He may be one of the greatest WWE superstars of all time, but Dwayne Johnson, also known as ‘The Rock’, also shares a love for mixed martial arts. His involvement in the sport started when he was first spotted attending UFC 60, and the main event of that PPV was what hooked him into the sport. “What actually drew me to MMA was when I attended UFC 60, when Matt Hughes faced Royce Gracie in a non-title catchweight fight,” Johnson told the UFC back in 2014. Fast-forward a decade, and the WWE legend became the person to put the inaugural BMF belt on the winner.
Dwayne Johnson is a big fan of the old timers, especially Mark Kerr, who fought in both the UFC and PRIDE FC in Japan. In fact, a conversation with Kerr back in the day, in 1997, to be exact, almost led ‘The Rock’ to forge his own career in MMA. “I start talking to Ken Shamrock at that time, who was wrestling with us, I run into Mark Kerr, I start talking to him. ‘Tell me a little bit about Pride.’ And I had this idea in my head, maybe I should train in MMA and go to Pride and make money, real money,” Johnson told Joe Rogan. But as we all know, he went on to make a massive impact on the wrestling world.
However, his love for martial arts and admiration for Mark Kerr led him to start working on a movie, where Dwayne Johnson will be portraying the MMA legend. Named ‘The Smashing Machine’, it looks like the post-production work has started, as we’ll be getting the trailer of that movie in less than 24 hours. Hearing this news, UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman expressed his excitement and admiration for ‘The Rock’, commenting, “The Rick [Rock] Rules,” on an Instagram post.
Meanwhile, ahead of the drop of his upcoming movie’s trailer, Dwayne Johnson opened up on his decision to act in a biopic. And guess what? ‘The Smashing Machine’ isn’t just about his love for Mark Kerr, but also his wish to show people that ‘The Rock’ has got a good acting range. Here’s what he had to say.
Dwayne Johnson reveals why he chose to make ‘The Smashing Machine’
Ever since he first stepped foot in the movie industry, Dwayne Johnson seemed destined to become a top action star. While he did work in family movies like ‘The Game Plan’, he found his place making some of the biggest action blockbusters, including the ‘Fast’ franchise. While ‘The Rock’ claims making action blockbusters is “fun,” he wanted to show his fans and viewers that he can take up challenging roles as well.
“I had been wanting for years now to chase the challenge and be inspired by the challenge. I love making the bigger blockbuster movies. They’re a lot of fun… But I wanted more,” Dwayne Johnson stated on the ‘Pat McAfee Show’. “I wanted a challenge, and I just wanted the opportunity to disappear into something and disappear into a part and a role that would really challenge me in ways that I’ve never been challenged before.”
Well, the trailer will be dropping soon, giving people an idea of how the movie will go about. But are you excited to see ‘The Rock’ portraying the former UFC heavyweight tournament champion? Drop your comments below.
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