However, the film is careful not to let the up-and-comers fall through the cracks and follows the struggles of Rory Ransom, an aspiring MMA fighter whose criminal background hinders his ability to progress in the sport and Mike “Joker” Guymon, whose battle with depression forms an emotional centerpiece of the film. Yudin’s interview roster is an MMA lover’s dream team – legends of the sport like Bas Rutten, Rorion Gracie, and Ken Shamrock, fighters who helped bring MMA into the mainstream like Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Rashad Evans, and Georges St-Pierre, and the current champions of the Octagon like Ronda Rousey, Jon Jones, Michelle Waterson, and Sara McMann. Narrated by Kevin Costner, “The Hurt Business” is nothing if not expansive, covering the journey of MMA from its beginnings as a cult pay-per-view phenomenon to its rise to the fastest growing sport on the planet. Additionally, the film is populated with interviews with names that will be instantly familiar to any MMA aficionado, including Ronda Rousey, Bas Rutten, Georges St-Pierre, Rorion Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Tito Ortiz, Chuck Liddell, Michelle “The Karate Hottie” Watterson, and “Big” John McCarthy! Plot
We also have former UFC Light Heavyweight champ Rashad Evans, and current MMA sensation Jon “Bones” Jones, with their stories forming the film’s foundation, with the story of aspiring MMA fighter Rory Ransom in their orbit, as well. He zeroes in on former King of the Cage and UFC competitor and impeccable Ron Perlman-lookalike Mike “Joker” Guymon, Olympic wrestler and women’s bantamweight champion Sara McMann.
It shows that for all the sparkle and spectacle on the surface, no championship in this sport is earned without winning a few dozen other fights outside of the cage along the way.ĭirector Vlad Yudin, assembles a veritable smorgasbord of interviewees for “The Hurt Business”. You get all of that and more in Vlad Yudin’s “The Hurt Business”, a sprawling and emotionally gripping documentary which pulls back the curtain of the MMA world. What’s missing from the epic battle before them however are the countless long hours forging the skills of the two fighters, the injuries they must work around and whatever challenges or struggles they face in their personal lives outside of their MMA careers. When two warriors step into a cage to pit their might against one another in the latest UFC match-up, for their countless cheering fans, whether cage-side or tuning in through Video on Demand, what they see is what they get.