Harry Potter Bad Guy Is Now an MMA Fighter, Wins First Event

Josh Herdman, who played Draco Malfoy's cake-eating Slytherin buddy Gregory Goyle in the Harry Potter film series, competed in his first MMA cage match over the weekend. It was a success, as the 28-year-old defeated his opponent, Polish fighter Janusz Walachowski, by a unanimous decision.

Promoter Brad Pickett said the Herdman/Walachowski bout was his fight of the night from the event, which was held over the weekend in east London.

"Those two guys, back and forth, beating each other up from the first bell to the last bell," he said in a recap video (via EW). "It was a great performance by both guys. Shame that one of them had to lose."

You can see images from the fight at the Rise of Champions Facebook page.

Herdman has been training traditional Japanese jiu-jitsu for almost five years and also has a shodan black belt, he told The Mirror.

"It's raw, exciting, and unpredictable," he said about MMA. "I find it more interesting than boxing although I appreciate the beauty and art in boxing. It also made sense to move onto MMA because of my jujitsu training."

Herdman, who appeared in all eight Harry Potter films, hasn't shut the door on acting altogether, however, as he says he still has an agent and goes in for auditions from time to time. "I haven't fallen out of love with it," he said. "It's just a little bit like playing the lottery for a living."

The Harry Potter film series continues this year with Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, a spinoff starring Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne.