Halle Berry Trained Like A Professional For ‘Bruised,’ ‘All The Bruises Were Pretty Real’

Halle Berry reveals that she trained nearly as a professional MMA fighter before the filming of her movie “Bruised.”

UFC women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko was also seen playing the part of the opposite number in the concluding scene of the movie.

“What made me really have to have Valentina in this movie is, through my training, I realized that my ground game was much better than my standup game. And she is, pound-for-pound, one of the best strikers the sport will ever experience,” Berry said.

“So I thought if my ground game is pretty good and I can really pull off a real grappler, and I can get the best standup striker in my weight class to do this movie with me, I think we can make a really dynamic fight.

“To be able to get the best in the world while they’re at the top of their game to come be in your movie, what would be better than that? And to train from her, learn from her – she brought so much credibility to the fight,” she added.

“She always let us know when we were doing it right, when we were doing it wrong. I knew that I would have someone standing next to me that would bring authenticity to this fight. That was really, really important to me.”

Shevchenko has been unstoppable in her journey in the UFC so far.

She has defended the flyweight title for a record six times and is still going strong. She was also happy to be part of the project and acknowledged the efforts put in by Berry.

“If Halle wants to continue her fighting career, wants to go inside the octagon and fight, she can do it – because she has all the skills for that,” Shevchenko said.

“I know that as she was training before it for two or three years – grappling, striking, everything – definitely it was super easy to create the fight sequences because it is in her. She had it just click, and she completely understands the technique (and) completely understands the moves.”

During the filming, Berry even suffered a broken rib but rather than halting the project, she pursued and made sure it was completed on time.

“You haven’t lived until you’ve taken a Valentina Shevchenko kick. “All the bruises were pretty real,” Berry added.

Berry, 55, is the only African-American woman who has won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She also remained one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood during the 2000s.

In her debut as a director, Berry took a lead role playing Jackie Justice, a former UFC fighter who conquers the MMA world against all the odds in the fresh Netflix project, “Bruised.” The movie has been making huge rounds since its release.