We recently got the opportunity to shoot the official commercial for UFC 223. It was a very ambitious shoot featuring large practical locations with custom built-in specialty lighting units, multiple cameras, and a huge rain machine. The four UFC stars featured in the headlining bouts, Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jędrzejczyk, and Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, were all there to set the scene for their epic showdowns in the octagon. Shooting took place over two days with individual time scheduled to work with each fighter in a different location. For the rain scenes, Director of Photography Jonathan Belinski had to cover himself and his entire camera rig including Easyrig, Serene, Red Weapon Helium, Leica Summicron, Teradek, Bartech, etc in waterproof plastic so he could move freely around the fighters. It was a fun and challenging project with a lot of moving parts, and when your face to face with some of the toughest athletes in the world, every shot counts. Director of Photography: Jonathan Belinski Director: Adam Condal Producer: Eric Mazer
