(We’ll give Anderson this, he has an ability to facially express himself that not even Ernest P. Worrell could hold a candle to.)
Good afternoon, Potato Nation, Danga here. As many of you may or may not have realized/elated over, I have been out of the office since last Thursday, first taking a trip down to New York City, then heading out to Boston to move into the apartment at which I currently reside. Aside from being called a “fahkin retahd” by nearly every citizen who shared the road with me, it was a relatively painless move, but one that left me without Internet access for a good three or four days, which in Internet time is roughly 6 months.
At least that was what it felt like. When I fired up my computer this morning to peruse over CagePotato and see what the MMA world had been up to in my absence, I expected to find a couple sweet knockout videos and maybe a Labor Day-themed article or two. Suffice it to say, I was shocked to find that not only had CP managed to snag a “fight scientist” to impress us with his “graphs” and “numbers” and “empirical data,” but we were even granted access to a behind-the-scenes look at a local New Jersey-based event. And elsewhere, not only had Erik Koch been replaced by Frankie Edgar against Jose Aldo at UFC 153, but Aldo had been hit by a car (which I imagined looked something like this) and promptly told the injury curse of 2012 to go fuck itself. I was less surprised to learn, however, that Arlovski/Sylvia IV ended in controversy and bitter disappointment for those involved, but the fact that Tim Sylvia was even partly responsible for actual progress in the MMA world nearly made up for all the pain and suffering he has brought upon both himself and the sport in the past few years.
Of course, today is a new day, and with it comes a bit of mixed news. Regardless of who you feel deserves the next shot at Anderson Silva, the fact that “The Spider” is turning down fights in the weight class he resides over in favor of a possible superfight against GSP is a frustrating, if not equally intriguing prospect for MMA fans to digest. But as it turns out, Silva’s absence from the octagon in the near future may also be linked to something a little harder to swallow. Mainly, movie stardom. Because according to a report from metronews.ca, Silva may be heading to Canada down the line to promote and star in a major-budget MMA film called Tapped.
Although details remain sketchy at the moment, Silva’s name, along with Lyoto Machida and retired UFC fighter Krzysztof Soszynski have been linked to “the biggest film that’s been shot in London”:
Ultimate Fighting Championship icon Anderson Silva — along with a handful of “big celebrities” — is starring in a Hollywood motion picture that will be partly produced in London over the next couple of months.
“We’re not at liberty to discuss the logistics and budgets, but we’ve been told it’s the biggest film that has been shot in London,” said Allan Ungar, director of Tapped. Other UFC stars, namely Lyoto Machida andKrzysztof Soszynski, will appear in the “Karate Kid meets MMA” full-length movie being produced by Tapped Pictures.
You may remember Silva as the star of such commercials as “Ode to the Fatburger”, “Showdown with the Swollen Sensei”, and “Holy Sh*t This Guy Speaks English!”, but a starring film role for the champ could signal the beginning of a whole new chapter in the MMA fighter turned actor saga. Hell, if Andy is able to impress, he could be starring in his own direct-to-DVD Air Force One ripoffs in less than a year’s time. We knew Silva was planning to take some time off, but who knew that he’d been bitten so hard by the Hollywood bug?
Semi-related: CagePotato has recently been granted an early screener of the upcoming film Brawler, which looks like a combination of Warrior and Bloodsport. The IMDB page summary goes like this:
Sidelined by an injury incurred while protecting his young brother, underground fighter Charlie Fontaine feels blindsided when he discovers his brother having sex on his couch with his new wife, Kat. Fueled by rage, a determined Charlie makes plans to get back in the ring and take on his brother in a fight to the death.
Being that I’ve finally seen Warrior (Spoiler: It was pretty freakin’ sweet, but you should still check out Redbelt), I figured I would possibly draft up a review of Brawler to give you MMA-movie fanatics a little perspective on the film and how it compares to its counterparts in the genre. I’ve attached the trailer below, so check it out and let me know how interested you’d be in a review of the film in the comments section.