Sylvester Stallone has been in some bloody battles over the course of his movie career, but nothing quite like the time he met Smokin’ Joe Frazier.

A day after Stallone posted a retro photo of Hulk Hogan and recounted the story that the wrestler sent three stuntmen to the hospital on Rocky III, the Expendables star told fans another story about the time he met Frazier and hoped to get him into Rocky III as Clubber Lang. The legendary Rocky actor posted a throwback photo on Instagram alongside the former undisputed heavyweight champion, showing off the huge gash that Frazier left on him after the two stepped in the ring for some sparring—a gash that left Stallone with a bloody head and six stitches.

Of course, Mr. T ended up playing the role—making our list of the 25 most physically dominating villains of all time—but first Stallone wanted to try and get a real boxer into the mix.

Check out the story, but make sure to say it in your head with the ‘Stallone’ voice—it only makes it better.

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Since people like the story about Hulk Hogan , maybe you will like this one which leads to the discovery of Mr. T who went on to give an incredible performance as CLUBBER LANG! In Rocky three I thought we should use a REAL fighter , just to push the envelope to where fighting films had never gone before. so I decided to use the legendary heavyweight champion from Philadelphia, Smokin' Joe Frazier to play the brutal CLUBBER LANG So he cheerfully came to the gym , Very excited, very happy, very brightly dressed all in green. Green pants , green shoes, green hat, green shirt, green suspenders! He wanted the part very badly , and believe me I wanted him to get it too ..Smokin' Joe Frazier fighting Rocky !? This would be seriously entertaining, actually unbelievable !!!!! SoI naïvely said why don't we get into the ring and move around a little and see how we look together. I didn't realize it at the time, but This was like going into a lions cage covered in steak sauce and asking " how do you think I will taste ?" This was a very Dumb idea… Very bad. Joe was one of the most punishing fighters that ever lived and other boxers would honestly say that after they fought Smokin' Joe, they were never , ever the same.… Of course I thought that was a slight exaggeration, and I wanted our movie to be special, very realistic no matter what the price… Again in retrospect, A very foolhardy, hazardous , and homicidal concept. Once in the ring, I figured I just move around and avoid his punches , and that idea work well for about two seconds .. Simply because the Next thing I knew there was a Thunderous left hook planted extremely deep in my body, And an overhand right that resembled a falling piano landing just above my left eye .. The world was now spinning in several directions at the same time… Anyway I felt bad for Joe and did not want him to hurt his hands anymore and decided to call it a day. In retrospect,It was a wonderful afternoon meeting The legendary Joe Frazier and getting six stitches but it was also A brilliant realization that I needed someone like Mr. T in my life, more about that later!

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