Actor Tom Hardy has played several violent, physical and brutal characters throughout his career. From portraying notorious criminal Charles Bronson to taking on the role of Bane as one of Batman’s most physically imposing adversaries.
Evidently, the actor is quite adept at hand-to-hand combat outside of cinema. Hardy, 45, entered the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship, a competition held by Ultimate Martial Arts Championships in England, per The Guardian, citing Hyde News & Pictures reporting. And he won.
He won all of his matches and his certificate of achievement can be seen made out to Edward Hardy—his real name. But this wasn’t even his first tournament win.
Hardy, 45, won the REORG Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship in Wolverhampton, a tournament aimed at raising funds for military personnel, veterans and emergency service workers back in August. Hardy is a trustee for REORG, a charity teaching jiu-jitsu to those with serious injuries, or who have PTSD and depression, per The Guardian.
At his latest competition, a spokesperson for the championships called Hardy a “really nice guy" who was a “real pleasure” to host at their tournament.
“Everyone recognized him but he was very humble and was happy to take time out for people to take photographs with him,” the spokesperson said. “It was a real pleasure to have him compete at our event.”
In August, his opponent was veteran Danny Appleby and he told local media he was stunned when he saw the actor and called him “genuinely a really nice guy.”
“I was shell-shocked,” Appleby said. “[Hardy] said, ‘Just forget it’s me and do what you would normally do.’”
Appleby said the actor is “a really strong guy … You wouldn’t think it with him being a celebrity.”
“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 added.
Hardy also underwent extensive mixed martial arts training for the movie Warrior released in 2011 where he portrays an ex-marine turned MMA fighter
