Michael Bisping has accomplished a hell of a lot, and Atlas King is adding another line to his resume. It’s the first movie where Bisping gets to play the leading role, after over a decade of honing his skills as an actor with the same dedication he displayed as a UFC champion and Hall of Famer. And as he did in the octagon, he delivers.

TVBrittanyF.com caught up with Michael to talk about the making of Atlas King, in which he plays the titular fighter determined to topple a crime boss by any means necessary. He spoke about his process and growth as an actor, as well as the moment on set that resonated with him. Plus, what did it mean to him to finally be front and center in a film?

Brittany Frederick: Atlas King is your first leading role, but people may not remember that you’ve been acting for over a decade. Did you learn anything specific from those previous roles in projects like Strike Back and Den of Thieves that helped you in this movie?

Michael Bisping: My background is that of a fighter; I never thought I would end up sitting here talking about being the lead in a film. So every time I got the opportunity to be on set, it was a huge learning curve—every single time. And then slowly but surely, you start to figure it out. You work with acting coaches. You go to acting classes. You understand what you’re actually doing there.

I’ve lived a colorful life as well, so I’ve got a lot of real life experience to pull from. And then here we are with Atlas King, and the character of Atlas King is someone that I have a lot of parallels with as well. It’s been a work in progress over the years, but we’re finally here.

The most obvious parallel is that Atlas is also a fighter; the character’s background is right in your wheelhouse. Have you noticed commonalities between how you prepare for an acting role, and how you prepare for a fight or a commentary gig, or do you have to approach them separately?

It’s a lot of prep; it’s a lot of work. When I’m commentating a UFC fight, it’s a lot of prep because you’ve got to watch all of their previous fights, you’ve got to read interviews, you’ve got to look at their social media, you’ve got to convey who they are to the audience. And then, obviously, for a movie like this, it’s a lot of prep. You’ve got to read the script. You’ve got to understand the script. You’ve got to become the person.

Fortunately for me, this one was easy because I’m a former fighter. Atlas King was a former street fighter. Atlas King gets in trouble with the L.A. mob and gets shot and goes back to England to save his life—and then when he comes back 15 years later, his best friend has died. He comes back for the funeral, and his friend’s son, he’s in trouble with the same people that [Atlas] was in trouble with.

In my life, I’m a former fighter, and when I first started in mixed martial arts, I was managed by some gangsters and stuff like that, so I’ve been through some similar challenges. Not at the level that Atlas King does, but I’ve kind of been through some stuff. So this, for me, was like the role of my lifetime. It was like it was written for me, to be honest.

Is there a scene or a moment that stood out to you during filming?

I remember my first day on set with Cuba Gooding Jr., who obviously is an Oscar winner, and that was a lot of pressure… The first day on set, he’s working with me. I had to deliver. Otherwise, he’s going to think, what is this crap I’ve signed on to? [Laughs.] So that brought a lot of pressure, not only for me to perform well, but also to represent all the hard work of everyone there on set. I wanted to represent the film well.

He was such a cool guy and so down to earth… He put me at ease straight away. And I’m happy to say I held my own and stood there with an Oscar winner. I was pretty proud of that. Afterwards, when I watched it back, I was like shit, I did it. I did that. So that was a cool moment for me.

Did your fighting background raise expectations for the fight work in Atlas King? Given that people know how much you’re capable of?

Because of my background with the UFC for so long, you’ve got to think that some UFC community people are going to watch this, and I want the fight scenes to be realistic. The stunt team did a great job; they choreographed some really good scenes. But I wanted to change a few things. I was like, I’d do this in this situation. This would be more realistic here. And they were great. They allowed me to make those changes, and just to add a bit of my style in there.

I wanted to make it violent as well. Not so much overly fancy, but just more brutal, violent, shocking, and gruesome. Fortunately, I was able to do that. Don’t get me wrong; there’s still some flying knees here and there, and this and that. But I wanted to make sure the fight scenes that I had hit the mark.

What has the journey been like for you, to work for so long as an actor and now get the chance to lead your first movie? How would you describe the personal part of it?

It is kind of crazy. It kind of happened by accident, if you will. 2009, when I was fighting in the UFC, somebody making a film thought [I’d] be good for this role, and I got offered a movie part out of the blue. I did a few acting lessons and next thing I’m in Austin, Texas, and I’m on some movie. But I did a great job. The director was really happy. He was like Michael, you should think about this, because you were really good.

So then I actually did a little part in a soap opera in the UK called Hollyoaks, and then I moved out to L.A., got myself an agent, and then just slowly [booked] a little part there and a little part there. But it’s a tough business, it’s a very, very competitive industry, so I always took it with a pinch of salt. I was very fortunate and grateful to get the opportunities that I did, but I also knew that I’m a UFC guy; I’m a commentator. But the opportunities kept coming, and I was so grateful for that.

And then Atlas King comes to my table, and I was like wow, this is unbelievable. This truly was the role of a lifetime. I’m the perfect guy to play this guy, because my life has so many parallels with the character as well. It was a dream come true, to be honest.

You overcame significant challenges as a UFC fighter; what’s the biggest challenge you’ve overcome as an actor?

Every day is a new challenge. Just being me is a challenge in itself. [Laughs.] I’m far from a perfect person. But I don’t know if there was a biggest challenge. I was excited every day learning the script. I remember [Atlas King writer-director] Nika [Agiashvili] sent me this this Instagram clip of a bunch of famous actors, all saying that you’ve just got to read the script like 250 times, and I took that literally. I read it, and I read it, and I read it, so knowing the lines was easy.

The action side of things, that was easy, because I’m suited to that. The motivation for the character—I’ve been through that in my personal struggles in my former life, if you will. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but doing justice to everyone on set that was there working so hard to make this film, that was the hardest part. But I think that I did that, and I think the whole crew were really happy, and we should all be proud of this.

Is there anything else about Atlas King that you want viewers to know before they see the movie?

Originally we were going have a bunch of different companies sell it for us, and they were making it—and they took me out as the lead because I wasn’t a big enough name. Then they changed this in the script and they changed that. Eventually Nika, the writer and director, was like, this doesn’t resemble the film that we’re trying to make, so we formed our own production company. Then we sourced outside financing, which is very hard to do in this economy, and we made the movie that we wanted to make.

This is our first movie, and we’re all really proud of it. I think it’s turned out really good, and hopefully we get to do more… Nika is a tremendous writer, and the other cast and crew are just incredible as well. And I think together we pulled something off that a lot of people are going to be surprised by. I hope everyone enjoys it.

Atlas King will be available digitally and on demand Aug. 21, 2026. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Saban Films.

Article content is (c)2020-2026 Brittany Frederick and may not be excerpted or reproduced without express written permission by the author. Follow me on Twitter at @BFTVTwtr and on Instagram at @BFTVGram. For story pitches, contact me at tvbrittanyf@yahoo.com.