'Warrior': TV Spot Hypes MMA Sibling-Rivalry Drama (Video)

I'd almost discarded any hope that Hollywood could do it, but it seems someone finally got a mixed-martial arts movie right.

Check out this latest TV spot hyping the sibling-rivalry drama "Warrior," coming next weekend to theaters. Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton play estranged brothers that fate draws into a cage for a cathartic showdown that concludes an Atlantic City professional MMA tournament.

The film also co-stars Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison and professional wrestling great and 1996 Olympic freestyle wrestling gold medalist (not to mention, devout MMA fan) Kurt Angle.

In the six years since the UFC reality series "The Ultimate Fighter" made its 2005 debut, experienced surprisingly strong ratings and pretty much announced MMA's mainstream arrival, mainstream media sometimes haven't taken the sport much more seriously than professional wrestling.

Had the sport not already successfully and publicly flung Sen. John McCain's 1990s "human cockfighting" sound-byte about the then-barely regulated sport back in the Arizona Republican's face, it might not have ever struck movie-goers that flicks like "Never Back Down" and to a lesser extend David Mamet's "Redbelt" probably bore a closer resemblance to tamer Jean-Claude Van Damme flicks than the sport they supposedly emulated.

But this? "Warrior" gets it. For starters, Hardy and Edgerton look like fighters. The atmosphere, training sequences, passion for the sport, and the actual fights give every indication that someone actually gives a damn about treating MMA more like sport than spectacle, the fighters like human beings with souls as opposed to stock, generic, roundhouse-kicking, walking-talking lethal weapons.

As a matter of fact, Hardy's character's exposition as math teacher who fights a little on the side mirrors the real-life beginnings of former UFC Middleweight Champion and future Hall of Famer Rich "Ace" Franklin.

Thankfully, this isn't Hulk Hogan in "No Holds Barred." Amazingly, MMA now has its "Rocky," its "Million Dollar Baby," its "The Fighter": that movie that isn't so much a movie about MMA, as it is a story of family torn apart that happens to be set against the backdrop of a combat sport.

"Warrior" hits theaters Sept. 9.