Get your grappling gloves on, because “Warrior,” the new movie about mixed martial arts directed by Gavin O’Connor, is a solid hit—no pun intended.

Joel Edgerton plays Brendan Conlon, a struggling physics teacher who needs to win an ultimate fighting tournament to keep his house from foreclosing. His brother and opponent is Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy), and Hardy channels some kind of wildcat ferocity into the role. He quickly puts his fight opponents down and walks away without a word, reminding one of a deadly killer. Brendan Colon is more relatable, having to work for every takedown he gets.  He’s the “Rocky” of mixed martial arts, representing the everyman.

The movie starts slow, but the plot gains speed as it progresses. Nick Nolte is great as Paddy Conlon, the father of the two brothers and trainer of Tommy. He brings a lot of power into the role as a father looking for redemption. In fact, the best scene of the movie is not a fight, but a poignant scene where Paddy relapses after a thousand days of sobriety and an argument with Tommy. The raw feelings of Paddy’s failure and the subsequent catharsis felt when Tommy finally forgives his father make for a moving moment.

Paddy’s persistent listening of an audio tape he has of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is a nice addition as well. That and the addition of a classical music in Frank Campana’s (Frank Grillo) gym add an unexpected bit of class to this fight film. Both are used as focusing tools, whether in sobriety or in mixed martial arts.

The fights themselves are crisp and exciting, showing all the best aspects of mixed martial arts with none of the down time.  The one problem is that the close ups are at times too close up, causing some confusion as to who is pummeling who.

This isn’t a great movie, but it is a very good one, and what it lacks in originality it makes up in spades with spirit.  It’s definitely worth a watch, even if you’re not a huge fight fan.