Tom Hardy is probably the most famous person that actively competes in BJJ and he explained why he chose to take that leap in a recent interview with Esquire. There are many celebrity BJJ practitioners around the world of course, but very few of them ever test themselves in competition. It’s not hard to see why, as the majority of people training BJJ don’t actually compete and there’s even greater pressure on those with a certain level of fame. As the star of the Venom film series and a number of other blockbuster movies like Mad Max: Fury Road and The Dark Knight Rises, Hardy is going to be immediately recognisable to most people.
He actually spoke about this element of competing in the interview as well:
“Going down the local sports centre to fight some bloke from Southampton or Milton Keynes who you’ve never met before is terrifying! And people are watching, and they’ve got their phones out, and it could be embarrassing. It could end really badly.”
Although it might be a terrifying prospect, Tom Hardy still competes in BJJ somewhat regularly. He’s won several local tournaments at this point and he’s spent a number years on the mats in training too. Hardy was promoted to purple belt almost two years ago now, and he also took the time to explain what the appeal of the sport is for him:
“It’s a submission sport. It’s about stopping your opponent. They submit to defeat, or you choke them, shutting off the carotid artery so the blood doesn’t go to the brain. But once you isolate a limb — an arm or a leg — and put pressure through the joint, and it’s correctly applied, you needn’t go any further. It’s a fait accompli. It’s done. You are done. Only your ego will take you any further.”
That might explain why he trains in the sport of course, but competing is a very different beast. That’s when Hardy explained why he chooses to do that too:
“I genuinely am keen to take on the painful journey of being brave enough to try something new… Because I’d like to not look back and say: “I regret not making the effort to do something that was scary.”
