Weeks after earning double gold at Wolverhampton’s REORG Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship, Tom Hardy has added another tournament medal to the trophy cabinet after storming the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship hosted within the sports hall of Oakgrove school, Milton Keynes.
Entering the UK martial arts competition under his real name, “Edward Hardy,” the man reportedly slipped into old habits by dealing nasty submissions left, right, and centre – everything from what appears to be a bow-and-arrow choke to the ever-faithful armbar – leaving absolutely nothing to the judges (none of this points and advantage BS).
A spokesperson for the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship confirmed many of our suspicions about Tom Hardy being a “really nice guy.”
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“Everyone recognised him but he was very humble and was happy to take time out for people to take photographs with him,” said the spokesperson.
“It was a real pleasure to have him compete at our event.”
“I saw his matches, and he had submissions in them all – and they were really quick,” revealed event sponsor Sean Rosborough.
“The mums were all over him. It didn’t bother him.”
“We tried not to bother him too much. We didn’t pap him to bits. We just tried to keep it as normal as possible for him. I think he had a good time.”
Which also explains why there isn’t as much fight footage this time around.
The 45-year-old action star of Mad Max: Fury Road, The Dark Knight Rises, Venom, and Peaky Blinders fame has been (sporadically) training in BJJ since 2011. For reference, Hardy’s love affair with the Gentle Art can be traced back to when production wrapped for his masterpiece of an MMA drama Warrior, in which he starred alongside Australia’s own Joel Edgerton and Nick Nolte.
Currently, Tom Hardy is a four-stripe blue belt on the precipice of purple. And considering his incredibly dominant performances at the 2022 REORG Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship and the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship (both gi and no-gi), promotion may very well be in order.
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One of the matches recorded from last month’s REORG Open Jiu-Jitsu Championship begins with Tom Hardy’s opponent – military veteran Danny Appleton – pulling guard and closing it up before threatening the triangle. Hardy defends, stacking Appleton, later scrambling to knee-on-belly.
Tom Hardy then transitions to the North-South position and threatens a kimura lock, but Appleton refuses to budge. That’s when Hardy decides to go in the opposite direction with the limb he already has locked up and secures the armbar. Appleton taps.
“Imagine waiting for a semi-final match, first blue belt Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, and Tom Hardy comes matside,” Danny Appleton wrote on Instagram.
“What an honour, strong as a bull, but I tried my best. Amazing day, massive thanks to REORG. Amazing day for an even better cause.”
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Another match recorded between Tom Hardy and a fella named Damian Olszewski begins in similar fashion. Olszewski pulls guard, Hardy stacks him. There’s a stray upkick from the former, apologies and reassurances are exchanged. As the hostilities resume in the centre of the mat, instead of passing the open guard, Hardy opts for the leg entanglement and secures the ankle lock. Olszewski taps.
Tom Hardy isn’t exactly the sole celebrity Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. Obvious advocates like Joe Rogan and the late Anthony Bourdain aside, everyone from Henry Cavill, Jonah Hill, Demi Lovato, and Mario Lopez, to Russell Brand, Keanu Reeves, and Jim Carrey have been known to grace the mats. On the top end of Hollywood’s martial arts pecking order, Ashton Kutcher has earned the rank of brown belt under Rigan Machado, while director Guy Ritchie and sitcom fixture Ed O’Neill have long been BJJ black belts.
Check out the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship’s Instagram gallery featuring Tom Hardy / “Edward Hardy” above.
