Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson's MMA skills certified by former world champion who fought Jon Jones

03/31/2025 05:48 AM

Dwayne Johnson’s MMA training camp paid off, according to a former two-weight world champion.

The WWE legend – commonly known as ‘The Rock’ – is set to portray former UFC fighter Mark Kerr, who struggled with an addiction to painkillers at the height of his combat sports career, in a new movie called The Smashing Machine.

Naturally, Dwayne Johnson lived the life of a fighter to prepare for his toughest role yet.

The 52-year-old documented his MMA training on social media, and he looked good to the untrained eye, but did he do enough to impress a man who lives and breathes the sport?

• READ MORE: Fighter played by The Rock in new movie beat Kurt Angle in wrestling match before UFC fame

Dwayne Johnson's MMA skills certified by ex-champion

The Smashing Machine will feature several cameos from people in the fight game, including pound-for-pound boxing superstar Oleksandr Usyk, who will play Kerr’s two-time opponent, Igor Vovchanchyn.

Former heavyweight and light heavyweight Bellator champion Ryan Bader also has a prominent role – he’ll portray UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman in the movie that is set to be released later this year.

Bader has mixed it with some of the greatest fighters of all time during his 40-bout career, which has seen him share 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 about ‘The Rock’ during a recent interview with Submission Radio.

“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.”

What's next for Ryan Bader?

Bader doesn’t appear to be eyeing a new career in Hollywood after acting alongside Johnson.

Right now, the 41-year-old is focused on wrapping up his run in MMA in the best way possible.

Bader hasn’t fought since suffering a 21-second KO loss against Renan Ferreira in February 2024.

It was recently announced that he was a free agent after amicably parting ways with the PFL.

In an ideal world, he’ll now return to the UFC where he first made his name all the way back in 2008.

“My manager and I, we kind of talked about that and talked about how cool it would be, kind of, you know, full circle, come back, and at least, you know, retire in the UFC or whatnot,” Bader added.

“Even have one fight. I don’t know if they’re in the business of doing that, but we have thought about it, and it would be a cool scenario.”