FWIW, the only non-villainous characters I've seen who use a weighted whip are the witches in Motherland: Fort Salem.
While there are certainly cinematic elements to the show, the whip fights are reasonably realistic, at least when they're not being used as substitute wizards' staffs. The following clip shows GURPS style weighted whips being used to good effect to strike, entangle, butt strike, feint, and act like a staff or polearm to keep foes from closing to close combat range.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkmWvl7W3J8