Tom Hardy Secretly Enters A Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tournament Again And Submits All Of His Opponents

Tom Hardy, famous for his roles in The Dark Knight Rises, Venom, and The Revenant has been training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) for some time now, reportedly starting sporadically after his 2011 role in Warrior before picking up training in recent years. The actor won a BJJ competition in August and now a month later he’s won again, submitting all his opponents through limb manipulation or chokes whilst not having a single point scored against him.

Hardy won gold last month in both the gi (traditional clothing for the martial art) and no-gi (generally consisting of a rashguard and shorts) at the REORG Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship. He won gold again in September at the 2022 UMAC Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championships just two days after his 45th birthday, in the Blue Belt Masters 3 division (for those over 40) at 82.3 kg.

Across the two events within one month Hardy has won a total of three golds with seven matches and seven wins via submission. He is currently a senior blue belt, as he is noted as having four stripes on his belt.

In a statement posted on his Instagram account, Hardy said: “Simple training, for me (as a hobby and a private love) has been fundamentally key to further develop a deeper sense of inner resilience, calm and well-being. I can’t stress the importance it has had and the impact on my life and my fellow teammates.”

Hardy also said, “it is an honor to be able to represent non-profit organization REORG, and the great work they do supporting the mental health and well-being of veterans of service, military and first responders through the therapeutic benefits of Jiu Jitsu and fitness training.”

Commenting on the growth of BJJ, grappling, and combat sports amongst A-Listers, Naudi Aguilar, the founder of Functional Patterns that helps athletes become better movers and performers in their fields of play, and works with conditions such as scoliosis, bulging disks, frozen shoulders and pains ranging from back to knee to neck said, “you’re seeing numerous A-listers take up combat sports or more physically demanding training he said. For BJJ and MMA, Mark Zuckerberg just released a video of himself training and mentioned how much he was enjoying it. Ashton Kutcher and Guy Ritchie have been training in BJJ for years and Demi Lovato is also a competitor and avid supporter.”

Aguilar continued, “With this we have a lot of individuals come to us with injuries, which is just a part of the game and we help them develop functional movements to help them not injure and become stronger.”

Functional Patterns and Aguilar have developed numerous combat sports athletes. Kyle Dake is an Olympic wrestler who was going to retire due to constant injuries before working with Naudi Aguilar and Functional Patterns. He went on to win 3 world championships and an Olympic bronze medal.

Johnny Eblen also dealt with many injuries before Functional Patterns and working with Aguilar. He just became the Bellator MMA Middleweight Champion.

Aguilar concluded, “As Tom Hardy mentioned there are so many strong benefits to sports such as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Both mentally and physically. It’s important that people through sports focus on movement, functionality, and breathing in parts of their life to assist the body. Hardy promoting this is great and it’s an amazing cause. The resiliency to stick with BJJ is inspiring in itself as it’s known as an ego destroyer. Usually Hollywood is full of big egos so it certainly says something about his character.”

One of Hardy’s opponents, Danny Appleby, who spoke to local media post the event said he was surprised to see the actor.

“I was shell-shocked,” 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 every one. But he’s probably the toughest competitor I’ve had – he certainly lived up to his Bane character, that’s for sure,” he said, referencing Hardy’s role in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises.

Entering under his real name, Edward Hardy, be on the lookout for a Tom Hardy appearance at a BJJ tournament near you in the future!