UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is set to appear in the next sequel to the popular action film The Expendables.
The star of the movie, Sylvester Stallone of Rocky fame, made the announcement on Twitter.
Rousey — who will be joined by an all-star cast that includes boxing star Victor Ortiz — won’t be the first MMA superstar to appear in the franchise.
UFC Hall of Famer and former UFC heavyweight and light-heavyweight Randy Couture has a recurring role in the franchise and appeared in the first two Expendables movies, released in 2010 and 2012.
Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Rousey had been offered a role in a sequel to the blockbuster hit movie The Hunger Games, though it never came to fruition.
In the past, UFC president Dana White has said it would be difficult for any UFC fighter to appear in a major motion picture while fighting full time because of the commitment it takes.
“I don’t want to take away any opportunities from Ronda, but at the same time, the thing that you have to keep in perspective is that her window of opportunity as a professional athlete is (limited),” White said on a February episode of UFC Tonight on FUEL TV.
“She could make a zillion movies when (she retires). Where she’s really going to make the money is here fighting”
The Expendables 3, which is set for a 2014 release, begins filming in Los Angeles next month.
Filming is not expected to affect Rousey’s training camp for her upcoming UFC 168 co-main event fight against her rival Miesha Tate on Dec. 28.
According to imdb.com, there are a few more UFC connections to The Expendables 3, as both Steven Seagal and Mickey Rourke are among the cast.
Seagal, a seventh degree black belt in Aikido, is notorious in the MMA world, as he became friends with Anderson Silva and Lyoto Machida and reportedly has been somewhat influential in teaching them certain techniques the two have used in UFC fights.
Rourke, an Academy Award-nominated actor and former boxer, is a huge MMA fan and often attends UFC events. Earlier this year he was a guest of Chael Sonnen’s on an episode of The Ultimate Fighter 17 in which he shared his experiences from his days as a boxer and gave advice to the fighters on Sonnen’s team.
MMA stars appearing in movies is rare but it’s becoming more common as the sport and its athletes become more popular.
Rousey’s predecessor as the face of women’s MMA, former Strikeforce and EliteXC star Gina Carano, has moved on from fighting and has since appeared in several successful films including Steven Soderberg’s Haywire and the popular Fast and Furious 6.
UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre landed a role in Captain America: The Winter Soldier set for release in April 2014 and voiced a character in the French-Canadian version of the Disney-Pixar animated movie Monsters University.
Former UFC light-heavyweight champ Quinton (Rampage) Jackson starred as B.A. Baracus in the hit A-Team movie in 2010 and Canadian light-heavyweight Krzysztof Soszynski had a decent role in the MMA comedy Here Comes the Boom in 2012 while starring in ongoing projects.
In other combat sports movie news:
Stallone will reprise his role as Rocky Balboa in a spinoff called Creed that will tell the story of the grandson of Apollo Creed (Rocky’s rival), according to Deadline.
