The motion picture about underground MMA is an intriguing portrayal of the semi-pro fighter lifestyle. It depicts the difficulties of amateur MMA. Promoters have to make money by promoting unknown fighters. Fighters have to make time to fight while holding a day time job.
The film starts off slow but gains momentum as one of the featured fighters, Dustin Poirier, makes his climb up the MMA ladder and makes it into the UFC. It shows how MMA teaches fighters discipline and changes their lives. It illustrates how hard it is to make it as lower class fighter, the pay is bad and the training is hard.
One major problem was the lack of training sequences, when they did show them training it was attention-grabbing to see the culture in the gym. If a fighter didn’t show up prepared or missed practices, the coaches and team would beat the crap out of him in practice. It wasn’t to be mean, it was to show the fighter that he needs to there all the time if he wants to go pro.
Rating: C+The movie didn’t really get going until about the one hour mark. The slow pace didn’t help the portrayal of the hectic, grueling lifestyle.
