows Hardy winning both finals with an arm bar submission hold. So, yeah, you might not want to go after Tom Hardy’s gold.
Hardy’s love of jiu-jitsu stems back to his training for 2011’s Warrior, where he played a U.S. marine who enters a mixed martial arts tournament. (Spoiler alert: the outcome there is different.) In 2018, the 44-year-old Hardy became a head ambassador for REORG, which teaches Brazilian jiu-jitsu to veterans “who have serious, life-altering injuries, or who are suffering from PTSD and depression.” He currently serves as a trustee..
Tom Hardy has become known for playing characters you wouldn’t want to face on the mat. Be it Bane (The Dark Knight Rises), Mad Max (Mad Max: Fury Road), Venom (a Marvel double-header), Al Capone (Capone), Charles Bronson (Bronson), or Alfie Solomons (TV’s Peaky Blinders), there are few that wouldn’t tap you out within seconds.
Hardy joins a long list of actors who study Brazilian jiu-jitsu. These include big screen tough guy Jason Statham, black belt holder Ed O’Neill and podcaster/meathead Joe Rogan.
Hardy recently signed on for Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders alongside Austin Butler and Jodie Comer. Tom Hardy will next appear in Netflix’s Havoc, about “a bruised detective [who] must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son.”