The announcement of the 83rd Golden Globe Award nominations cemented one thing: the high-stakes world of Hollywood recognition operates on a metric system entirely separate from public consumption metrics. For the combat sports community, the nominations offered a fascinating, and highly fragmented, assessment of their recent foray into prestige cinema and media, resulting in one major triumph and two unmistakable snubs.
The year 2025 saw the release of several high-profile biopics centered on legends of fighting, bridging the gap between the octagon/ring and the silver screen. The subsequent Golden Globe nominations reveal a selective appreciation for these endeavors—one favoring intense, dramatic performance over broad commercial appeal or sheer audience volume.
The Champion`s Redemption: Dwayne `The Rock` Johnson Steps into the Drama Ring
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, the former WWE titan known primarily for blockbuster action films and guaranteed box office returns, achieved a critical victory. Johnson earned his first-ever Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama category. This recognition was for his portrayal of the troubled UFC legend Mark Kerr in the film The Smashing Machine.
Critics were quick to praise Johnson’s commitment to the role, labeling it a definitive career departure. The performance saw Johnson shed his typical heroic persona to embody a figure grappling with addiction and personal demons—a portrayal deemed worthy of Hollywood’s attention, even though the film itself struggled commercially. Johnson acknowledged the nomination`s significance, emphasizing the real-world battle Kerr faced.
“I think the nomination represents the fight in everybody, especially with addictions and those demons that you battle,” Johnson stated. “Mark Kerr had it all and lost everything, and then has since become sober. That’s the movie that we wanted to make: a nod to those who fight.”
Johnson now stands alongside esteemed competitors, including Oscar Isaac, Michael B. Jordan, and Jeremy Allen White, proving that when the megastar chooses a truly dark, dramatic turn, the industry is willing to recognize the effort, regardless of ticket sales.
The Box Office and the Snub: Sydney Sweeney’s Effort Overlooked
Conversely, the recognition offered to other major combat sports biopics was nonexistent. Sydney Sweeney, portraying boxing icon Christy Martin in the film Christy, found herself entirely excluded from the nominations list. While some reviewers lauded Sweeney`s performance, the film’s financial performance proved catastrophic.
The boxing biopic took a meager $1.3 million during its opening weekend in North America, marking one of the worst openings on record, with an average of just $649 per theater. In the high-stakes awards ecosystem, where box office often whispers loud supporting affirmations to critical buzz, Christy’s commercial failure may have rendered Sweeney`s dramatic efforts invisible to the voting body. Unlike Johnson, whose sheer star power and dramatic transformation might have overcome his film`s struggle, Sweeney did not benefit from the same buffer.
The Juggernaut Ignored: Joe Rogan and the Controversy Calculus
Perhaps the most statistically baffling snub involved the media titan of combat sports, UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. The renowned Joe Rogan Experience podcast (JRE) was conspicuously absent from the Best Podcast category nominations, despite its undisputed dominance in the media landscape throughout 2025.
The JRE was the undisputed most listened-to show across all major platforms—Apple, Spotify, and YouTube—a commercial powerhouse whose listenership dwarfs virtually every nominated show. The list of nominated podcasts, including titles like *Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard* and *Smartless*, while successful, do not command Rogan’s sheer, overwhelming audience share.
The decision to overlook the most popular podcast in the world suggests that the Golden Globes are applying an unspoken criterion—one tied to content controversy, political friction, or perhaps, simply the nature of the show`s discourse. It appears that superior listening figures alone cannot overcome the perceived risk or inherent “controversy” associated with the JRE’s wide-ranging, and often politically charged, content. The Globes’ voting body, historically sensitive to perceived cultural decorum, clearly preferred safer, more conventional choices, even if it meant ignoring the undeniable king of the audio realm.
The Bigger Picture
The 83rd Golden Globe nominations, scheduled to take place on January 11th, highlight a clear dichotomy in Hollywood’s approach to combat sports figures. Recognition is granted for the challenging, often dark, artistry of dramatic transformation (Johnson), but withheld from projects hampered by commercial failure (Sweeney) or media personalities associated with content deemed too volatile or unconventional for prestige awards (Rogan). This nuanced selection process confirms that in the world of high-profile awards, simple popularity is a fleeting currency, easily overshadowed by narrative impact and cultural alignment.
Gareth Pendleton