Sports films sometimes only appeal to a niche audience if they are deemed to be only about the sport. However, when personality, drama and real-life references are brought to the plot, the movie can break out of the sporting fan base. Whether it is that NFL, Tennis or MMA good films cut through to a wider audience.
This is certainly the case with the 2021 release Born a Champion whose main protagonist is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt. The action moves from Brazilian Jiu Jitsu into Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and there is much drama at an unsanctioned MMA tournament. It stars Sean Patrick Flannery in the lead role of Mickey Kelley. Katrina Bowden and veteran Hollywood actor Dennis Quaid play supporting roles. To add to the authenticity, it features MMA and former Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, Edson Barboza, as well as appearances by professional fighters Renzo Gracie and Mickey Gall.
MMA is a passion of Flannery’s. He co-wrote the film and his love of the sport is plain to see in a plot that gets the audience rooting for the older underdog he plays. It has a rating of 83% on the review site Rotten Tomatoes, so is definitely worth a watch whether you are a sports fan or just enjoy an action movie with a great plot.
The film was directed by its co-writer Alex Ranarivelo and is presented as a pseudo-documentary. The opening scene sees tattooed Rosco, played by Maurice Compte, talking about the first time he met Mickey; the ex-army veteran known as Desert Storm. He remembers being in a parking lot where three guys were hurling racist abuse at him. Rosco recalls in awe that Desert Storm took them out ‘without throwing a punch’. The two became firm friends after this and Rosco (or Taco as he is also known) narrates the unfolding story.
That non-punching method seems to work every time. It is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu move that will render the opponent unconscious within half a minute of being deployed and it is often attempted in the fight scenes depicted.
The action shifts to Dubai where Mickey is teaching children martial arts and he finds himself rescuing an American woman, played by Katrina Bowden, from high-class prostitution. She is swept off her feet and she follows him back to America when his time is up in the UAE. The two become inseparable and their romance is an important element in the plot development.
But the film is very much about the detail of this martial art with Kelley’s manager, Mason (played by Denis Quaid) working desperately to get the sport legitimized. The underlying story of the film is about MMA breaking through from the shadowy underworld to the mainstream. It shows why the sport is now held with such high regard and is a popular one on which to place a wager as the outcome is never predictable.
In the UK and across Europe MMA draws its fair share of the gambling purse. In the USA sports betting is now up. Online betting in Australia has become easier in recent years and fans of the Australian Fighting Championship and The Cage Fighting Championship can gamble on big names down under.
Watching the film, the betting money would have been on the younger character, played by Barboza, coming through to win. Even though we know within the first ten minutes of the movie that this was not the outcome of the final fight, the narrative manages to maintain the suspense and the interest throughout.
This is a film with plot twists and great storytelling introducing regular cinema-goers to a sport they may not be familiar with and drawing them into the drama and characters. For MMA practitioners and fans, it is a celebration of their craft. As Edward Barboza himself said about Born a Champion “MMA fans will really enjoy it” but it has much broader appeal than that.
