Warrioris a 2011 American action drama film about two brothers entering a mixed martial arts tournament, and their relationship with each other and their father. The film was released on September 9, 2011 by Lionsgate . It stars Tom Hardy , Joel Edgerton , Nick Nolte , Jennifer Morrison , and Frank Grillo . The film was directed by Gavin O'Connor and produced by Greg O'Connor .

The film opens with former Marine Tommy Riordan ( Tom Hardy ) visiting his father Paddy ( Nick Nolte ), a former alcoholic who has become a Christian . Tommy is still upset at the way Paddy raised and left him as a child, and Paddy fails to convince him that he has changed. Meanwhile, Paddy's older son, Brendan Conlon ( Joel Edgerton ), a high school physics teacher, struggles with the bank to pay the house by three weeks or have it foreclosed. Despite he and his wife Tess ( Jennifer Morrison ) working a total of three jobs, Brendan risks returning to his former profession as a mixed martial arts fighter battling amateur fighters for money in order to pay the bank in time, which ends up getting him suspended without pay from school.

Tommy enters a gym where he easily beats a professional fighter named Mad Dog Grimes ( Erik Apple ) within seconds. The fight is filmed via video phone and becomes an internet sensation. Tommy asks the help of his father to help him train for an MMA tournament calledSpartaat the request that they do not try to reconcile their relationship. Brendan eventually enters the same tournament, not knowing Tommy has joined as well. Prior to this, Paddy visits Brendan where he tries to reconcile with him but fails. However, Brendan forgives Paddy for all the wrong he has done to him in the past, though he tells him that he still does not trust him.

After joining Sparta, Brendan later confronts his brother and Tommy unloads why he cannot forgive not only Paddy, but Brendan as well. Apparently, when Paddy left Brendan, Tommy and their mother, Tommy was left all alone to take care of their ill mother who eventually died, while 16-year-old Brendan, whom Tommy had kept this piece of information from for years, eloped with Tess and moved out of the life of his father and younger brother.

Meanwhile, the video of Tommy beating Mad Dog attracts the attention of a Marine in Iraq whose life was saved by Tommy months prior. The information and video of Tommy saving the soldier is shared with the press and Tommy becomes a national hero, gaining a massive fan base not only with viewers, but with the U.S. Marine Corps as well. However, his records surface from the Marine Corps and reveal that he deserted the military after he was nearly killed by friendly fire . Over the next few nights, Brendan and Tommy battle some of the toughest names in mixed martial arts, and at the end, both brothers come face to face with each other in the cage and unleash all anger they had towards each other in the cage. Eventually, Brendan manages to injure Tommy's arm and catches him in a rear naked choke . While they both lie struggling on the mat, Brendan apologizes and tells Tommy that he loves him, and after a brief hesitation, Tommy taps out . The film ends with the two brothers exiting the ring, Tommy in tears with Brendan's arms around him.