The Top 10 Best Fighting Tournament Movies
Get Ready to Throw Down with these Fighting Tournament Movies!
One of my greatest guilty pleasures is fighting tournament movies. It’s the one sub-genre I wish they would make more of. There’s just something awesome about seeing combatants from all over the world coming together to test themselves against others to determine who is the best of the best. Particularly, I love watching different martial arts styles given the cinematic treatment to determine which is the most effective in the world. Sure, that’s essentially what the UFC is all about, but real life is rarely as cool as in the movies. That’s why I’ve pulled together a list of the fighting arts tournament movies of all time. In order to qualify for this list, the films have to feature multiple martial arts matches that a fighter has to win to progress forward. These matches can either be for-profit or glory, but the majority of the film has to focus on these fights. Also, the fights have to be primarily hand-to-hand. I’m also only featuring films that received a theatrical release. Now, you better put up your dukes, because these fighting tournament movies will show you no mercy.
10. Fighting
Not all fighting tournament movies feature master martial artists squaring off against each other. In fact, in Fighting, Channing Tatum’s character has no real training. He’s a former college football star with anger issues who ran away to New York City to escape his violent past. Strapped for cash, he teams up with a fast-talking street hustler who introduces him to the world of underground fights. Tatum’s physicality combined with his ability to take a hit helps him move up in the rankings and keep getting matches. Pretty soon though, he’s facing off against trained fighters who actually know what they’re doing. It’s a dramatic change from the street punks he’s used to. However, his ability to dig deep when it matters most makes him more than a worthy adversary.
9. The Quest
This won’t be the last Jean-Claude van Damme flick to appear on this list of fighting tournament movies. The Quest was a film that I absolutely adored when I was a kid. It’s also not what I would call a “good movie.” However, it’s one of the more memorable fighting tournament movies I’ve ever seen. JCVD plays an “American” that accidentally finds himself sucked into a tournament called the Ghang-gheng. It’s filled with charismatic combatants from all around the world with colorful styles including Capoeria, Sumo wrestling, Kung-fu, and Karate to name a few. Luckily, JCVD’s character learned Muay Thai just in time for the tournament. Young me probably loved this film because it’s pretty much a classic fighting video game come to life. Then again, it’s got nothing on the next film.
8. Mortal Kombat
Not going to lie, most video game movies suck. However, there’s a small handful out there that aren’t so bad. Luckily for this list of fighting tournament movies, Mortal Kombat is one of the pretty good ones. Just like the video game, it features a group of fighters from Earth and Outworld pitted against each other for the sake of their two worlds. The tournament features trained monks, demons, gods, and even a movie star duking it out. I’ll admit that the effects haven’t aged well, but it’s still a fun flick featuring fan-favorite characters brought to the big screen for the first time ever. Of course, the Youtube series Mortal Kombat: Legacy was better than the movie. However, with a reboot looming in the future, this list might get an update soon.
7. Master of the Flying Guillotine
Technically, Master of the Flying Guillotine takes place at a martial arts tournament. So, I’m allowing it on this list of fighting tournament movies. The film centers on a blind assassin who learns of his student’s death at a one-armed kung-fu master. “Seeing” how he’s blind, the assassin decides to just seek out every one-armed martial artist he can find, kill them, and let God sort them out. The actual one-armed master in question catches wind of the assassin’s plan and decides not to enter the tournament but just attend as a spectator. Well, it doesn’t take long for the two to have a showdown to the death. Master of the Flying Guillotine is incredibly cheesy in all the right ways, the level of bad that makes it an undeniable cult classic.
6. Man of Tai Chi
Keanu Reeves steps behind the camera for the next entry on this list of fighting tournament movies. Now, most people don’t really think of Tai Chi as the most deadly of the martial arts, but this film begs to differ. Tiger Hu Chen stars in this film about a student who enters an underground martial arts tournament to raise enough money to save his master’s temple. He’s pitted against all sorts of unsavory characters who want the prize money just as much as he does. At first, he’s able to take out his opponents pretty easily. As the stakes rise though, he finds himself going against better and better fighters. The tougher they are, the further down a dark path Tiger travels. His final battle is against the director himself and is pretty darn cool if I do say so myself.