Daisy Ridley has revealed she had difficulty watching mixed martial arts while preparing for her latest role.
The 32-year-old actress, known for her role in the Star Wars franchise, made the admission while discussing her upcoming action movie ‘Cleaner’, which hits theaters on Friday.
In the film, Ridley portrays Joey, a skyscraper window cleaner who faces off against terrorists after they take control of an office building.
To prepare for the physically demanding role, Ridley attempted to study MMA footage but found the content challenging to watch.
“I tried to watch MMA fights,” Ridley said during an interview with UPI. “Honestly, they’re so violent I struggled to watch that many of them.”
The revelation comes just days after Khaos Williams was rendered unconscious by Gabriel Bonfim’s submission at UFC Vegas 102, while another UFC competitor recently announced her retirement after a 13-bout career while visibly injured.
As part of her preparation, the London native also underwent combat training and practiced striking techniques to appear authentic in her role.
“One of the fights particularly is in a really contained area. So trying to figure out how to realistically battle someone while quite restricted physically was a challenge,” she added.
Meanwhile, Dwayne Johnson is set to bring more attention to MMA with his upcoming film ‘The Smashing Machine’, chronicling the life of UFC legend Mark Kerr, who faced challenges with painkiller dependency and was featured in a 2003 HBO documentary.
The film, scheduled for release in 2025, will star Johnson as Kerr alongside Emily Blunt. The cast includes Oleksandr Usyk as former champion Igor ‘Ice Cold’ Vovchanchyn, Ryan Bader as Mark Coleman, and Bas Rutten playing himself.
Johnson shared glimpses of his MMA training sessions on social media during the filming of the Benny Safdie project last year.
The movie has generated significant anticipation among MMA enthusiasts, with some hoping it could inspire future athletes, similar to how ‘Never Back Down’ influenced current UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis to pursue the sport.
