 However , he eventually beat 5 @,@ 000 other hopefuls to land his breakout role opposite Stallone , Carl Weathers and Brigitte Nielsen . To improve his physique and athletic abilities for the role of Drago , he trained intensely in bodybuilding and boxing for five months before the film was shot . Lundgren said , " We trained six days a week — weights in the morning for about an hour , then boxing in the afternoon . We did a split of chest and back one day and then shoulders , legs , and arms the next . We boxed for an hour and a half , practiced the fight choreography , and did bag work and abs . " He weighed 235 pounds ( 107 kg ) – 245 pounds ( 111 kg ) during the filming , but in the film he was billed at 261 pounds ( 118 kg ) ; one publisher said of Drago , " He 's a hulking 261 pounds of merciless fighting machine , the best that Soviet science & medicine can create " . His lines " If he dies , he dies " and " I must break you " are amongst the best known of the Rocky series and have been cited in popular culture . 
