Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson steps into the boots of two-time UFC Heavyweight Tournament Champion Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine set to release this week in theaters.From the minute first-look pictures dropped, it was clear that Johnson was going to be the most stripped-back he’s ever been. At the world premiere in Venice, he received a reported 15-minute standing ovation. Early reviews of the film are mixed, but the consensus is that it’s Johnson’s best performance yet.On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Johnson recounts a story from the set where he suffered a concussion. At the end of the film, there’s a scene that mirrors Kerr’s time in Japan, fighting Kazuyuki Fujita. Kerr takes every blow Fujita throws his way, despite obviously being out of it. Johnson didn’t want to fake hits, though. He wanted it to be as real as possible.“I said to our fighter, ‘I know it sounds crazy, but you’ve got to hit me. You have to hit me,'” Johnson said. “And he is a Japanese fighter, very respectful, he goes, ‘No, no. I will not hit you.’ He refused to hit me and finally I said, ‘Please, we have one shot at this. You must hit me.’So you’ll see in the movie, [punches his fist] he’s rocking me over and over and over again. It was wild. So after that fight, you see me and I look like I’m loopy, that’s ‘cause I had a concussion. But it’s the thing you’ve got to do. You realize if you’re going to make an MMA movie, you’ve got to go all the way. And that’s what we did with this.”That wasn’t the only injury Johnson got while filming. He previously shared photos of his ruptured bursa sac, but there was no extensive tissue damage.The Smashing Machine follows in the footsteps of a 2002 HBO documentary, The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr. In the documentary, Kerr is shown through the lens of the early days of the “No Holds Barred” fighting as well as his personal life, chronicling his substance abuse issues. Directed by Benny Safdie, A24’s The Smashing Machine also stars Emily Blunt.The Smashing Machine premieres in theaters on October 3rd.The post The Rock Suffered a Concussion While Filming ‘The Smashing Machine’ appeared first on VICE.