He has also written the script for the film, which will be in the vein of The Wrestler, The Fighter and Rocky.

Noel Clarke has revealed that his latest project will be a feature set in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA).

Clarke has written the script and will direct the character driven film about a down on his luck MMA fighter who gets drawn further into the sport than he would have liked. Clarke will gain a stone and a half to play the lead, acting alongside stars from the MMA world. It is set in London and the US.

He is in the process of closing the financing on the as yet unnamed feature which looks set to shoot mid October 2011.  The film already has a UK distributor who is yet to be announced.

The feature is being produced through Clarke’s production company Unstoppable Entertainment.

“I looked at films like The Wrestler and The Fighter and thought to myself, ‘Why hasn’t there been a British film like that?’ I’m trying to expand what British films do. When Adulthood and Kidulthood came out there wasn’t anything like those, now its created a genre,” Clarke told Screen.

“I’ve been a massive fan of the sport [MMA] for a long time and this felt like the right time to make this film, as I’ve got more confident as a film-maker,” added Clarke, who has been working on the script for two years. “MMA is more popular than football when you look at the attendance figures. It’s the fastest growing sport in the world.”

Meanwhile Clarke, who won the BAFTA Orange Rising Star Award in 2009, has also co-written and stars in British romantic comedy The Knot, which he describes as “Four Weddings And A Funeral meets Bridesmaids.” Talulah Riley, Matthew McNulty and Mena Suvari also star in the film, which is being directed by Jesse Lawrence and is due to be released in the UK in February 2012.

He is also set to star in a high profile sci-fi film, more details of which will be released later this week.