Issue 160
November 2017
How an MMA knockout artist started fighting in theaters.
RÉSUMÉ
First seen: Oct 2003 (Extreme Challenge 54),
Last seen: May 2016 (XFO 58),
Record: 17-6.
Rory Markham’s most successful run in MMA came as part of Pat Miletich’s Quad Cities Silverbacks squad that twice captured the IFL team championship.
He also scored one of the most memorable head-kick KOs in UFC history, wiping out Brodie Farber in his 2008 Octagon debut.
After 22 pro fights and the better part of a decade in the sport, Markham made a drastic career change and now spends much of his time as an actor and stuntman in major motion pictures.
With his experience in his previous line of work, nothing rattles the 35-year-old when he steps up and performs in high-pressure situations in front of the camera.
“Honestly, nothing could have prepared me better for work in movies and with people more than mixed martial arts,” he says. “I’m humbled by the opportunity but at the same time, I tell myself ‘You have gone out there and performed in front of millions of people in your underwear. You will be just fine.’”
“The confidence I gained from stepping into the cage is immeasurable. I always tell myself before a big scene that if I can step into a cage and fight, but somehow can’t make acting absolutely fun and completely enjoy myself, I shouldn’t be here doing this.
"I have been fortunate enough to be able to put myself out there and fight and the same thing goes for acting. You get that feeling in your stomach, that nervousness, but in my mind, I always go back to my experiences in mixed martial arts to calm myself down on the set.”
Markham has mixed it up with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Bruce Willis and 50 Cent in Setup, Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker in The Experiment and Paul Walker and Laurence Fishburne in The Death and Life of Bobby Z. But Markham has grown especially close to one particular A-Lister.
“In Alex Cross, I worked with Matthew Fox,” Markham said. “One of my biggest honors was that I got to train him for his fight scenes in the movie. I was blown away to even be in a film with him, and it was an even bigger honor to get to train him. Since filming the movie he has become one of my good friends.
“He said to me, ‘Acting is a craft and a craft can be learned but what you do is a talent.’
That was one of the biggest things I took away from working on the movie. They [actors] are all good people and honor what we [fighters] do. I respect what they do and they respect what I’ve done. It’s easy, to be honest.”
The Illinois native has followed in the fighting-to-acting footsteps of MMA luminaries such as Randy Couture and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson. Though he may not get the leading roles like those ex-champions, he is driven to succeed and entertain audiences for the same reason he was such a hot ticket in the cage.
“I always tell people I want to give them the same thing I gave them in MMA,” Markham says. “A movie can be watched and minds can be changed. That’s probably why I fought in MMA. I watched Rocky 100,000 times growing up.
Whether people are sitting in a movie theater or in the crowd for a fight, it makes people have certain feelings.
"They want to get on a treadmill the next day, and they might want to work harder or be a better man or woman. That thought keeps me focused and is 110% the reason I do what I do.”
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