Niko begins training him in defense, later adding trainer Mark to teach offense, after Scott knocks out opponent "Lucky" Patrick Murray and realizes that wins give larger payouts, needing fewer fights to achieve his goal.

Scott is within $6,000 of his goal when Mark tells him that Niko turned down a sanctioned UFC fight offered by Joe Rogan, with the certainty of earning $10,000 for a loss.

Scott confronts Niko, who apologizes and admits he turned it down because he was jealous as he was once asked to fight at the UFC but suffered a neck injury while training, ending his career.

The publicity of Scott's rise to fame has grown, and the school's band appears in the stands to play his theme song, "Holly Holy" by Neil Diamond, thanks to Bella contacting Rogan.

The website's consensus reads, "Here Comes the Boom benefits from Kevin James's genial presence, but the film doesn't deliver enough laughs to live up to its title – or enough satisfying plot to make up the difference.

"[12] Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times wrote: "If you can choke down the implausible notion that the doughy Kevin James would last more than five seconds in a mixed martial arts ring, Here Comes the Boom is a moderately enjoyable, nontaxing sort of comedy.

"[13][14] John Anderson of Variety magazine wrote: "Hands of stone meet heads of air in Here Comes the Boom, a sports story so daffy it may as well star Kevin James."

Anderson is critical of the different clashing tones of the film, but calls the characters likable, and writes the "violence adds a frisson of tension to the pic’s mix of grappling, romance and anemic social critique.

"[18] Marc Savlov of the Austin Chronicle wrote: ""Here Comes the Bomb" would've been a more fitting title, but props to Henry Winkler for rising to the occasion and turning in a sweet, idealistic performance in a film that otherwise feels like a tawdry commercial for the UFC and MMA.