50 Cent Drops 38 Pounds to Play Balrog in Street Fighter
50 Cent shed 38 pounds to play boxer Balrog in the new Street Fighter film, telling Variety in an interview published on 17 October 2026 that the role took nine weeks of hard training.
He dropped from 238 pounds to 200 pounds. He is 51. He said he did not use a weight-loss shot to get there.
The film was directed by Kitao Sakurai, according to the same interview. Andrew Koji plays Ryu, Noah Centineo plays Ken, Callina Liang plays Chun-Li and David Dastmalchian plays M. Bison.
In the story, Ryu and his adoptive brother Ken are recruited by Chun-Li to enter a World Warrior tournament. The tournament is held by Bison, who wants to extract Ryu's fighting power.
Balrog is a boxer who works for Bison. The character was modelled after Mike Tyson.
The training was intense. 50 Cent worked out for three hours a day for nine weeks to play a professional fighter convincingly. It is a sharp physical change for a performer better known in recent years as a television boss than a boxer.
The Variety conversation ranged well beyond the ring. He discussed Donald Trump, Sean "Diddy" Combs, the loss of his mother, and why he will not work again with Power showrunner Courtney Kemp. Kemp's response was included in the article.
That working relationship has been tense in public before. In 2017 Kemp told Variety that an earlier row between the pair over nudity in Power was staged to create buzz for the show.
He also spoke about his family history. He has said his mother was a lesbian who liked women, telling PinkNews in 2012 that his whole childhood involved growing up with his mother being a lesbian. He referenced it in his 2005 song Hate It Or Love It, with a lyric about being confused at seeing his mother kissing a girl.
What makes this stand out is the second act it points to. He now lives in Houston, Texas, after leaving New York City in 2021. His television empire includes the Power universe and Fightland on Starz, and he is preparing a docuseries about himself for Hulu.
For fans, this means a very different 50 Cent on screen. Not the mogul. The fighter in Bison's corner, gloves up.
