Dana White has teamed up with American filmmaker Zack Synder to make a new UFC film.
The film called ‘Brawler’ focuses on a young fighter’s journey from growing up on the rough streets of Los Angeles to get a UFC title shot.
White will assist the project alongside Turki Alalshikh, the owner of The Ring Magazine, and said the project was ‘incredibly ambitious’, but also admitted he couldn’t wait to see Snyder’s vision come to life.
“They [Snyder and Alalshikh] are both very passionate about this project to show fans what it takes to become a UFC champion,” he said.
“It’s an incredibly ambitious project and I look forward to seeing it come to life.”
Synder, who is best known for his superhero genre screenings like Justice League, also showed similar excitement to make the new film come alive.
“Behind every great fighter is the story of how they got there,” Synder said.
“UFC is the world leader in combat sports and I’m honoured to be partnering with them to tell this incredible story.”
The film will be produced by Stone Quarry, which was co-founded by Synder and his wife, Deborah Snyder.
Snyder will direct the film and serve as a writer, while Deborah will produce the film with Alalshikh and UFC Chief Content Officer Craig Borsari.
‘Brawler’ joins a host of other films that have narrowed in on the world of mixed martial arts to tell a compelling story.
Last year, we saw the remake of Road House, starring Jake Gyllenhaal as an ex-UFC fighter, going head-to-head with former two-division champion Conor McGregor.
Scenes from the film were shot in the Octagon during real life UFC pay-per-view cards, as well when the promotion held press conferences for various events.
Later this year, we will also see Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson portray former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Mark Kerr in a film called ‘The Smashing Machine’.
Kerr struggled with a painkiller addiction during his UFC career in the early 1990s before the promotion shot to fame.
Heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk also features in the film, starring as Kerr’s former rival Igor Vovchanchyn, who fought the former twice under the PRIDE banner.
This isn’t the first project White and Alalshikh have joined forces to create.
Earlier this month, the pair announced a landmark partnership that will lead to the creation of a brand-new boxing promotion.
It will follow the UFC model with one champion per division, making it easier to understand than traditional boxing, which has 17 divisions and is governed by the WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF.
Briton Tom Aspinall is the UFC interim heavyweight champion and currently in negotiations with White to unify the division against current champion Jon Jones.
He called the new boxing promotion ‘unsafe’ when explaining why it will never work.
“I personally don’t like extreme weight cutting, I think it’s dangerous,” he said.
“If you dehydrate your body, dehydrate your brain, and then the next day you get in the Octagon and get punched repeatedly by someone who can really punch, I just think it’s unsafe.
“It shouldn’t be allowed. I’ve seen some guys in some absolute states cutting weight. It’s horrible to watch.
“I’m just sat there like, ‘I can’t believe you’re actually going to go and fight somebody tomorrow.’”
