Tom Hardy casually nabs another Jiu-Jitsu gold in suprise martial arts championship appearance at Milton Keynes school-Tori Brazier-Entertainment – Metro

All in a Saturday’s work for Tom Hardy (Picture: SWNS)

Hollywood actor Tom Hardy caused quite a stir over the weekend after rocking up to a martial arts competition held at a Milton Keynes school – and naturally claiming gold.

Participants and the crowd alike had to do a double take after Tom strolled in as a competitor at the 2022 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship, held at Oakgrove School on Saturday.

The Venom and Peaky Blinders star secretly arranged to fight at a local school sports hall, to avoid prior fuss, and then managed to floor all his opponents to take home a gold medal as champion of his section.

His latest victory comes after his low-key participation at a charity event in Wolverhampton in August, where he also nabbed two golds.

He’s clearly on a roll!

The 45-year-old, known for his action roles in films like Mad Max: Fury Road, Dunkirk and Warrior, holds a high-level blue belt in the ground-fighting combat sport.

Tom got to grips with his opponents as he competed for gold in his section (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

The actor reportedly got into Jiu-Jitsu when training for his 2011 movie Warrior (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

A cheeky little action shot (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

Attendants remarked on the actor’s focus (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

Sean Rosborough, who sponsored the event, said the organisers knew Tom would be attending a couple of weeks before, but kept the appearance ‘to themselves’ to stop masses of people ‘distracting’ him from taking part in the competition.

Sean, 37, praised the popular Tom as ‘brilliant’ with fans who approached him for photographs while adding that the mums in the audience were ‘all over him’.

He told SWNS: ‘A lot of people were asking for photos, and coming up to him, and he had no problem with that all. The mums were all over him. It didn’t bother him.

‘And when he was fighting, he was focused on what he was doing. He’s amazing at Jiu-Jitsu.’

Hardy reportedly got into Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when he trained for 2011 movie Warrior, in which he played the part of a former boxer who trains to be an MMA fighter, opposite Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte and House star Jennifer Morrison.

Apparently the mums love him, and quite honestly same (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

The actor wrestling his opponent to the floor mat (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

Jiu-Jitsu aims for ‘non-violent’ submissions in its victories (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

Those who take part in the hundred-year-old sport grapple with their opponents on a floor mat in order to achieve ‘non-violent’ submissions.

Sean, who watched each of Hardy’s fights, said the actor won rapid victories in all of them in order to be crowned champion of his section.

‘I saw his matches, and he had submissions in them all – and they were really quick.

‘He did really, really well. He’s not the highest grade, but you could see he had turned up to win, and he was impressive in every fight,’ he recalled.

The local also revealed that everyone tried ‘not to bother him too much’.

‘We just tried to keep it as normal as possible for him. I think he had a good time.’

It’s not the first competition Tom has rocked up to (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

Milton Keynes locals got their fill of the star (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

A dad who took on Tom during one of his bouts said that the actor brought the same level of intensity to the fight as he does to his action films.

Andy Leatherland, 42, a sales manager and blue belt, met the famed actor in the final of the competition after entering once he realised it was likely they would meet as fighters of the same age, belt and weight.

He said: ‘We used to joke that if he was to fight, I would be the one to fight him, but I didn’t think anything of it.

‘I was contemplating the Milton Keynes tournament as it was very local. And then one morning – he goes by the name Edward Hardy – I saw that he’d actually signed up.’

Andy said he found out the day before the competition that he would only fight Tom if they came face to face in the final or bronze level match.

The moment of triumph (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

The actor on the podium (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

Tom and his fighting alias (his real name) celebrate the win (Picture: Sean Rosborough/SWNS)

When they met to vie for gold, Andy was struck by his level of focus.

‘Lining up, he was very focused. The intensity that he brought to his movie roles, he brought that. He didn’t say a word, he didn’t say anything.

‘When it came to the match, you couldn’t help notice that it’s him, but then it just became a competition.

‘I made a mistake and he capitalised on that. He absolutely nailed it, and he subbed me, and it was over relatively quickly.’

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Andy said that Tom was ‘absolutely sound’ when they chatted after the fight and admitted to him that he found the martial arts competitions ‘nerve-wracking’.

‘He said, “These things are nerve-wracking” and though he’s often on the screen, he said jiu-jitsu is real and nerve-racking to do’.

When asked if he’d fight Tom Hardy again, Andy added: ‘I would, absolutely.’

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