You can easily tell if the one UFC fighter can overpower an opponent? You know underdog strengths and weakness? Do you count the days for the next UFC event?
Congrats! Sounds like you’re are ready to bet online on sports and can make the big bucks!
But you shouldn’t start right away and do your research first through various MMA sites and news blogs. There are tools which will help you to take your research to the next level. ESPN uses fightmetrics technology to handicap fighters, Sherdog has a fight finder tool that can be used to hunt down upcoming fights.
In the United States UFC betting can only be done though fantasy betting sites or a few authorized sportsbooks like Bovada and 5Dimes.
It’s very popular to bet on UFC fights now especially when there are fights every month, with big names on most cards. But there is nothing new to the world of entertainment as people always liked to bet on gladiators in the ring.
Of cause, filmmakers couldn’t leave this topic behind and made a lot of movies about tournaments and underground fights.
The underground fighting genre started long before the UFC craze with Enter the Dragon in 1973 where Bruce Lee was recruited by an agency to investigate an illegal fighting tournament.
There was a long break but in 1988 Van Damme brought the genre back with the Bloodport movie where he played a fighter traveling to Hong Kong to beat the hell out of champion Chong Li (Bolo Yeung) in the underground Kumite.
One year later, in 1989 Van Damme as Kurt Sloane vowed revenge and starts training for the fight with Thailand champion Tong Po.
The same year Best of the Best movie about US Karate team traveling to Korea to fight in the tournament became one of the classic but it’s sequel brought us into the world of underground fights where Philip Rhee faced Ralf Moeller.
In the Bloodfist Don Wilson traveled to Manila, where has to win a bloody kickboxing competition.
Yasuaki Kurata was seeking for revenge and fights Bolo Yeung in the deadly world of fighting after his best student is killed in the tournament of Bloodfight.
Loren Advedon asked Keith Cooke to train him until he will be ready to fight Kahn, a heavy weight kickboxing champion in The King of the Kickboxers movie.
In 1990 Van Damme as Lyon Gaultier decided to take part in some very dangerous clandestine fights in the Lionheart film.
In 1992 Deadly Bet with Jeff Wincott, Ian Jacklin, Gerald Okamura and Gary Daniels told a story that takes place in Las Vegas, where a fighter Angelo needs to settle a debt of $1,000 and finally found himself in the underground tournament of 50.
In 1993 Nick and Ruben were hoodwinked into a no-holds-barred martial arts matches in the Shootfigher movie.
In 1994 Ian Jacklin jumped into a series of illegal kickboxing matches run by an arms dealer where he must face Matthias Hues.
In 1995 Michael Worth as a skillful fighter was seeking for a revenge in the illegal fights against local champion Matthias Hues.
In 1996 Van Damme got back with another underground fighting movie The Quest where his journey takes him to forbidding Muay Thai Island where he must face the ultimate test of his manhood against deadliest fighters from around the world.
In 2002 George “Ice Man” Chambers as a top ranked heavyweight boxer fought Wesley Snipes in the prison boxing fights.
In The Circuit Olivier Gruner found himself in the merciless underground fight club with no rules, where money changes hands as men are killed.
2005 brought us Jack Severino who has no memory, and all he knows is the brutal sport of Pit Fighting.
The same year Jet Li played a nonstop human weapon triggered by the collar leashed on his neck and forced to fight in illegal tournaments.
In 2006 world’s best fighters were invited to DOA, an invitational martial arts contest, where women fight men.
The same year sequel to Undisputed film told a story of Michael Jai White who sent to a Russian Jail on trumped-up drug charges and eventually faces Scott Adkins as BOYKA.
In 2007 an underground tournament was set to challenge twelve fighters from different backgrounds to compete for the price of £500,000 in the Underground movie.
In 2008 a rebellious teen Jake Tyler was lured into an ultimate underground fighting club in Never Back Down movie.
Blood and Bone starring Michael Jai White, filmed in 2009, told a story of an ex-con takes the underground fighting world by storm in his quest to fulfill a promise to a dead friend.
In 2009 Channing Tatum as a young counterfeiter was introduced to the world of underground street fighting in the Fighting movie.
In 2010 Boyka back and this time he was fighting in the first ever inter-prison tournament with one knee.
In 2011 Gary Daniels made his come back in Forced to Fight playing a former underground fighting legend who must survive a gauntlet of savage matches.
In 2013 Raze told a story of two abducted women who are forced to fight each other using their bare hands.
In 2016 Michael Jai White as a former MMA champion Case Walker traveled to Bangkok to fight Nathan Jones in Never Back Down: No Surrender.
Filmmakers even made a remake of classic Kickboxer with Alain Moussi as a lead and Dave Bautista as Tong Po.
In 2017 Amy Johnston took a part in the bloody kumite in Asia against female fighters from all over the world.
The next and final part of Boyka adventures will be released very soon so there is no sign that producers will stop making this kind of movies, especially when MMA is one of the world’s fastest growing sports and Conor McGregor even didn’t try himself in the movies… yet.
The real fighting movie has lots of underground brawls and realistic fight scenes and doesn’t rely on gun fights and car chases to keep you glued to the movie screen. Let me know in comments below if I missed any great underground fighting movie.
