Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale discuss "The Fighter," MMA

TapouTVTC.com caught up with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, the stars of the new movie "The Fighter," and talked to them about their experiences making the movie and about mixed martial arts.

Wahlberg revealed that he had been trying to make "The Fighter" for five years, but it kept falling apart for one reason or another. Since it wouldn't be possible to keep stopping and starting training, Walhberg ended up training boxing for four and a half years. His goal, Walhberg said, was to look like a guy that could win the title.

A huge fan of MMA, Wahlberg also revealed that, while preparing for another boxing movie years ago, his trainer was none other than current UFC president Dana White. Wahlberg also recalled a story where he saw Quinton "Rampage" Jackson walking down the street in Beverly Hills. When he asked Jackson why he was in Beverly Hills, the former UFC champ responded, "What, man, black people can't be in Beverly Hills?"

Bale likened his character in "The Fighter," Dicky, to an elusive cat, whereas Wahlberg's character, Mickey, is more like a dog that will take five punches to land one good one. Despite having martial arts training in the past, Bale dedicated himself to studying boxing for this film, because, as he put it, he wanted to learn to punch like Dicky punches.

Out of all the martial arts styles that Bale has studied for various roles, his favorite is the Keysi Fighting Method (KFM), which he utilized in "Batman Begins" and "The Dark Knight."

As far as MMA is concerned, Bale believes that some of the moves found in KFM would be too brutal to use in the sport. It was actually Bale's wife who introduced him to MMA, picking out a UFC DVD while the couple was at a video store.

"The Fighter" opens in select theaters on December 10, and make sure to check TapouTVTC.com for more exclusive interviews.