{"id":220148,"date":"2025-10-17T16:14:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T16:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/220148\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:14:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T16:14:15","slug":"how-mma-star-ryan-bader-made-it-into-the-smashing-machine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/220148\/","title":{"rendered":"How MMA Star Ryan Bader Made It into \u2018The Smashing Machine\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article was originally featured in MH Flex<\/a>, our monthly newsletter recommending the one in-depth interview you need to flex your pop culture knowledge. Sign up here<\/a> to get it first.<\/p>\n

RYAN BADER IS a pro. Sure, he\u2019s a pro MMA fighter and former Bellator Heavyweight Champion who still holds the title for the longest continuous winning streak in that franchise\u2019s history, and he holds an overall 31-8-0 record for his career. But now he\u2019s a professional actor too, having earned his first and only acting credit (for now) in The Smashing Machine, writer-director Benny Safdie<\/a>\u2019s newest A24 drama about MMA fighter Mark Kerr<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Bader is part of the three-hander film\u2019s core, alongside Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Johnson plays Kerr, in many ways one of the founding fathers of the MMA, who helped set the stage for the sport to become the totemic institution we all know it as today. Blunt plays Kerr\u2019s girlfriend Dawn Staples, with whom he had a complicated and sometimes volatile relationship. Bader plays Mark Coleman, his friend and fellow fighter, and a force of calm and support outside the cage. <\/p>\n

When I talk to Bader, he\u2019s a few hours away from the film\u2019s Los Angeles premiere, where he\u2019ll appear on the red carpet once again as the embodiment of calm, cool, and collected. That wasn\u2019t always the case: The movie\u2019s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival<\/a> a month earlier was nerve-racking for Bader. \u201cThe first time watching yourself on-screen, you\u2019re kind of a wreck,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t even like to watch the footage Safdie would show us after filming a scene on-set. I\u2019d distance myself. But after watching the film a couple times, I feel a lot better now.\u201d<\/p>\n

You might not imagine that someone fearless enough to enter a fighting ring over and over again could struggle with nerves when entering a movie set (where you\u2019re much less likely to leave with a concussion), but those very nerves are what powers Bader both in fighting and in acting. On-screen, he channels his raw emotions in an exceedingly naturalistic performance. Coleman\u2019s relationship with Kerr\u2014as a friend, training partner, and championship rival\u2014is the beating heart of The Smashing Machine. There\u2019s a pivotal scene in which Coleman visits Kerr in the hospital after Kerr has overdosed on opioids; Coleman, who pulls no punches in a bout, is gentle with his friend. He expresses love for him and also firmly encourages him to deal with his addiction. It\u2019s tender and sweet, a side of the two men that\u2019s different from what we see in their professional sphere. Here, Coleman and Kerr aren\u2019t competitors, but something closer to brothers\u2014and the effectiveness of this scene hinges on Bader\u2019s empathetic performance.<\/p>\n

With The Smashing Machine now in theaters, Men\u2019s Health spoke with Bader about his sometimes slow, sometimes sudden, sometimes bizarre journey to acting; what he learned from Safdie, Johnson, and Blunt; and what it takes for a real fighter to learn how to pull punches for the camera. (Hint: You don\u2019t always pull them.)<\/p>\n

\"ryan<\/p>\n

Rona Ahdout<\/p>\n

MEN\u2019S HEALTH: How did you get involved with The Smashing Machine?<\/p>\n

RYAN BADER: It came at a great time, when I was wondering where I was going to go in my fighting career. I got a text from Benny, and I didn\u2019t really know who Benny was by name. He was like, \u201cHey, I have a question about this MMA film.\u2026\u201d I blew him off for a while, and eventually I got another text that said, \u201cHey, I really need to talk to you.\u201d So I finally responded, \u201cHey, I\u2019m at a fight this week. Can I call you when I get back?\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, we FaceTimed for about 40 minutes. He told me about the project\u2014The Smashing Machine, based on the documentary. I was interested and asked him what was next. He said, \u201cAll right, I\u2019m going to send you the hardest scene in the movie\u201d\u2014the scene between Coleman and Kerr in the hospital\u2014\u201cthen we\u2019re going to do an audition on Zoom in a week.\u201d
<\/p>\n

I hammered that script. I read it, read it again, and practiced it until I knew it all the way through. We did a Zoom audition, and he said I did great, then I didn\u2019t hear anything for three weeks. So I thought, Okay, he was being nice. Whatever. Then I got a text: \u201cSee you in Vancouver in about three weeks.\u201d And off I went.<\/p>\n

MH: Was this your first experience being approached for a movie?<\/p>\n

RB: After I beat Fedor [Emelianenko in 2019<\/a>], someone apparently reached out via Scott Coker, the president of Bellator, and said, \u201cThey\u2019re interested in you for Suicide Squad 2.\u201d And it ended up being a scam! They got some fighters to send them money. I was telling Randy Couture about it, and he said he had the same thing happen! So that\u2019s why, even with Safdie, I was like, \u201cWhat\u2019s going on here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"pullquote<\/p>\n

MH: Had you ever wanted to act?<\/p>\n

RB: I mean, who doesn\u2019t want to be in a movie? At least one. When I heard about the project and what it was about, I thought, This is tailor-made for me. So I threw myself into it. It\u2019s nerve-racking going on-set for the first time with people like Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, two of the biggest movie stars in the world, and being thrown into scenes with them right off the bat, with no experience. But I talked to Benny about it. I asked him if I needed an acting coach, and he said, \u201cAbsolutely not. I\u2019m your acting coach. Just be the way you were in that Zoom.\u201d He made me feel like I could do no wrong. So I just walked onto set like, Hey, you asked for me. You wanted me. Here I am.<\/p>\n

MH: Was it reassuring to join the movie knowing that it was also something of a new experience for Dwyane as a blockbuster actor in a small-scale, prestige drama?<\/p>\n

RB: One hundred percent. Emily, she can do anything. We had scenes where she would be crying, then we\u2019d cut and she\u2019d just stop. Then we\u2019d go again, and she\u2019d be bawling. But I knew it was a big moment for DJ, a big opportunity for him to get out of his lane. He threw his heart and soul into it, and he absolutely killed it. That did help me a lot. I had some very emotional scenes with him, and knowing he was doing that kind of scene for the first time himself put me more at ease.<\/p>\n

MH: It\u2019s not often you can say that Dwayne Johnson, one of the most distinctly recognizable people in the world, really transformed for a role.<\/p>\n

RB: What\u2019s funny is that I felt like I was acting with Mark Kerr. It wasn\u2019t Dwayne Johnson, it wasn\u2019t The Rock. He went through four or five hours of prosthetics, makeup, and all that. It eased my nerves because I wasn\u2019t looking at a huge global superstar. I was looking at Mark Kerr.<\/p>\n

\"animated<\/p>\n

Rona Ahdout<\/p>\n

MH: You\u2019ve spent your professional life in the MMA world\u2014in the press calls, the locker rooms, and the fights that the movie is set in. Did that help you feel acclimated to being on a movie set?<\/p>\n

RB: Yeah. Being in a locker room before a fight, I know that tense feeling where everything\u2019s quiet, everything\u2019s low, where the fighter is processing whatever he has to process before a fight. I\u2019ve been there before.<\/p>\n

MH: As a fellow MMA athlete, how aware were you of Coleman and Kerr?<\/p>\n

RB: Very aware. We all kind of know each other and know of each other. And those guys were pioneers. They went from a high-level amateur wrestling background right into [MMA] without really knowing all that much about striking. They got thrown into the deep end while they were still learning, and it was the same with me.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve met Coleman here and there throughout the years, and I\u2019ve heard the stories about him as a wrestler. And before we shot our movie, I would go back and rewatch footage of him in the Smashing Machine documentary. Benny would text me something like, \u201cHey, learn this celebration that Coleman does\u2014he does this crazy one when he hits the ropes.\u201d So I\u2019d go back and watch the real thing.<\/p>\n

MH: When you went back and watched those real-life matches, what stood out as something you wanted to bring into Coleman\u2019s bouts in the movie to make them feel more real?<\/p>\n

RB: So, he was a big guy, right? Very muscle-bound\u2014<\/p>\n

MH: You\u2019re not a small guy either.<\/p>\n

RB: No, but back then, the thing was having that bodybuilder physique, which meant you\u2019d get tired easily. We wanted to make sure we transferred that realism over to the fights in the movie, where it\u2019s not super clean, it\u2019s lumbering a little bit. [Mimes swaying back and forth] If you compare the fights in The Smashing Machine to footage of the real fights on YouTube\u2014if you put them side by side\u2014the body positioning, the striking, all that, we shot it the way it happened, which is super cool. <\/p>\n

\"riyadh,Cooper Neill<\/p>\n

Bader, left, fighting Renan Ferreira\u00a0at the 2024 PFL vs Bellator: Champs event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"pressEric Zachanowich<\/p>\n

Bader, left, in\u00a0The Smashing Machine\u00a0with Dwayne Johnson.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

MH: Walk me through the actual process of bringing a fight sequence together.<\/p>\n

RB: I got there two weeks early, before camera tests and all that. Even though I\u2019m a real fighter, the experience felt like building a movie fighter from the ground up. The stunt coordinator, before we even started, said, \u201cReal MMA fighters are either really good or really bad [at shooting fight sequences] because sometimes their ego gets involved and they say, \u2018We wouldn\u2019t do that or this in a real fight.\u2019 But the trick is that you have to sell it without hurting people.\u201d So I just listened, observed, and did what they told me. We progressed pretty fast. We spent probably two weeks on that first fight, and I got the hang of it\u2014how to sell punches, how to throw punches, knowing where the camera is shooting from. <\/p>\n

A couple of our opponents in the movie were played by real MMA fighters, and we had a little side talk: \u201cHey, do you care if I give you a little bit, hit you a little bit, on the ground?\u201d And they were like, \u201cAbsolutely, let\u2019s make it look real as can be.\u201d Our one buddy, Paul [Lazenby], I hit him in his ear, and it blew up. A little cauliflower ear. But there was a fine line\u2014so, not on their feet, but on the ground\u2014some of those are real punches.<\/p>\n

MH: What was Benny\u2019s reaction when that happened?<\/p>\n

RB: Oh, he loved it. He\u2019s the biggest cheerleader. He\u2019s outside the ring just hooting and hollering. Sometimes they\u2019d have to be like, \u201cHey, hey, calm down, Benny. You\u2019re in the audio here!\u201d He\u2019s a huge fight fan, and he knows a lot about the sport. So those were the most fun days for me.<\/p>\n

MH: Coleman and Kerr\u2019s relationship is central to the movie. They\u2019re obviously competitive, but there\u2019s a kinship there. In your experience, is that authentic to relationships between fighters?<\/p>\n

RB: I always say, there\u2019s a different kind of bond that comes from training and fighting with somebody. You\u2019re fighting against your buddy all the time in training, and meanwhile, you grow and bond and go through some hard experiences together. But there\u2019s always a little competitiveness in that relationship too. Then add in that extra layer, the possibility that you guys could potentially fight each other in competition, when you\u2019re both trying to become a heavyweight champion. For Coleman and Kerr, at the end of the day, the friendship came out on top.<\/p>\n

MH: Tell me about shooting one of the film\u2019s centerpiece scenes, between Coleman and Kerr in the hospital after Kerr has an overdose.<\/p>\n

RB: We shot that scene a little later on in filming, which was great because I got more comfortable in front of the camera with every scene I was in. I have my own process\u2014I like to get there early, talk to the producers, and mingle around so that I\u2019m not just walking onto a set cold. I would go sit in the hospital chair and run through the scene in my mind. I had watched all of DJ\u2019s scenes, so I knew what his character was dealing with. I was thinking, We\u2019re all sick and tired of this. We want him back. We want him to get better. I felt like I was present in that moment, that it was real.<\/p>\n

\"pullquote<\/p>\n

MH: Did you rehearse the scene with Dwyane?<\/p>\n

RB: I don\u2019t think we ever rehearsed. We shot that scene organically. I want to say we shot it in only three takes. After the first take, Benny was like, \u201cThat was awesome, but let\u2019s do a couple more.\u201d We nailed it on that second or third time, and he was like, \u201cI don’t need anything else.\u201d Benny\u2019s one of those directors who, once he gets the take he wants, he\u2019s done.<\/p>\n

That was the one scene I walked into and out of feeling confident. The other ones, I would think afterwards, I have no idea how that one went. But for some reason, that one\u2014maybe because I had been thinking about it since my audition\u2014I knew how important that scene was to the overall project.<\/p>\n

\"ryan<\/p>\n

Rona Ahdout<\/p>\n

MH: Did you feel any extra pressure on those big, emotional scenes?<\/p>\n

RB: I like the pressure. That pressure makes me perform to the best of my abilities, whether it\u2019s fighting or anything else. I\u2019m always seeking something hard, something that feels maybe unattainable. Then you train for it, you accomplish that goal, and you feel this satisfaction, this big relief afterwards. So after that hospital scene, I walked out and let out a huge sigh of relief.<\/p>\n

MH: Do you want to keep acting?<\/p>\n

RB: If you had asked me two years ago, I would have said, \u201cThat’s my worst nightmare.\u201d I don\u2019t love speaking in front of people, I\u2019ve never been a creative guy. But now? I\u2019ve had some different opportunities come my way that I\u2019ve auditioned for. I\u2019ll take a run at it.<\/p>\n

I was actually talking to Emily one day while we were waiting on-set. She asked me, \u201cHow do you like this? How does it compare to fighting?\u201d And I said, \u201cIt\u2019s scary, but that\u2019s why I gravitated to fighting in the first place too. Because there\u2019s a challenge out there, there\u2019s a goal, and when you achieve it, it\u2019s the best feeling in the world.\u201d I might be nervous walking onto a set sometimes, especially my first few scenes. But afterwards, I\u2019ll think, Yeah, I can do this.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.<\/p>\n

Read More MH Flex…\"Headshot<\/p>\n

William Goodman is a freelancer writer, focused on all things pop culture, tech, gadgets, and style. He\u2019s based in Washington, DC and his work can also be found at Robb Report, Complex, and GQ. He\u2019s yet to meet a jacket or cardigan he didn\u2019t love. In his free time, he\u2019s probably on Twitter (@goodmanw) or at the movies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This article was originally featured in MH Flex, our monthly newsletter recommending the one in-depth interview you need…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,782,105989,24271,641,1642,638,105988,82],"class_list":["post-220148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-0611efeb-f7c5-4bca-8023-2de3e96a93b1","tag-displaytype-long-form-article","tag-fighting","tag-locale-us","tag-mma","tag-shorttitle-ryan-bader-fought-his-way-from-cage-to-the-camera","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}