UFC legend Bas Rutten has recalled the time he spent on ‘The Smashing Machine’ set.
The former heavyweight filmed scenes as himself in Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson‘s latest movie.
Retired UFC fighter Mark Kerr’s story has been adapted by Hollywood for a film called The Smashing Machine, which is named after a documentary that chronicled his addiction to painkillers during the height of his combat sports career.
Some fans have backed Johnson to score an Oscar nomination after seeing a brief trailer ahead of the movie’s October 3 release, which Bas Rutten is very excited about following his time around the WWE superstar in character.
Bas Rutten got goosebumps when he saw The Rock as Mark Kerr
Rutten walked away from his ‘The Smashing Machine’ experience with a great opinion of Dwayne Johnson as a man.
The 60-year-old kickboxing icon was also impressed by The Rock’s ability to transform into character.
“Very impressive. I don’t know how he does it,” Rutten told Submission Radio.
“He’s very friendly to everybody, he gives time to everybody, it doesn’t matter if you’re an extra.
“People like that blow me away. How can he do that? I think I’m overloaded with work and I have 20 percent of what he has. And he just does it. He’s a workaholic. I think WWE really prepared him for that.
“I was freaking out. I told her, ‘Look, I got goosebumps now, this is so real.’ There’s this scene we have in the gym where he’s talking to the press, and that was the very first time I heard him speak like Kerr as well.
“That was a weird thing. I was very impressed. I was like, ‘Wow, this guy.’”
The Rock’s MMA skills certified by ex-champion
Dwayne Johnson’s MMA training footage looked good to the untrained eye, but did he do enough to impress a man who lives and breathes the sport?
Former heavyweight and light heavyweight Bellator champion Ryan Bader will portray UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman in ‘The Smashing Machine’.
Bader has competed against some of the greatest fighters of all time during his 40-bout career, sharing the cage with Jon Jones, Fedor Emelianenko, Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson, Rashad Evans, and many more MMA icons.
So, there’s pretty much no one better placed to assess Johnson’s fight skills after seeing them up close.
“Yeah, he looked good,” Bader said
“I’m not gonna say he was out there looking like a guy who has been fighting for 20 years, but he obviously works hard. He went in there and did a training camp with real MMA fighters to get his skill set to look good.
“I’ve seen a little bit of the playbacks, and they look good. Like I said, he worked super, super hard, and was actually in great shape, like he always is. Big old dude.”