Fresh off a dominant display in his recent unanimous decision win over Nick Diaz at UFC 158, Georges St. Pierre is now set to star in the latest installment of the Captain America franchise. The movie, which is called Captain America: The Winter Soldier, will see the Canadian star alongside Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson.
GSP will play Batroc, who, according to Marvel Comics, “is one of the most formidable unarmed combatants in the world. He has mastered numerous martial arts and is perhaps the world’s leading master of savate, the French art of foot-fighting. He is an accomplished thief and smuggler with extensive military training. The character is also described as an “Olympic level weightlifter” who is able to lift 500 pounds.
We love GSP here at M&F, as his dedication to training and preparation for his MMA career in the UFC’s octagon is second to none. However, as you see from this clip from the straight-to-DVD Never Surrender, the 31-year-old is somewhat of a work in progress as an actor. Nonetheless, if GSP applies himself to his role like he preps for a fight in the cage, then Chris Evans better watch his Captain America ass in this movie, which is slated to hit the big screens in 2014.
The popularity and potential of UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey knows no bounds with reports that the armbar specialist has been offered a role in Hunger Games. Less than a week after winning the first UFC women’s bout, the New York Post reported that the 26-year-old was offered a part in the next installment of the series, which stars Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth.
Rousey could certainly handle any physical part of the role, but does the 2008 Olympic judo bronze medalist have any acting chops? If the report is true, she could have another big career decision to make in the near future.
One man who would prefer to keep Rousey inside the cage and off the silver screen is UFC president Dana White, who feels that Rousey can best bolster her bank balance with her fists instead of her thespian pursuits. “I don’t want to take away any opportunities from Ronda, but at the same time, her window of opportunity as a professional athlete is really narrow. She could make a zillion movies when she retires,” he said, according to MMAMania.com. “Where she’s really going to get the money is here fighting. I don’t care if she’s the lead role in The Hunger Games 2, she would not make anywhere near—I mean, not even in the universe—to the money she makes fighting.”
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Hwcys2PUtsA
Gina Carano
This girl’s got game, in and out of the cage. With a Muay Thai record of 14-1-1 and an MMA record of 7-1, Carano carved out a very successful fighting career before deciding to try her hand at the movies. And she hasn’t done too badly there either. Her biggest movie to date was the action vehicle Haywire, where she played the female lead in a stellar cast that included Michael Fassbender, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Antonio Banderas and Michael Douglas. Though a work in progress in terms of her acting prowess, Carano was praised for giving the movie a real go and the film has a very respectable 80% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Carano has a number of high profile projects in the pipeline. She will star as a member of the Rock’s law enforcement team in Fast and the Furious 6 (during which she accidentally kicked the living daylights out of a stuntwoman) and will also be appearing in a kidnap/revenge movie called In the Blood. The 30-year-old has also reportedly signed on play the lead in a female version of the Expendables.
Here is Carano in the Fast & Furious Trailer 6 trailer:
Verdict: With a Steven Soderbergh movie already on her resume, if Carano can continue to develop her acting talent, she could become a very bankable female action star.
If you are drafted into the Expendables cast, then you must be doing something right in the world of movies. Couture, a Hall of Fame MMA fighter with a record of 19-11, got his big movie break back in The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior and has starred in both Expendables blockbusters. He’s also made a few straight-to-DVD movies.
Verdict: Let’s put it this way, Couture won’t become a challenger to Daniel Day Lewis for a Best Actor Oscar anytime soon. However, Couture held his own amongst the all-star cast of Expendables not once, but twice, and if you are an action star, that is the holy grail.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=ApcuPOWloa8
Rampage Jackson
The former UFC light heavyweight champion (32-11, 7-5 UFC) never made any bones about the fact that if he could play one role that it would be B.A. Baracus on the A-Team. But like any actor or fighter, you have to earn your shot. Jackson started acting in 2005 and stayed busy with roles in Confessions of a Pit Fighter, Hell’s Chain and Death Warrior.
He finally got his wish a few years back and joined a reboot of the A-Team alongside Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper and Jessica Biel. The movie got so-so reviews but Rolling Stone said: “Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson brings the bling and the bluster as the Bad Attitude Baracus, flashing smiles Mr. T would never have considered,” and the New York Times said that the role of BA in the movie was played by “a serviceable Quinton Jackson.”
Verdict: Rampage has made a very decent transition from MMA fighter to action movie star, and we will get to see if he continues to develop this year when he stars in Brass Knuckles, a movie which will also star several other MMA stars (Frank Mir, Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida) and feature the reported U.S. movie debut of boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.
