Jake Tyler (Sean Faris) is a troubled young teenage boy who has moved around to numerous schools. At his latest school he once again gets mixed up with the wrong crowd and joins an underground hand to hand combat league. It is there that he meets Jean Roqua (Djimon Hounsou) who offers to teach the young, raw fighter various martial arts. He also mentors the young man and helps him to control his rage inside and outside of the ring. This ability to control his anger is put to the test when he and his friends are threatened by local fighting apprentice Ryan McCarthy (Cam Gigandet) unless Jake enters a local fighting championship. He does and a showdown between the two is imminent.