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INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Don’t sign up Hollywood megastar Chris Pratt for a fight just yet – but maybe don’t overlook him, either.

Pratt, the star of blockbuster franchises like “Guardians of the Galaxy” and “Jurassic World,” also does his share of training – including with Adel Altamimi, who made his Bellator debut Saturday night.

Altamimi (8-5 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) needed a little more than a minute to submit Brandon McMahan (5-7 MMA, 0-1 BMMA) at Bellator 214, which took place at The Forum in Inglewood, Calif. The main card aired on Paramount and streamed on DAZN following prelims on MMAjunkie. Altamimi’s fight opened up the main card.

Altamimi has his own inspirational back story. He was born and raised in Iraq, but also served in the U.S. Marines. Now he’s an MMA teacher at the Unbreakable Performance Center, where he works with Pratt.

“He’s really good,” Altamimi said after his win over McMahan. “He has really good wrestling – he has a background in wrestling in high school. The guy has really good experience wrestling, and I work with him a lot with striking and I train him in striking. We roll a lot. He likes to roll, and he’s strong.

“I was trying to warm up with him (before the fight) and I was like, ‘I want another guy’ because he’s heavy. He has really strong hips. I know he’s a really famous actor, but he trains every day. This guy is always training. He’s very, very strong. He comes to fight.”

Chris Pratt and Adel Altamimi

Pratt also came to help corner Altamimi and was there walking out with him at The Forum. Pratt also went his fair share of crazy with jubilation after Altamimi got his armbar finish.

But Altamimi didn’t quite live up to the full depth of the promise he made Pratt before the fight.

“Back in the room, I was warming up and getting ready and I told him, ‘I promise you, I’m going to finish it in less than a minute,’” Altamimi said.

As it turned out, Altamimi got it done in 76 seconds. Still not too shabby, of course. But just short of that promise.

“I told him, I promised him it would be in the first round,” Altamimi said. “That’s how I am: I go to finish the fight. If you see all my fights, I don’t go to the second round. I go to kill.”

Altamimi said the pressure of having his first Bellator fight wasn’t really there for him. But then again, when you’ve been in actual war experiences like a fist fight for money might seem to be dulled down a notch.

“It was really big to me, but when I was walking in, I was calm,” he said.
“I was just focusing on my opponent. I was not looking to the side. It was like wartime to me – just focusing on my opponent, that’s it. I knew if anything would suck my energy … I just wanted to focus on my opponent and put my hands on him and my kicks. I know it was a huge thing, but I’ll focus on that after the fight. … I just feel like this is my home.

“… I’ve been in real war and seen my friends killed in front of me. This is nothing.”

For complete coverage of Bellator 214, check out the MMA Events section of the site.